Rollestone Farm Stud & Livery

Would you breed from a mare with sweet itch?
As you know leah is Homozygous, She suffers with sweet itch which we control with a fly rug, i,m not sure should i breed from her or not,

please answer truthfully !!

Here a photo of my 2 children on their ponies

it wouldn't put me off.

sweetitch is an allergy, and i suppose like allergies in people, there is a stronger chance of a baby/foal developing allergies if the parents suffer from them, but it's certainly not guaranteed.

I Googled it and from the websites I saw it said that it is thought to be hereditary and it is inadvisable to breed from a horse with it. I would ask my vet but until I knew more about it no I wouldn't breed from a mare that had it.

P.S What a lovely photo

PPS I also read about the need to declare sweet itch if selling a horse, and the risk that a horse having sweet itch puts on its saleability (sp?) - I would not like to take this chance I don't think (though I suppose it depends how big the risk of the foal having sweet itch is - and as I don't know, I personally wouldn't want to take it!)

I am of the understanding the genetics of this condition have not been thoroughly researched, although the late Ann T. Bowling researched certain genes potentially responsible for a range of dermal conditions.

Usually these genes are recessive, which means that in order for the foals to be affected with the condition as well, both parents must be carriers of the responsible gene.

However, none of this is proven with DNA yet, and therefore no test is available for potential stallions.

If the gene responsible for this dermal condition is recessive, not only would the sire need to be a carrier too, but you would still only have a 25% chance of a foal suffering from Sweet Itch too.

i would prefer not to have a mare with sweet itch in my broodmare band - however if it was my much loved horse and I was just breeding one foal to "replace" her then I probably would.

Agree - lovely photo!

-DanR- wrote:If the gene responsible for this dermal condition is recessive, not only would the sire need to be a carrier too, but you would still only have a 25% chance of a foal suffering from Sweet Itch too.

Would it not be 50% - dam would have to be homozygous (showing symptoms) and sire a carrier (heterozygous) so half your foals would be homozygous and showing symptoms and half would be heterozygous carriers?

laura wrote:

-DanR- wrote:If the gene responsible for this dermal condition is recessive, not only would the sire need to be a carrier too, but you would still only have a 25% chance of a foal suffering from Sweet Itch too.

Would it not be 50% - dam would have to be homozygous (showing symptoms) and sire a carrier (heterozygous) so half your foals would be homozygous and showing symptoms and half would be heterozygous carriers?

erm, yes, whoops indeed if it's recessive, the dam would need to homozygous to show the symptoms.

*gets coat*

Can I have your job? Please, please, can I? can I?

Haha you say that, but I spend about 70% of my time talking about bird DNA!

You know about five times more than most the people I talk to daily, most of which are 'experts'

If you asked Animal Genetics US for a placement, they'd probably give you some work experience at the Florida lab, plenty of bright young minds in that place.