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KatBriCam · Jan 10, 2016 6:05 PM

Ok so I'm still new to this and have a question about breeding/genetics. So I bred a White Blue Roan mare with a White Blue Roan Appaloosa Rabicano stallion and it said the foal was homozygous for dominate white and died before birth. so im wondering why. What did i do wrong or what can i avoid next time.

Stone Silo Farm · Jan 10, 2016 6:41 PM

There are several genes that are lethal when they're homozygous (when a horse has two copies of the gene.) White is one of those genes. Any time you breed a white horse to a white horse (it doesn't matter which version of white, either) there is about a 25% chance that the foal will inherit white from both parents and thus it will be a lethal combination.

Frame is a lethal gene, so breeding two frame horses together has a chance of killing the foal.

Sabinos 1 and 2 are lethal with Whites 1 and 2.

Splash 2 and 3 are lethal as well, though far more uncommon than any of the above genes.

(Despite knowing all of the above I still manage to end up with 2-3 lethal crosses a year because I'm not paying attention and it's always a moment of wait wha... doh. It happens to the best of us!)

Ritsika · Jan 10, 2016 6:46 PM

Hunt and Jump follows real life genetics and some genes are lethal when homozygous. I am still researching the specifics of each lethal combination but the most popular, or well known, example that I can think of is Lethal White Syndrome (also known as overo lethal white syndrome (OLWS)) in which the foal can be born looking healthy and normal but lacks vital organ function resulting in death soon after birth.

In your case, I am guessing that you had a heterozygous White and heterozygous White combination which leads to a 1 in 4 chance of foal death. You happened to get the foal that was homozygous thus didn't make it.

I keep this link handy when I'm going to breed any of my patterned horses so that I can avoid the lethal combinations. List of Lethal Combinations

I hope this helps. :)

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