Older mare weaker foal

[Nadia1990]

So a friend of mine has just bred a foal from 19 year old mare (18 when bred) the mare has had one foal previously when she was 6.
Anyway the foal was born tiny and bit dysmature looking very lax tendons, and skinny legs, however it stood and drunk in good time and is a feisty lively little chap and the legs have straightened and strengthened considerably in the last few days however still has little bone. The mare carried the pregnancy without a hitch and the foaling was quick and uneventful and foaled at 353 days.

Is this just random luck or is it to do with the mare age? she asked me about rebreeding the mare and is it a good idea given the small size of the foal and frankly I have no idea so though i would ask on here any advice/opinions or previous experience would be greatly appreciated.

[EventerAJ]

Plenty of older TB broodmares have had nice, normal foals at a late age (over age 17, into their 20s). I wouldn’t point to age, specifically, but there could be other factors that would influence the decision to breed this mare again.

Age is more of a hindrance to the mare herself, than to her offspring. Carrying a foal to term and producing enough milk is hard on older mares physically; generally the foal gets what it needs and the mare sacrifices herself. Does your mare have enough to give?

A tiny, dysmature foal would have me looking for other causes, like fescue toxicosis, or another environmental factor, not really the mare’s age. Lax tendons and skinny legs aren’t uncommon for foals; some are just small due to genetics, others due to malnutrition or something else.