[TrueColoursFarm]

How do certain *oddball* heritable traits get passed on consistently, foal after foal??? And through the sire line, NOT the dam line, so it is in no way a "learned" trait by the foal?

Halo was a TB stallion that comes to mind that threw very difficult temperments that required very tactful handlers to get the best (or anything at all!) out of his offspring.

But my favorite, and the one that still puzzles the heck out of me, was the TB stallion Prosperous.

Every single offspring that I EVER saw of his kicked. Incessantly. All day long, it was kick kick kick the stall walls. I swear they even did it in their sleep. Most stall walls were lined with rubber mats to try to keep them from damaging themselves. How DOES a trait like that get passed on to the vast majority of his offspring???

Oh ... and Prosperous himself??? He died several years ago, from kicking through a stall wall and severing an artery. He bled to death before anyone found him ...

Anyone have any thoughts on it or scientific data to indicate how these things get passed on?

[BestofPrincess]

I have no idea... but my colt was eating whole apples at one month old, and his sire LOVED apples. His sire is also very laid back, so is he....

[sher327]

I just made a similiar thread about pawing. I'm curious to see what peoples opinions are on this sort of thing too

[Appylvr]

I've never really thought about it... I've always believed the foal picks up a lot of his behavior from mommy... my QH mare is really laid back (most of the time, she has her moments) and Teak is laid back too. He takes everything in stride, hardly spooks at anything and is generally very friendly. His sire was pretty friendly too... it was hard to tell cause I usually saw him around breeding time and he had one thing on his mind...

Teak doesn't do this, but Mo (daddy) does and the breeder told me a lot of his foals do as well... he sticks his tongue out the side of his mouth and chews on it. I have never seen Teak do this, but I have seen some of Mo's offspring do it that the breeder still had. One was a week old colt... so maybe there is some way it's passed through...

[Shannon]

Maybe, gosh I'm really speculating, the kicking is actually a result of a medical disorder. Sort of like your eye twitching...some sort of whacked out nerve in the hind end? Honestly, if they can find a gene for "kicking" that would be the day. But that definitely is odd...

[ryu2832]

These traits can be highly heritable. There is a cahapter on it in this book: The Genetics of the Horse by T. Bowling, A. Ruvinsky.

The study was done with TB's because they have the highest incidence of these behaviors. They looked at stall walking, weaving, head swinging, cribbing, ect. Collectively the traits were almost 70% heritable, some more than others.

I have my suspicions about what the heritable condition could be based on observation, but no proof.

Anyway, it is something to consider when choosing a stud. It is a question I ask stud owners.

[S.HorseWoman]

Hmmm, well they say humans can be prone to alcoholism and depression through genetics. There is no reason to think that horses could not be prone to bad habits by genetics as well. I don't think the foal of a cribbing stallion is "condemned" to be a cribber, BUT he might be more likely than another foal whose parents don't crib.

[Drafty1]

Weasy has the same goofy traits as her sibling I use to own.
When they both would get ready to dart out of under you (during being started) they both would drop their left ear flat to the side. Sire does the same ear thing.
There are other traits that I can't think of at the moment but they do the same things and you can tell they are related.

[No1Dazy]

I believe that the "Trakehner head sling" is an inheritable trait! They ALL have it!

It was amusing--all the people at the Trakehner convention last year knew the phrase, and Trakehner ears are also everywhere--the ears that make our mares look like mules...

[ryu2832]

Hey, those big Trak ears are a secondary sex characteristics! Studs prefer mares with big ears, mares choose studs with small ears--it's like plumage! (My girl's have to be 8 inches long! v.sexy )

She does the head sling when she gets fired up, but it's different than the compulsive behaviors I've seen other horses do. They usually do the behaviors to comfort themselves.

I guess I come out and say it, I think it's some form of autism. My sister works with adult autistics, and I've used some of her techniques with my TB mare. She is responding well. Her head swinging when confined is greatly reduced.

I've got no proof so it's worth a grain of salt. Just a hypothesis I am investigating.