DWARFISM. Now I am not talking about human dwarfism, although I DO think that dwarfed humans should choose NOT to reproduce for the good of those potential children. Why? Because dwarfs are not just small people, they can have significant and life threatening health problems and complications due to their condition. Why bring a child into the world you KNOW might very well have a painful life of multiple surgeries and emergency hospital stays? WHY? Stop producing more of the same problem! Just because YOU are a dwarf does not mean you shouldn't be loved, respected, and honored just as much as any other human, but don't be selfish and produce a child who will potentially have the same painful disease. Its mean.
Anyways, it is also mean in horses. Most (if not all, I'm not sure) minis have dwarf ancestors somewhere in their pedigree who carry the gene responsible for the disease. Breeding ANY miniature with dwarfs in its lineage could result in a dwarf foal, many of whom do not live and if they do, can suffer from a poor quality of life due to limb deformities, skeleton issues, and issues involving their internal organs. The problem is, that it is hard to know what horses in your mini's pedigree WERE dwarfs as they are not registered as such. You can have a very tiny mini who is NOT a dwarf, as well as individuals on the taller end of the spectrum that ARE.
Unfortunately, unless you can actually see all of the minis in your horse's pedigree in photos or in person, it will be very hard for you to determine if your mini carries the dwarfism gene. The only real way to test your mare/stud is to breed it and see if it produces a dwarf. If it does, you no longer breed it, however that first "test" foal suffers the consequences of dying or living with painful health problems. I believe this is the common practice amongst mini breeders.
Extreme leg deformities, enlarged joints and other very painful leg problems are common in dwarfs. Early onset arthritis is common as well as vertebrae deviations (bad and most likely painful backs). Sometimes associated with the various dwarfism syndromes are less obvious characteristics such as mental retardation, heart and other internal organ defects, sterility, shortened life span, arthritis and inactivity or depression (both of which are probably due to pain). "Gee, sounds like a risk we should take, don't you think Bonnie? The little guy might have heart defects and be in continuous pain, but the chance is small enough we are willing to potentially create a miserable little creature."Assholes.
I at least hope that responsible (if you can REALLY be responsible breeding horses with so many potential health problems) mini breeders at least know that the dam/sire, grand dam/sire, and great grand dam/sire are NOT dwarfs before breeding ANY mini. However, the dwarf gene can hide phenotypically, but can still be carried by a normal appearing individual. Therefore, you could still (theoretically) get a dwarf out of parents whose last two generations were not dwarfs themselves. Seeing the ridiculously high mortality rate in mini foals, and the painful deaths/lives of dwarves, I really do not think this is a risk anyone should be taking in breeding animals. I do not care if the risk factor in breeding two non-dwarfs with non-dwarf parents is a low percentage, there is still A CHANCE of having a suffering little dwarf foal. It is cruel. You can defend yourself until the day is done mini people, but I think you are asshats for breeding these poor little ponies!
The day they have a concrete test for any and all dwarfism genes, and the day mini breeders start testing EVERY breeding animal and sterilizing or not breeding ANY mini testing positive for the gene...well, that is the day I will stop calling you scumbags for breeding miniature horses.
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