Bad first post but help appreciated

To make a long story short my Belgian/Percheron cross was inadvertently bred by a Fresian stallion (don’t even ask cause im pissed) while at the farrier. My vet just confirmed it via ultrasound. What on earth kind of nightmare frankenhorse am I going to end up with? She is almost 19 hh not sorrel but not roan either. Best way to describe her is bright copper orange with black mane/tail/feet. Built more like a Belgian than perch. At least the stud is a very reputable horse with great confirmation. The owner said I could register the foal as a fresian just because it is at least 1/2 Fresian. Not really sure how that works but I would just like someone’s opinion of what it might look like. Thanks

WOW 19hh.

I am sure you will end up with a cutie!!

I would be more than pissed. I hope they are paying all the vet bills until it is born.

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If you don’t want it, abort it. Cheaper than seeing the foal come to term and much less risk on the mare.

I’d be expecting whoever was responsible foots the vet bill.

bright orange with black mane and tail is bay, not sorrel.

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I subscribed just to see where this goes! I don’t have enough experience to help you, but it seems logical that they should have to pay all maternity related vet bills and have no say in what happens to the foal…what if you had plans for your mare this season that are now ruined? Pregnancy and labor are no joke and you weren’t planning on putting your mare through that. :frowning: Super irresponsible on their part! PS. Your mare sounds really pretty. :slight_smile:

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I had plans on breeding her to my own Grey dapple Percheron stud but not this year. LOL I learned the hard way about trusting the Amish. I grew up with them but never did business with them. No one in my area trims/shoes drafts so I was using a “highly recommended” Amish farrier. He has thus far paid for the vet bills and offered to help me foal the mare. (yeah right) My vet thinks it may be a nice cross and now my daughter wants to keep it. Im not saying that there aren’t good Amish out there but please think twice unless you really know them…just saying. Personally I would never cross a draft with a light breed I know people do it for hunter/jumper type horses but I think there is too much variability. Im just keeping my fingers crossed things turn out alright.

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[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“data-attachmentid”:10141925}[/ATTACH] Here is a bad cell pic of her on the dry lot. The Sire is a black Freisian. Not sure if this would help give anyone any idea of what the foal might look like.

queenie.jpg

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I guess I’ve always thought of Friesians as being more of a light draft/heavy carriage horse rather than a truly “light” saddle horse breed. They’ve trended towards lighter for a while now, but they are still substantial compared to the typical saddle horse breeds. I bet it’ll turn out as a perfectly reasonable looking horse, not a weird mish-mash. And honestly likely to be more marketable in most parts of the country (don’t know about yours) than the planned Percheron breeding. It would be one thing if she were pure Percheron, and the foal would therefore be registerable as Percheron, but as far as I’ve seen most buyers of pure drafts are looking for pure drafts of specific breeds, not mixed-breed drafts. “Friesian cross” has some marketing pizazz in some circles, like it or lump it, no matter what the cross was…

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If you fear the Frakenhorse, why are you letting the pregnancy continue?

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Abort. Problem solved.

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Hahaha…I was going to ask if the farrier was Amish, but I see that IS the case.

I’m going to be the voice of dissent and say it might be a really nice cross, esp for a driving horse.

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I guess ill see what happens. LOL at least it was a $1500 free stud fee and vet care for my mare.

My understanding is that you could register under Friesian Sport Horse or Friesian Heritage Horse Society. Heritage does DNA testing/registration. This is assuming the sire is in fact registered Friesian, either with FHANA or one of the off shoot registries. Google both registries and you may get some more answers.

Just as an FYI, your mare is a bay. I’m not sure why you would want to continue with the pregnancy. It is inexpensive to abort with medication.

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There are, believe it or not, people who purposely breed the Friesian/Draft crosses (and the Amish are doing a lot of Friesian crosses and DHH crosses right now, they’ve figured out they can SELL those crosses). So, if you DO desire to keep the pregnancy, it would not be a rarity, and odds are you’ll get a nice, lighter, sportier draft cross that may be a nice mover. There is a market for these horses (nothing like the Warmblood market, but there IS a market.

And as mentioned, there are a couple of registries - FHH does require DNA, but there are quite a few of the Amish horses that have submitted DNA - they want their foals registered since it makes them easier to sell. FHH is probably the largest and offers the most to its members in terms of awards, programs, inspections, DNA, education, etc.

Color - you’ll either get black or bay most likely. We don’t KNOW the color genetics of mare and stallion, but odds are pretty good you’ll end up with one of those two colors.

The easiest thing to do is simply ask your vet to end the pregnancy, as others have already said. Yikes, I can’t even imagine what a chaotic scene it must have been - assuming the Friesian stallion got loose!?!?! Thank goodness no one was hurt (including your mare)!

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It is not so easy to abort the pregnancy if their religion does not ‘allow’ it. This is a personal decision to every person and mare owner.

This post is by an understanding non-religious person.

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OP if you decide to keep the foal I suggest you get some books on horses and horsemanship and read up on the care and keeping of the mare and her foal. There are a lot of details you need to be aware of starting with proper feeding and disease prevention.

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When did this happen? Are you still within a safe window to terminate the pregnancy? If so, get that done asap.

If not, then all you can do is feed her properly and plan on all the appropriate vaccinations (at the SO’s expense I might add!) as hoopoe suggested.

I’m dying to know how this happened! Stallion escape?

You sound very new to horses. Your mare is bay :slight_smile: Given that the Friesian is most likely heterozygous for black, you will most likely end up with a black or bay foal. There’s a small chance of black or chestnut.

Do a LOT of research into caring for a pregnant mare, including feeding to support the nutritional status of her and the fetus. Do a LOT of research into the care of a foal, including the nutrition aspect of his growth. Start planning now on how you will wean. Do you have other horses?

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I’m with the group who would abort this pregnancy, to which you haven’t responded. If you choose not to abort, I highly recommend that you at least have an ultrasound to be sure the pregnancy is a singleton, if the pregnancy wasn’t confirmed in the first place by ultrasound.

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Things don’t really add up. As said above sounds like not knowing much but in the secind post said they wanted to breed her to her own stallion.

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:slight_smile:

Good point - how do you end up with not just 1 but 2 horses, one of which is a stallion, and don’t know that the mare is bay, and not “not sorrel but not roan either. Best way to describe her is bright copper orange with black mane/tail/feet”?

​​​​​​​Very strange.

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