[Mona]

I also have one final question that I have often wondered about. Have you at all found during your studies that horses with a very high tailset will often throw dwarf foals? I guess what I am asking, is would/could or has this proven it can be a sign of (carrying) dwarfism? I have heard of various dwarf signs to watch for, but had not heard of that one, and it has just been a personal observation of mine where I have often seen dwarfs, and one parent had the extremely high tailset, so always wondered if perhaps there was something more to it, as in it may be an expression of a horse carrying the dwarfism gene? Thank you.

[Arion Mgmt]

Mona,

Sorry but no. You are seeing way more into this than is there with regards to specific conformational characteristics. That would be similar to me saying that many small eared horses that i have seen have produced dwarfs. There is no way to prove that whatsoever. I do not know of a normal conformational characterisitc that has anything close to being associated with dwarfism. A high tail set or low tail set, it doesnt matter each one could be a carrier or not be a carrier. I can show you pictures of both, carriers or non that have both types of tail sets and every degree inbetween.


As a side note, think about the question you asked. If only one parent of a dwarf had a high tail set and the other did not, why would you associate dwarfism and a high tail set. BOTH parents would need to have a high tail set to be showing signs that it is associated because BOTH parents contribute a recessive diseased gene to the dwarf. If only one parent, you say, has a high tail set of two parents that have had a dwarf, then that alone blows your theory out of the water.


John