The peer reviewed research paper on HWSD has now been published.
This is the peer review that the president of the ICCPS and the CPBS Council required before these august bodies would act in any positive manner with regards to the issue of HWSD.
The CPBS wanted proof that HWSD is in fact a real disease before they formulated a breeding plan.
Now logic would dictate that any 'breeding plans' should have already been ready for discussion, immediately that the CPBS and ICCPS demands for peer review were fulfilled.
So, what IS the much vaunted 'breeding plan' for the future of the Connemara pony? Where can it be read? When is the discussion going to happen?
Discussion from all stakeholders is needed before any decisions are made about 'breeding plans' which have the potential to either reduce the carrier incidence of HWSD or alternatively contribute to the demise of the Connemara pony totally.
Sadly, history demonstrates that the latter is more likely to occur than the former. The over selection of specific bloodlines and the subsequent loss of genetic diversity, as the result of the inspection process, is a major contributor to the rising incidence of HWSD in the international Connemara pony genepool.
The continuation of such practices as selection through inspection, is only likely to increase the likelihood of other genetic diseases arising in the breed. If genetic diversity is not encouraged in the here and now, then the future for the breed is grim and increasingly at risk.
Exclusion of carrier ponies and affected females from the breeding herd will spell doomsday.
Had the CPBS and the ICCPS not had their collective heads deeply buried in the sand for the past five years, then they would have already had productive discussions with stakeholders and have also some kind of plan mapped out, if not ready to implement.
As robustly evidenced at the recent meeting at Clifden on the 28 March 2015 the 'powers that be' are still in denial mode.
C'est la vie.
