Our neighbor’s pony mare had a filly yesterday… however, the only in-tact male she was exposed to was her yearling son (he had escaped). These poor folks didn’t even know she was pregnant (she always looks like a Thelwell pony - as round as she is tall). What is the prognosis for this darling little filly? I am contemplating taking her later for my granddaughter… any thoughts on something so completely inbred? Does this present large problems? I am sure it happens in the wild but domestically… hmm. Thoughts?
It’s not the kiss of death.
Dobbin, an UL Event horse, is by his mother’s son. Also an accidental pregnancy.
In the old days, such close inbreeding was not completely rare in Arabs and the very early TBs.
Son to mother is not the end of the world. It’s not even that unusual. Father to daughter is pretty normal.
I’ve held the lead or driven many horses who were inbred/linebred (father/daughter, mother/son, sibling/sibling) with multiple crosses back to the same common ancestor within the first 3-4 generations. It’s very interesting to see how the genetic material shakes out when so concentrated. Not a single one had five legs and three eyes or anything like that. But what is good is often very good, and what is bad is often glaringly obvious.
In fact, there’s one bloodline I’m thinking of that when doubled up (sibling/sibling) tends to produce these really beautiful horses that STRONGLY favor the original sire’s dam. He himself was out of a gorgeous mother and an ass-ugly sire (f’ing hideous doesn’t even begin to cover it), and his offspring (imho) frequently favored the dumpy ass-ugly side of the family. Nothing you would ever really want to risk linebreeding to. But someone got the idea to breed two of the prettier granddam-favoring ones and wowza (as in National Grand Champion running away with the purple sash and all the ribbons wowza). And a few other people dared to try it and more prettiness. The original sire’s momma would really come through.
You can’t think about it in human terms.
This is all very good to know!! When the neighbor told us about it and took us over to see the baby, he said, “here’s your granddaughter’s new pony!” I don’t know jack about breeding though, so I wasn’t sure if the inbreeding was a bad thing… I’m glad to hear it’s not! She’s so stinking adorable and tiny, chestnut/white paint!! The sire and dam are about 12 hh and pally/white paint. Neighbor said she looks like her daddy’s sire. I am pretty excited!
I think there is a potential that the filly may be NQR, but I don’t think it’s a given. I’d be more concerned with the early-life care this filly will be getting, especially if the mare wasn’t given good prenatal care.
I thought it was funny/odd that you said you “might take her” – is she available? For sale? Free? It rubs me the wrong way a little bit but I hope that’s just me reading into it… and (came back to add this part) indeed that’s what it was, now that you’ve clarified!! 
What I’ve noticed with Arabians at least is a reduction in size, particularly in black Arabians. Judge the pony as an individual. It can cause problems but may not.
I have seen it happen a few times and all produced lovely foals but not something I would ever want to have happen!
[QUOTE=FatCatFarm;6395941]
What I’ve noticed with Arabians at least is a reduction in size, particularly in black Arabians. Judge the pony as an individual. It can cause problems but may not.[/QUOTE]
Consider that inbreeding/linebreeding concentrates genetics. If the horses were already on the small size, inbreeding/linebreeding will concentrate those small genes. Same as breeding for larger size. Being of small size is not the same as being stunted or dwarfed, and normally being stunted/dwarfed comes with other problems.
While it makes people squeamish parent/offspring and sibling x sibling mating is not unusual in any domesticated animal, and in fact can be very desierable. It’s not going to suddenly result in loss of genetic vigor in one generation. That takes multiple generations.
I’ve heard this argument before, and am not a fan and have mostly heard it from Arabian breeders practicing the method with impunity. I just saw such a by product of a full sister and brother pairing on Saturday and was not impressed. Maybe that’s just me. Most warmblood breeders seem to avoid it. Your mileage may vary.
I will start off by saying I am NOT a fan of inbreeding. Put a fancy name on it, “line breeding”…and I still call it inbreeding. 
That being said, the famous pony hunter stallion Penrhyn Sporting Chance is a result of breeding the son back to the dam. When I first had the chance to purchase him, I nearly walked away after seeing his pedigree…but the pony is amazing, as are all of his offspring…so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stand him in our barn!
When it works, it is called line breeding, when it doesn’t…inbreeding!
[QUOTE=mht;6396874]
When it works, it is called line breeding, when it doesn’t…inbreeding! ;)[/QUOTE]
Absolutely! Although I don’t think most people go quite that close. It is what it is at this point.
well, the NQR potential is always there anyhow.
So far, so good with this little girl… she is thriving and very healthy - she’s just small… and it may be that I’m just used to big horses, and have never really seen a pony foal. I figure I have about 6 months to decide if we will take her for my granddaughter. I will just continue to follow her progress. I wonder what my horses would think of the little one! The boarder’s horse, who has had a foal, must be getting whiffs of her because she keeps running over to the fence closest to the neighbors and flipping her lip. That or the newly gelded stud colt is still sending the phermones!
