I also think the stallion sounds like a very good choice and I keep all my fingers crossed for you!!!
What a lovely choice! I’m glad everything is going as well as it can be at this point.
My condolences again, but looking forward to a bright future for your beautiful filly!
UC Davis turns around these tests in around two weeks, IME. You print the forms you need off the internet, mail the hair sample, and they will email you back the results.
But I think the pony looks like an awesome pick! Here’s hoping for an adorable tobiano pony foal!
He’s a nice looking pony stallion. Good choice.
Didn’t jump in as not much to offer other than that pony’s sure is local to me and I’ve seen him and his kids locally over the years–almost all ridden and handled by kids. They are pretty uniformly cute, fancy, and well behaved. Good luck!
Good choice to go with a pony. :yes:
Good luck Blume !
Hugs from Colorado.
Great choice!! I am so glad that from such tragedy comes at least a little consolation. Keep us updated!! 
poltroon - that is exactly the problem!
UC Davis turns around these tests in around two weeks, IME.
As per the OP:
She needs to be pregnant by June15 per contact so time line is tough.
this mare needs to be IN FOAL by June 15th so she needs to be bred this week - there isn’t time to print forms and send hair samples off …
Besides; if the mare is black & the stallion is black homozygous AND pinto homozygous, that pretty much tells you that Blume will get a B&W pinto foal. Maybe a tri-color.
And sorry to here of your loss. What a terrible shame. Thank goodness the foal is doing well. Good luck with the stallion; he look very cute.
The sire of that pony is in my area. The ponies sired by him have done well around here and seem very ridable.
[QUOTE=Blume Farm;8162196]
Not absolutely horrible conformation, good feet, good front limbs. Straight hind limbs, poor croup, plain head.[/QUOTE]
First, let me say how so, so sorry I am about your mare. I cannot even fathom what it’s like in that situation 
Given what you said about the nurse mare and her croup and hind legs, are you sure this is the stallion you want? I like his front end, but I’m not fond of anything about his back end. I do realize he’s not stood up very well, but think it’s fairly clear he’s got a pretty steep group, and even accounting for having pulled his hind feet under him, I think he’s also a bit sickle-hocked. I would really hate for this mare with “straight hind limbs and a poor croup” to produce a his-and-hers combined hind end.
Can you post a picture of her?
Here are 2 pony stallions I like immensely better in the confo department
http://www.karengriffith.com/paint-pinto-stallions.html
I know nothing about those guys, I just found them and like them a lot better just from a visual perspective.
[QUOTE=PhoenixFarm;8163176]
Didn’t jump in as not much to offer other than that pony’s sure is local to me and I’ve seen him and his kids locally over the years–almost all ridden and handled by kids. They are pretty uniformly cute, fancy, and well behaved. Good luck![/QUOTE]
This is an excellent recommendation - not to mention he is very cute himself!
It’s great to get the colour AND a proven producer of good tempered offspring who can get to the show ring and do well too.
I think you made a great choice! :yes:
Good luck Blume, thank you for trying your best to do right by this little mare and her future foal.
My condolences again for the loss of your beautiful mare.
[QUOTE=JB;8163941]
First, let me say how so, so sorry I am about your mare. I cannot even fathom what it’s like in that situation
Given what you said about the nurse mare and her croup and hind legs, are you sure this is the stallion you want? I like his front end, but I’m not fond of anything about his back end. I do realize he’s not stood up very well, but think it’s fairly clear he’s got a pretty steep group, and even accounting for having pulled his hind feet under him, I think he’s also a bit sickle-hocked. I would really hate for this mare with “straight hind limbs and a poor croup” to produce a his-and-hers combined hind end.
Can you post a picture of her?
Here are 2 pony stallions I like immensely better in the confo department
http://www.karengriffith.com/paint-pinto-stallions.html
I know nothing about those guys, I just found them and like them a lot better just from a visual perspective.[/QUOTE]
I think if you are breeding for ponies who will be handled by children, temperament trumps all. And let’s face it, most ponies aren’t going to be doing upper level work, so the structure of their hind end is not as vital…certainly not as vital as an easy-going brain and it sounds like the stallion Blume is choosing has multiple recommendations in that dept.
Mind is ALWAYS the most important thing, IMHO, but certainly in this case.
[QUOTE=Kyzteke;8163499]
Besides; if the mare is black & the stallion is black homozygous AND pinto homozygous, that pretty much tells you that Blume will get a B&W pinto foal. Maybe a tri-color.[/QUOTE]
Black and black can never produce bay (which is what I assume you mean by “tri-color”), because they both are homozygous for recessive agouti, and bay would require a dominant agouti. If the mare is black (E_aa), and the stallion is a black tobiano who is EEaaTT, she is 100% guaranteed a black tobiano foal. The only concern I can see here with unknown bloodlines on both sides is the very slim chance that both could carry frame, and thus have a 25% chance of producing a lethal white foal. I’ve seen tested frame carriers with no white markings at all, and the pony’s website doesn’t list what his breeding is or whether he has been tested.
Normally I spend months agonizing over stallion choices. Unfortunately this is just not the case here. Also, there just isn’t enough time to do DNA testing of the mare. I believe she is of Standardbred/ QH origin based on how she looks (body fairly QH, but boy she has a big ol’ Standardbred head). I will ask the pony stallion owner if he has been tested for Frame genetics. This mare does not have a speck of white markings on her…does that help narrow down her color genetics some? I do not know enough about color genetics to know the answer.
I did a search of the pony stallion in question and his get are very child friendly. That, size and color, where my main objectives. This little nurse mare is beyond sweet, and although quite homely looking actually not that bad. I was looking at her again…she has great feet, great front limbs, a fairly nice topline (although a bit swaybacked from foal and foal). Again her biggest conformational faults are her head and straight behind. I am optimistic that the breeding will produce a child safe, cute, colored pony that I can raise and place in a good home once going under saddle. He certainly fits that bill.
I think the pony stallion you chose is a great choice, and you’re very likely to get a cute-as-a-button and flashy foal that someone will find super desirable. I hope you’ll update us if you can with pictures of the resulting foal.
Plus, I’m glad your current foal has a mommy to take care of him.
My sincere condolences on the loss of your mare, so glad the nurse mare has worked out well, good for your little one.
I have to say, good for you for offering to pay for nurse mare’s foal care and being thoughtful on breeding her back as well as wanting to buy her next years foal.
If it doesn’t work out with the lovely pony stud you have picked, there are tobiano, smokey black, and silver dapple Morgans. That breed would cross well with the mare. Those colors should sell well.
www.foxtonmorgans.com scroll down to RV Eagle Feather, black and white, good feet, and producing color. They are in Colorado
When one of my TB mares died in KY after foaling, we had to put the foal on a nurse mare I called Bertha. Bertha was so sweet, and being in KY it was a snap to go from farm to farm to breed her to the teasers. I promised her that I would take her future foal and give it a good home, but she never took and there was no foal. My own foal, raised with his huge new momma, grew big and strong and even won a few races.
Make sure you update this thread when… mare takes and after foal is born! I hate when there are no updates
