Is the stallion or the mare responsible 4 determining sex of baby? And...

[Eventguy]

[QUOTE=Kyzteke;5731413]
Oh, come on now!! That’s just silly! Every hungry mare is eating the same magical plant? And for 4 yrs?[/QUOTE]

Obviously I didn’t get my point across. The above is clearly one of many hypothetical situations that are not controlled which makes it impossible to say that it is LOSING OR GAINING CONDITION THAT IS THE DETERMINING FACTOR. I’m not arguing that there isn’t something that causes the sex ratio to change but the research does not PROVE change in condition is the cause, it simply points out a correlation between the two, that is the point.

[QUOTE=Kyzteke;5731413]What is that law in science? Can’t remember the name of it, but it basically says if there are a numerous possibilities/explanations for an occurrence, take the simplest/most likely.

Well, in this case, what is the most likely?

It’s well known that, females are tougher than men and they live longer unless they were/are killed in childbirth. So why couldn’t female embryo’s be tougher? “Female” sperm is also tougher, I think…I seem to remember something about that in the sperm sorting dept.[/QUOTE]

Here is an interesting study on human male:female fetal deaths looking at the relationship of stressors (using unemployment rate). http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/4/944.full

So, applying the above study to horses and taking (as a good scientist) the simplest/most likely explanation it becomes clear that the reason for the increase change in sex ratio is not due to condition change, it is because all the mares are unemployed!:D:D:D

Seriously, it’s been fun but I’m out of here…

[Eventguy]

Occam’s Razor

@Kyzteke;5731413

What is that law in science? Can’t remember the name of it, but it basically says if there are a numerous possibilities/explanations for an occurrence, take the simplest/most likely.

Occam’s Razor:
Occam’s razor (or Ockham’s razor) often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae, translating to law of parsimony, law of economy or law of succinctness, is a principle that generally recommends selecting the competing hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions, when the hypotheses are equal in other respects; for instance, if all the hypotheses can sufficiently explain the observed data.

The principle is often inaccurately summarized as “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.” This summary is misleading, however, since the principle is actually focused on shifting the burden of proof in discussions. That is, the razor is a principle that suggests we should tend towards simpler theories (see justifications section below) until we can trade some simplicity for increased explanatory power. Contrary to the popular summary, the simplest available theory is sometimes a less accurate explanation. Philosophers also add that the exact meaning of “simplest” can be nuanced in the first place.

Thank you Dr. Doolittle and Wikipedia. Guess I have to retract my unemployed mare theory

[Equine_Reproduction]

[QUOTE=Eventguy;5731794]

Thank you Dr. Doolittle and Wikipedia. Guess I have to retract my unemployed mare theory :([/QUOTE]

No…no. You’re mistake was in claiming your mares are “unemployed” when in reality they “do” have a job! They’re broodmares! :D!!! Man oh man did this thread go sideways! <ROTFL>