[Candice]

Hi, I had resolved several months ago that this little guy is a "minimal dwarf". After reading your responses on that subject it made me wonder. Is he really a dwarf or just a poorly conformed little guy? He was 16" at birth and very normal in appearance, however he was lax in the tendons and long in the toes.

By 3 mos his bite went off. (Underbite). His heel on his left front foot started to roll. Our farrier (new and learning) did the best he knew to do. As of last month the bone in the ankle is actually crushed. We're working with a surgeon and farrier at UF to straighten him as much as possible. I wish I had known to get him there sooner. We go back next week to check his progress. As of last night he is 25" tall.

The photos are taken at around a few days with his mother to 1 1/2 mos, again at 3-4 mos and the last around 8 1/2 mos. He foald 2-11-07. I'm curious to hear your take on him. I can send you his bloodlines. http://img.photobuck...ef/100_2617.jpg http://img.photobuck...ef/100_3140.jpg http://img.photobuck...ef/100_3708.jpg http://img.photobuck...ef/100_4078.jpg

Thankyou so much for your time,
Candice

[Arion Mgmt]

Candice,

From the pics you provided, I can say that the colt does not have any glaring characteristics that he is a "dwarf" of any type. HOWEVER, I can say that from looking at the mother and looking at him I would say that he is not of ideal conformation, bluntly he is not a good quality horse with regards to conformation. If I could look at his pedigree I could give you an idea if he has a chance of being a carrier, but even without that looking at the pedigree I very suspect that he is a carrier of recessive genetics you dont want. He has conformational faults he is expressing that I believe are things you want to stay away from as well. Again though this is only my opinion based on my experiences with this bred and my research.

John