terminology question

[skip916]

I have been informed by a fellow COTHer on the eventing forum that you only call two horses "half-siblings" if they have the same dam... what do you call them if they have the same sire? Dying to know this! thanks!

[Bayhawk]

I have been informed by a fellow COTHer on the eventing forum that you only call two horses "half-siblings" if they have the same dam... what do you call them if they have the same sire? Dying to know this! thanks!

Paternal half siblings. The reason for this is that many horses can have the same father, so it is widely accepted that "half siblings" are more importantly recognized as coming from the same dam.

[Indy-lou]

Thanks for asking and posting on this question. It's a pet peeve of mine that many people use terms for siblings incorrectly (outside of the historical standard within the horse breeding industry) when describing familial relationships in horses.

[skip916]

thanks for replying- its always nice to learn something new!

[Daventry]

I hate when this subject comes up on here. :lol: There have been many past threads on the subject...and it's always resulted in a variety of answers. Some agree with the terminology, others don't. I'm of the opinion that no matter how many offspring a stallion produces, they ARE half siblings. DNA is DNA.

It should be noted that the term half siblings only being referred to dam siblings comes from the Thoroughbred racing world. The term half siblings is routinely used in Europe to describe offspring of either a mare or a sire.

[Indy-lou]

Uh oh. Controversy lurks! Yes, I admit my usage of the term comes from the Thoroughbred world. I still think qualifying the term sibling with either "maternal" or "paternal" is just effective communication.

[Janet]

I call them "by the same sire".

[Small Spark]

Sometimes you will hear them referred to as Seminal or Uterine half siblings as well.

[LaurieB]

I call them "by the same sire".

Me, too.

[ne1]

The term half siblings is routinely used in Europe to describe offspring of either a mare or a sire.

um, no. incorrect. you must be in different areas of europe.

[Bayhawk]

um, no. incorrect. you must be in different areas of europe.

Nick is right. Clarimo and Cassini are prime examples. They are referred to as half siblings beacause they are from the same mother. You rarely , if at all , will hear the Germans call the Capitol sons Cassini and Carthago half brothers. It's just not done.

[TKR]

My understanding is that o/o the same dam is a half sibling and by the same sire is simply "family of" or "same sire/sireline". That sort of reinforces the significance of the damline and if you look at Thoroughbred catalog pages for their sales venues, you'll see the sire listed at the top under the pedigree and the rest is devoted to the damline.
PennyG