Looking at a 2yo, met the dam and at 25yo has noticeably dropped fetlocks. She did have a long jumper career. Anything to worry about?
I would be wary. Researchers have found a gene sequence(?) in Paso Finos related to DSLD. But in other horses there is suspected to be a genetic link but not enough is understood about the heredity of the defect despite research. I had a friend that had a mare whose fetlocks dropped when she was pregnant. Up to that point she had some strange “symptoms” but nothing that was linked to DSLD. She was fine and then her fetlocks dropped. She lost the foal in birth because she did not lie down to foal and the foal dropped and was injured so no way to tell if it was a trait that she passed on. Owner never knew for sure if the mare had DSLD but decided to never breed her again. I have also read that sometimes broodmares have dropped fetlocks due to the ligaments relaxing prior to giving birth.
I wish more was known about DSLD, ESPA, etc. and I hope researchers find more answers.
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If the mare is TB, this is not a common genetic problem in TBs, but it does happen sometimes. I had a TB mare who did develop this issue later in life. It happened suddenly, not there the previous day, next day… there it was. She never really showed a pain response, just the dropped pasterns. She would have been in her teens when it happened. Her offspring never developed the issue. I still have her first foal, who I raced and then jumped competitively. She is 24 this year. No dropped pasterns on her yet.
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Fortunately I have no personal experience with dropped fetlocks. That being said, I would tend to give a 25 year old mare, especially one who has been a broodmare, the benefit of the doubt.
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Sorry, genetics will tell, and usually all the bad ones appear. I would totally pass on a young horse out of a mare with dropped fetlocks. Maybe you don’t plan to keep horse very long, hope it doesn’t drop while you own it. But it COULD drop at any age. May not be a usage issue, just weak fetlocks “run in the family.”
For me, there are enough things that “just happen” when owning horses. I am not buying one with a family history of issues, or showing some kind of issue before it has even started a work life! Why buy future trouble?
Pass!
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Depends on the cause, tbh. Injuries, esp suspensory if that is what turned her from a jumper to a broodmare? I wouldn’t worry too much. No injuries? Or evidence of ESPA earlier in her life if you can find pictures? Different story.
I’ve had two with ESPA. One was PTS a couple months before he was 14 and it broke my heart, but it was rapidly evolving and he was climbing the walls while I was trying to keep him inactive. He blew a suspensory right in front of me and we got it fixed and he was approved for handwalking and then light turnout. First time in light turnout, he blew the other suspensory, again right in front of me and all he did was get up from rolling and then do a little buck. Too much shitty luck, he was a difficult horse to manage for 12 years and honestly getting him to almost 14 was a feat in and of itself. Neither of his parents in photos appeared to have it, though I would call his dam (TB in her 20s when I saw her) post legged but I don’t recall specifically her looking as if she had dropped fetlocks. I am avoiding the sire line for other reasons.
Flip side, I have a 31 yo with ESPA and while he was retired at a relatively early age (17ish) from showing and jumping, it was from arthritis from a fractured short coffin bone, and he was still doing some w/t lessons and trail riding until his mid-20s. He is obviously ESPA now and lives on equioxx and the ESPA will probably be the end of him but he is going strong with great quality of life.
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When did the mare develop the dropped fetlocks? Any chance they have pictures of the mare from previous years? Does she have any other signs of DSLD/ESPA? I am wondering if it is actually DSLD or age and jumping related? If it is DSLD it is hereditary and a most miserable thing to watch develop.
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This is all really helpful, thank you all so much.
I’ll likely pass on this filly for other reasons (I think I found something I like more), but to follow up on some questions:
I saw a lot of videos of the mare competing but I don’t know the age she was retired or why. It is definitely the next question I’d ask if I were to pursue her.
The mare is WB.
The mare had a good career and was quite competitive. She is very much the ride I like based on what I saw, and the stallion is a well known, popular, incredibly talented horse. As @goodhors said, there are too many other things that can happen, I want to buy as good of a prospect as I can. Who knows if this is genetic or not, but I have some things to consider.
Thank you all again!
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I think you all are being hard on this mare. She is 25 and had a performance career. My understanding is that the progesterone that relaxes ligaments to allow the birthing process can be cumulative and that is why some older mares who have produced a lot of foals can have sagging ligaments.
It would be part of my considerations, but not an automatic no.
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