Hi Ray, You posted the following photo on the BOOB page and had a comment about the mare being in foal. Since HWSS in the Connemara has been determined to be genetic--may I ask----why is this mare producing foals???
I thought with that disease the chances of the foals having that problem are slim to none its genetic but its a freak genetic occurrence that only happens with certain rare pairings of genetics. The mare crossed with 99% of stallions wont produce the same problem. Seems like a silly question anyway for someone around horses as long as you Denise, why are club footed horses bred why are there stallions with severe angular deformities bred. In some cases the owners are idiots and in some cases or $$$$ is the name of the game.
folk seem to forget that it is a multi million pound industry and they are not horses but a commodity
The chances of the foal having the disease are increased if both dam and sire are carriers and until there is a blood test to identify the carriers, you won't know that either are carriers till the foal develops the disease. As more and more carriers are bred and born into the population you will see the problem get bigger. This mare is obviously a carrier (and her dam and sire would both be carriers) and should be eliminated from any breeding. But you're right, it probably gets down to a breeder making money or turning a blind eye to the problem and taking their chances the foal won't be born with the disease (or if they're born with it, the breeders just don't care, as they're just selling for horsemeat as Chris pointed out)....Sigh....
