Horse/pony breeding repeats and size comparisons?!

[Samotis]

For those of you that breed small horses to pony stallions, when you repeat the same cross have you had very similar heights in the babies?

I have a 15.3 mare and bred to a 11 hand welsh. My 3 year old pony is 13.3.

For those of you that repeat breeding with same mare/stallion do you find a big height difference?

I have 2 babies out of the same warmblood stallion and both are very different. ( ones much lighter boned and 16.2 ( at 8) and other is built different and at 4, 16.3)Just curious if ponies follow suit.

Any experiences are appreciated!

[Sugarbrook]

Interesting sizes from the 15.3 hand mare. My experience is if I breed my 11.2 hand reg. half welsh (although he is almost all welsh) I have gotten, routinely, a nice size large. I have no idea about the warmblood stallions.

[Samotis]

Sounds about right. I thought he would be a little bit bigger too. But it is certainly not exact!

I really love my pony and am very happy with him, just want to repeat the cross and am thinking ahead on if I might get a little bigger foal next time.

Or smaller!

My mare is small and petite but her dad was a stout 16.2. (Candis Gold)

[exvet]

I’ve bred the same 13 hand mare to the same 15 hand stallion twice. The first one is finishing around 14 hands (now 3) and the second one will likely end up closer to 14.2 hands. This is the size range I expected from the cross knowing the bloodlines involved.

[goodpony]

bred the same 15.3 hh mare to the same 14.1h stallion 3x. 15hh, 15.3 and 16h.

[Samotis]

Wow! Well then it will be interesting to see the next ones size!!

I really didn’t know what to expect with the cross, but have been very happy with my choice!

[VirginiaBred]

I bred a purebred welsh mare to the same crossbred stallion two times in a row and the results were:

1st foal - 12.2
2nd foal - 14.1

I bred a crossbred mare four years ago to a Section B (purebred) welsh and…

1st foal 13.1 (and now three years old)
2nd foal right at 12 hands at 14 months.

[Fastjofast]

Small 14.3 tb/hanno cross mare bred to a Sec. B pony stallion:

1st foal finished 14.2
2nd foal finished 14.0
3rd foal finished 13.3

[Samotis]

Wow. So sounds like they can be all over the board!

Thanks!

[goodpony]

i think when doing the horse x pony cross it really pays to know the bloodlines and family well if you are shooting for a specific size. With our mare even though she was smaller at 15.3 her full brother was 17hh so we knew there was potential for added size. The stallion on the other hand came from mostly medium pony to small large pony stock. His own sire was 13.3 and his dam was about 14.1

[Daventry]

[QUOTE=goodpony;8620233]
i think when doing the horse x pony cross it really pays to know the bloodlines and family well if you are shooting for a specific size. [/QUOTE]

This can’t be repeated enough. It is important to know the heights in the dam’s background (when breeding to a purebred pony sire), as those may end up being inherited by the foal. In doing repeat crosses, a lot will come down to the prepotency of the stallion or the dominance of the mare’s traits. I’m sure we’ve all witnessed a stallion who is very dominant and produces “cookie cutter” foals over and over again, while a particular mare’s foals will look the same every year…or exact opposites.

We have been very fortunate over the years to stand two stallions who were very dominant in what they produced, which has resulted in consistent heights. These are some of the crosses over the years.

Sire: 12.2 1/4 HH
Dam: 14.3 HH
Foal #1: 14.1 3/4 HH
Foal #2: 14.1 7/8 HH

Sire: 11.1 1/2 HH
Dam: 15.2 HH
Foal #1: 14.1 1/4 HH
Foal #2: 14.1 HH

Sire: 11.1 1/2 HH
Dam: 14.1 1/2 HH crossbred
Foal #1: 13.1 1/2 HH
Foal #2: 13.1 HH
Foal #3: 13.1 HH
Foal #4: 13.1 HH
Foal #5: 13.1 HH
Foal #6: 13.1 HH
Foal #7: 13.1 HH

And then you get ones like these two that throws a wrench into everything.
Sire: 11.1 1/2 HH
Dam: 15.2 HH
Foal #1: 13.1 1/2 HH
Foal #2: 14.2 HH
Foal #3: 14.2 HH
Foal #4: 13.2 1/2 HH
Foal #5: 14.1 HH

Sire: 11.1 1/2 HH
Dam: 15.2 HH
Foal #1: 14.1 1/2 HH
Foal #2: 13.1 HH