Vale for Crafty

Rosewood Witchcraft (Crafty) brought a public face to this dreadful (and soon be preventable) condition of HWSS. 

Because her owner and breeder was prepared to publicly talk about her pony, Crafty became the 'poster-child' of the HWSS research project.

It was Crafty's visit as a foal at foot, to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at UC Davis, which spurred the geneticists of the Bannasch laboratory to take on the HWSS research.

To see condition in the flesh really shocked all of the vets involved in her work-up.  Photographs just do not, and cannot show the reality of this condition in the severe form.

Crafty supplied a blood sample which was used in the very first tranche of the GWAS study.

Of the 18 affected ponies which comprised the first and second stages of the GWAS study, since October 2011, seven of these ponies have had to be euthanased on humane grounds.

Sadly, now Crafty has joined her peers.

"Crafty was put down on Tuesday  morning [24 Sept 2013]. She had her fill of hay and a quart of omaleen before the vet arrived. It was quiet, without stress and pain-free. She is buried near the pasture where she played, with a new apple tree and summer lilies. 

Her final contributions have been shipped to UC Davis. Crafty was very lame and her feet were literally falling apart. We managed well for 2 years but the last six months were really going down hill. I think she just got too big and heavy for those fragile feet to carry her." (Darian Hall, owner and breeder of Crafty).

Darian made the difficult decision to have her vet take various tissue samples, as instructed by the researchers at Bannasch, before Crafty was buried.  This is what she refers to as being Crafty's 'final contributions'.

This is a recent photograph of one of Crafty's feet.

There are sadly, still many people in the Connemara Pony breeding community (especially those in a positions of power in the CPBS) who cannot, will not or choose not, to accept that HWSS even exists at all, never mind that it has a genetic cause.

Please people open up your minds.  Acceptance that there is a problem is the first step to eliminating that problem.  Doing nothing will cost more in monetary terms in the long term, than any short term loss which could result from acknowledging the problem.

Sadness is having a pony born with a condition for which there is no treatment.

Our condolences to Crafty's owner and breeder plus her extended Facebook family.

A Picture Story of the Hooves of an HWSS Affected Pony

This is the story of a pony in Germany.  This pony although born and reared in Germany has parents which were born and reared in Ireland and is in fact of solely Irish bloodlines.

"My pony came to me in Oct. 2009. Her hoofs naked and bad. I thought with some serious hoofcare it would go better day by day. So I tried hard for 1 year. Than I decided to give her iron shoes. The effect was, that she could go without pain for the first time. The horn growed longer and it looked really nice. See pics from Feb. 2011". 

Even though the pony was shod she still required support of bonding agents around the hoof wall but the hoof does  show a normal form.

The sole.

One shod hoof and the other hoof still to be treated.  The pony was kept pain free with diligent hoof  care.

"In May, at the end of her pregnancy, she was lame on her right front-hoof. Shoe away and we looked for an abscess. Not  one found. Bandage (see pic.). 

"This got lost and so the wall :(."

The unprotected hoof (not shod and bandage lost) disintegrated virtually overnight and this is the result.  Notice that the disintegration is between the layers of the hoof wall, not between the hoof wall and the underlying laminae as would be seen in White Line Disease.

The sole picture also shows that the breakdown is between the layers of the hoof wall and not in the white line.

Shoes and casting materials back in place. May 2011.

Then just 5 days ago (Feb 2012),  the weather changed from a period of heavy dry frost (-10--20C) to +2C and wet conditions.   A series of large chips broke and peeled from this hoof.  If you look closely you can clearly see the hoof tubules within the layers of the hoof wall.

The owner decided that something useful should come from yet another setback with the pony's feet and has photographed the hoof pieces from all angles and referenced them to a measuring tape.  The pieces have been labelled and stored in the correct manner in the owner's household freezer; just waiting for someone to take on further research on the biochemistry of these abnormal hooves.

This pony foaled in May a colt (now gelded)  His feet are absolutely normal.  This pony has sire siblings which also have HWSS.   Remember  the dam of this pony and other other affected ponies ALSO has to be a carrier; one cannot 'just' implicate the 'stallion lines' with this condition.

Thank you to this pony's owner for allowing the research group to use these photos and tell his and the pony's story.

Genetic Diseases; why some people persist in breeding animals with them.

"Genetic Diseases in dogs and cats; What can we really do about them?"  (Robson, Mark. Vetscript, June 2009, page 6. Wellington, New Zealand)

What relevance does a paper on dogs and cats have to the issue of HWSS in ponies?  

Whatever the species, the principles of breeding sound, disease free animals is the same.  One of the comments Robson makes is that "one thing we have learned from dealing with breeders for many years is that logic does not often come into decision making".

Robson believes breeders are driven by the three 'Es': ego, emotion and economics. He goes onto express the opinion that for many breeders, the prestige of winning will overcome any long-term concerns genetic problems may cause in their dog's health.  Ego takes precedence over common sense.  Strong words?  Yes, but think about it.

Years spent breeding a line of animals with a particular appearance (type) which then turns up with a genetic defect is emotionally painful as well as a blow to the ego.  "Emotion may cloud a breeder's judgement and he or she may breed from favourites even when there is mounting evidence of ill-health in the line." (Robson).
The thought that years of hard work and breeding has resulted in the appearance of a genetic defect is very difficult for anyone to accept.  Denial is going to happen, it is a normal human response and is in fact the manner by which an individual's mental health is maintained until such time as they can cope appropriately with the challenge placed before them.  Also consider the scenario where all the animals on a property are afflicted. The defect is seen as 'normal' for the people who deal with the animals on an everyday basis and they actually cannot see that there is a problem, until it is pointed out by an uninvolved third party.

People who know that there is a problem within their breed (for example in specific dogs breeds  such as British Bulldogs or HYPP positive  horses) but who choose to continue to breed affected and afflicted animals are not 'in denial' from a mental health perspective.   Choosing to  continue to breed from these lines  is  considered to be more likely to be made on economic grounds.  Robson then goes onto say "where large numbers of animals are bred, concerns about individual animals and any genetic defects are lost in the herd mentality where the dollars are the primary endpoint" and is referring in this case to 'puppy mills'.  The equivalent to 'puppy mills' are found in horse breeding worldwide.

It is not all doom and gloom though.  Many breed societies do now have genetic screening tests for known genetic problems. To reduce the incidence in the population they require the results to be included on registration papers.   With some breeds and species a single copy of  a mutated gene is considered to be an asset, but active doubling up of the gene is strenuously avoided (for example the double muscling gene in breeds of beef cattle and sheep).   In most cases involving  horses  (as opposed to commercial food animals) the work to find out what the mutation actually is, has been both led and driven by the people most affected - the breeders who have had the misfortune to inadvertently breed affected ponies; this is certainly the case with the HWSS research.

Some countries now consider that breeding animals with a known genetic defect to be an Animal Welfare Issue, dictating that to do so is an offence under that country's legislation.  Now that the genetic link has been proven for HWSS, breeders within such jurisdictions will need to be assured of the HWSS status of any ponies which they may wish to sell or purchase in the future; to not do so could make  them  vulnerable to possible litigation. 

The next step in the HWSS journey is to find the specific mutation and develop a commercial screening test for it.  Once the screening test is perfected this will also be able to be used  for other horse/pony breeds.  The research group now has notifications from several individuals with concerns that HWSS also occurs in their own breeds.

Unless a problem is of high economic significance or of national or international importance, researchers only go 'looking' when 'someone' tells them that there is a problem which needs investigation; and of course also supplies the funding to pay for the research.

If everyone who reads this blog (and there are LOTS of you) were to donate $10, that would make a sizeable dent in the money needed to get the second stage of the research under way.   The last update from the Centre for Equine Health who are responsible for administering the donated funds for the HWSS research project was that the amount still required to start the second phase was $3500.00.

You can help the researchers at the Bannasch Laboratory help us, the breeders to 'get it right' with HWSS.  Put aside Ego, Emotion and Economics and make a small donation to UC Davis donation page