New stallion to be

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minijoyj

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Sat. I bought a black Pinto 29 1/4 in. tall. He is 18 months old. He has 1 testicle right now. Does he still have time to drop the other one. The man that I got him from said that he already bred with a mare. What I really want to know is if anyone has heard of any of his parentage.

His Sire is:

Double S Acres Billy The Kid

Dam:

Mini Gaits Destiny by Design

GrandSire:

Double S Acres Mr. Flash

GrandDam:

HNF'S MARGARITA OF DOUBLE S

Grandsire:SIR WINSTON

Grandam:

NELSONS SWAN PRINCESS
 
Yes he still has time for the other one to drop. HOwever he should NOT be used for breeding with out haveing both of them.

NOt dropping them both can be a genetic thing.
 
[SIZE=14pt]None of those horses are familiar to me. I would not try to breed with him yet either if he were mine. He does have time to still drop though.[/SIZE]

Lyn
 
While many people might disagree with me I believe the retained testical problem is a genetic issue. Breeding with a line that tends to retain them will just perpetuate the issue. Many horses are fully decended shortly after birth and unless this is a bloodline that is valued and in great demand I would (my opinion as I look for flame retardent suit again) steer away from stallions who have not decended.
 
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Geese you are correct not dropping testes is a genic problem A few years ago a very popular stallion only had one . He was bred anyway because he produced reall great babies. But almost 25% of his boys had only one. Also almost 15% of his grand-git had only one.

justaboutgeese said:
While many people might disagree with me I believe the retained testical problem is a genetic issue.  Breeding with a line that tends to retain them will just perpetuate the issue.  Many  horses are fully decended shortly after birth  and unless this is a bloodline that is valued and in great demand I would (my opinion as I look for flame retardent suit again) steer away from stallions who have not decended.
478039[/snapback]

 
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Of course it's genetic!!! What else could it be??? I would not hold my breathe waiting for the other one- sorry- and I would not entertain buying, as a potential stallion, a horse with only one descended testicle at 18 months!! ALL colts MUST have tow descended testicles at birth or within two three days of birth. After that the linguinal ring closes and the testicle cannot descend through it- this is a true Mon or Crypt orchid, depending on whether one or two are retained. Some horses have small testicles, descended beyond the linguinal ring but not descended into the scrotum, if one descends it is bad news as this one, clear of body heat and able to make fertile sperm, then develops at the cost of the other. I would be happier (but NOT happy) with a colt with NO testicles than with one. Unless your seller is willing to guarantee the other ones arrival I would give this horse a pass!!!
 
I had a friend just last year that bought a stud that was two years old that only had one testicle. That was one area she forgot to check before buying
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Anyway, they wouldn't take him back so she was stuck. The vet said keep him in a big area where he has lots of room to run and the other one would very likely drop. Sure enough, at two years and ten months, he suddenly had a double set. They had given up by then and when they called the vet to tell her she was right, the vet said it was the fourth case in two years that she personally had dealt with where they had dropped after the mini horse was two. Don't give up hope just yet! Linda
 
Contrary to the previous poster its not a matter of giving up on theirs horse as a potential breeding stallion. The question I raise is this a trait mini owners or breeders should be carrying on by continuing to breed with them ??
 
Please don't give up hope YET.

Scott Creek Farms has an excellent article on this subject in their horse health page that I would recommend reading. They've been breeding minis for well over 25 years.

MA
 
Actually most of our stallions that we've raised or bought as weanlings (About 15 over the last 15 years) have not dropped completely until their 3rd or even 4th year. If your stallion is just 2 I would definitely not be worried at all yet. When he's well into his third year and he hasn't dropped I'd start to worry a little but I wouldn't do anything too drastic (especially if you really like him) until he is probably four maybe even five. If you can, try and contact the breeders about the sire-see if they know how old he was when he dropped, if he has any history of retained testis , and if they have retained any colts-how long it took them to drop. I've noticed that it kinda runs in the family as to the time it takes for them to drop completely. Please DO NOT breed him yet-even if he isn't a chryptorchid it could effect his fertility later on if you breed him when he hasn't dropped completely.
 
[SIZE=14pt]My vet (also my boss) will argue that a mini is just like any other horse and should drop at birth........ saying that he checked my yearling and couldnt find the second one so I wanted him gelded... 2 months later it was his turn to be gelded and it had dropped...... so whos right and whos wrong about minis dropping later???? NONE of my boys have been born with 2 down. I also had a 2 YO gelded this year ( half brother to the yearling same mare) that hadnt dropped till after he was 2. I personal geld all of mine anyway so it dosent matter if they are dropped when they are born. If I where searching for a future herd sire I would want both down.........[/SIZE]

April
 
All of our colts have been dropped at birth, as far as I can recall......and then most of them "pull them back up" and drop again later. The age of when they drop again is the worrisome part.

I don't care what anyone else says (who are big horse breeders) but minis ARE different. Very often the age of dropping seems to be hereditary. This makes it very awkward for people who want to show their 3 year old stallion who doesn't drop til later in the year ..... or for people that want to breed their two year old stallion that has only one decended.

One thing I would NOT advise is to breed a young stallion that doesn't have BOTH testicles decended. I do recommend people to do some homework on their fellow's pedigree on the subject. Some breeders will be very open and honest about the subject (which is helpful and what you want) and there may be some breeders that won't want to talk (which is a shame.).

I would like to say outright that we have had one colt that has not decended a second testicle yet and he is a 2 year old. His owner has had him vet checked and there is another one up there! We also have a colt that we purchased from another farm who is THREE and I am holding my breath right now because BOTH have not decended to date.

So....there you go..... I still recommend that people check out what Scott Creek Farm has written on the subject. They have been breeding for many more years than a majority of us and have some wonderful insights.

All for now,

MA
 
I have been told from many accounts that some certain lines should not be given up on until they are 5 years - apparantly even there teeth are that of an immature horses - they are late maturers. Your horse is not from the lines I know. If you really want to know where you are at. Find an equine specialist who can sedate your horse and ultrasound him so you know if the second testi is through the ring or not. If it is not you have no hope but if it is it should drop. But remind the specialist that these are miniature horses so the testi being undecended can be the size of a pea (they grow to full size once dropped - even if late).
 
JMO my yearling stallion has not droped....his 2 year old brother just droped.....I'm new to mini's but tend to think maybe they are there at birth then hide and come out at there own time....I have bred /foaled out large horse's and have seen the same thing happen there....We had a Morgan stallion that was droped at about a week then they "went away" they came back at age 2 1/2.....

So my guess would be yes it is possible they will drop.. JMO

" I don't claim to know about anything I am talking about "

Jenn
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All that colts that we have raised have had 2 testicles present at birth, and in the Minis most of those colts have not had them "disappear", which surprises me.

However, we have bought several colts, as weanlings, and I cannot say if theirs were present at birth or not...of the two that we bred with, one had his 2nd one drop when he was 18 mos. old, the other one was just past 2 (about 25 mos.) when the 2nd one dropped...each of these horses has sired one colt for us; I know that's not much of a number, but both of those colts had both present at birth & they have not gone up & out of reach. So it isn't ALWAYS a case of like father like son. I do agree, though, that true cryptorchidism is often hereditary, and in many cases a stallion that is late to drop will sire late dropping foals. Maybe that's usually true, but not always...

One colt that we bought still did not have any testicles down at a full 2 years of age. At that point we were starting to worry that we were going to have problems getting this fellow gelded--there were a couple times when I thought I felt a tiny little "pebble", and I was thinking maybe if we were lucky they were actually there, just very, very small for some reason. Well, one day just a week past his 2nd birthday Silver had one drop down--one very large, well developed one! The 2nd one, equally large & well developed, made its appearance about a month later. Gelding him was easy after all!

Up to the age of 18 months I don't worry too much--after all, it's common enough even for big horse colts to not drop until they're 18 mos. old. After that, though, I do get concerned, even though more than one breeder has told me it's "common" for Minis to not drop the 2nd one until their 3 year old year. I don't want to wait that long, thank you!
 
I am really surprised at the responses that this thread has generated. I get the impression that there are many breeders who are accepting of the fact that minis drop late, retain their testicles until 2, possibly 3 or more years of age. If you breed with this type of animals the chances are very strong the offspring will be the same and it is not a desirable trait. These are not traits that better the breed or are necessarily safe for the horses. If only the best are bred the breed will improve, if breeding faults is accepted then the breed suffers in the long run. I am not saying that these animals should not be purchased or shown I am thinking its not smart to put them in your breeding program then claim to be working towards improving the breed (Where did I put that flame proof suit ?)
 
I dont consider it to be a fault unless they dont drop period. We had a stallion that didnt drop fully til he was 4. He hadnt passed that trait on to any of his foals in the time that we owned him.

I have always heard the genral rule is if they were down at birth they will more then likely re-appear again later.
 
They HAVE to be down at birth, I cannot stress this strongly enough. If you think they are not , and have a colt that has gone on to develop normally, I suggest you are not checking correctly, sorry!!! If this were a colt waiting to be gelded, I would say, don't worry too much, the other one is probably tiny and is actually already there- it just needs someone who knows what they are doing to find it, BUT this is a colt bought as a stallion potential- and, IMO a colt with one testicle is NOT stallion potential- I would hand him back myself or ask for a written guarantee or money back- very few breeders would be willing to do this and this would allow you to assess just how sure they are that the other one will appear. I am especially suspect as he has already bred a mare- if they are going to appear this is one way to find them- usually. I am 100% with 'geese on this- these colts should not be bred form, this is a hereditary fault. Vic, do you have room in that flameproof suit for a little one
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??
 
My colt that has 1 done is 4yrs old (he is really, really special - that is why I am taking the gamble that the second will reapear).

Both testies were there at birth - it was checked very well (no mistakes there).

Maybe his second is there but smaller now??? My vet can not feel it.

I will be getting an ultrasound done in about 2 weeks time to see what is going on.
 

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