It was a rhetorical question. 
The AQHA was picky about the markings, but they allowed HYPP to roar on, even after the high white rule was abolished. Yes lawsuits won the day , but is that really the path that WB breeders want to emulate?
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White on working horses was considered bad because they would sunburn, have problems in windy and dusty conditions and get more cancer.
Also white feet were considered less hardy, some are, some are fine.
Yes, white lethal foal syndrome was real, the genetics then not quite understood.
We had one such born and at that time they thought it was from using a palomino stallion, a recessive gene on a buckskin mare.
Now we know it was because the mare had too much white, before the white rule, so that is where that gene came from.
The AQHA is who funded research on genetics including the studies on HYPP and how to test for it and other genetic diseases.
Genetics has been only really understood the past century, before there were many old wives tales, why rules for associations have changed over the years as knowledge advanced.
Sorry I don’t seem to be able to explain what we lived thru during those years.
The AQHA didn’t “allowed HYPP to roar on”?
Their legal team presented a plan, best they could, to handle HYPP over time in a manner to eliminate lawsuits, with testing and measured registration requirements according to testing results and registration papers indicating HYPP status.
The AQHA was trying to do what is best, in the given environment.
Some of the breeders were shortsighted and had strong opinions and we may assume sketchy ethics.
Seems that plenty still do today and associations can only do so much.
Once they give registration papers, as per existing laws, the owner of that foal is really free to manage it as it sees best.
Maybe we need more laws to impose some common sense?
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That hits the nail on the head right there. Breeders would have been a LOT more compliant if they couldn’t register the offspring of HYPP carriers. Would it suck for many breeders? Sure. Would everyone pretty much get over it in time? Yup, because horse people are resilient.
So, yes, imposing a simple common sense ‘law’ in this case would be a solution, maybe not a popular one with some folks, but those are the ones that are not responsible anyway so it would presumably hit those folks and the ones that ARE responsible would not be affected by it.
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This?
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And the lawsuits that would have followed would have ruined the Association financially. The money involved by the halter horse breeders is/was huge. The ET suit just about killed AQHA. I’m sure the big money warmblood breeders would be as PO’ed about their stallions being considered ineligible for breeding because of the many things being discussed, which might explain some of the foot dragging on the various associations.
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H/H carriers of HYPP have not been eligible for registry in AQHA since 2007.
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Yawn. “We can’t because money.”
If AQHA had actually had some fortitude to address the problem and had theoretically gone bust because the masses don’t like what’s right but do like money, do you really think there would be no association built to replace it?
Why is money more sacred than healthy horses? Why is money more sacred than people able to enjoy their horses without fear of them having an episode or eventually having an episode?
If a bridge were built with known faulty parts and most people using the left lane were ok, but ya know, guard rails on the right side would have been too expensive, so, meh, the right lane only takes out about 25% of users, and only on windy days.
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What do you expect people to do? If the issue can’t be tested for, the best one can do is track offspring within the lines and try to figure out where defaults are originating from. Social media and breeders being more interconnected is helping. There are very few WB breeders who are purposely breeding genetic defaults in their stock - it is detrimental to their program on so many levels.
@Bluey - well said WRT HYPP/AQHA.
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Yawn. So classy a response. So the association was supposed to sink themselves over a small portion of the breed population? You do know that right? Halter horses are a small part of AQHA. AQHA has put money into the genetic testing for everything that has come down the pipes, and registration papers are marked for 5 panel test results. I’d be interested in seeing the information on the warmblood registries funding studies for the defects that are showing up.
I guess you were out defending all the big WB studs when the WWF story was the big talk a couple (?) years back and some were flat out not going to test their big money stallions because “they were fine”?
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WTactualF?
Why on earth would someone who is vehemently against breeding stock that carry genes that can cause major issues be ok with warmblood breeders who are too frightened to test? They wouldn’t.
And yes, I know how AQHA papers are marked and that marked papers don’t stop stupid breeders from doing what the he’ll they want and breeding Willy nilly because they believe so strongly in their own luck (and to hell with everyone else’s). And let’s add that if you don’t like the look of those papers, you shred them and sell the horse as grade. Then some idiot not knowing what they’ve got, not even knowing there might be a problem let alone a test for it, breeds that horse. The problem does not stop at marked papers.
Honestly, I cannot wait for the day that breeds really get their shit together and start properly classifying and tracking dams, sires, and progeny similar to the way Holstein cattle are tracked.
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Re: the bolded
Are you talking about a breeder that refused to test for WFFS in the first part? Or…?
Why are you clumping all breeders in together with the really terrible ones?
And what are you talking about as far as Holsteins? Do you believe pedigrees aren’t tracked WRT WBs, etc? I don’t know anything about breeding cattle. Are you referring to genetic tests available for cattle that are not available for horses? If so, why are you condemning breeders for not doing something they don’t even have the capability of doing? Such as nonexistent tests for certain genetic issues? (Sorry if that is not what you are implying).
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“The AQHA allowed people to keep on breeding horses that passed on a devastating, many times deadly, and entirely preventable disease.” I saw this back when I was breeding dogs. Schipperkes carry a gene that produces a usually human illness called MPSBII. Dogs are the only non-human species to carry this, and Schipperkes are the only dog breed to carry it. It is 100% fatal to the litter. I had my breeding pair tested, and neither of them carried the gene, so I felt good. That disease could be eliminated in a few generations, but people are STILL breeding known carriers to non-carriers, thinking that’s safe. It boggles the mind that people would be so greedy as to not take the opportunity to eliminate a known genetic disease!
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Um, go back and read again. I think you may be calling me out for things I didn’t actually say.
I don’t expect anyone to magically act on something that isn’t know yet.
I don’t lump good breeders and crappy and backyard breeders together.
I did not bring up the WFFS thing, but responded to it when it got brought up in response to a post about AQHA breeding issues.
Re: cattle, it goes WAY beyond genomics and all the fancy new tests we have now back to classifying cattle by body part as well as production, progeny, etc. Which is still done today. It makes all horse breeding standards look like a joke. Which, no, they are not, but in comparison, Holstein classifying is far more stringent than anything any horse breed has and they are getting much better about looking forward as they look back - i.e. a bull may raise the milk quotient a ton, but if it ends up putting crappy feet on those high milkers, he’s not going to last - OR, if there are certain lines he crosses with that get the best of both, he will be recommended to those that have those lines and not even show up on the breeding sheet of those that don’t.
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DSLD is a problem in Saddlebreds as well. The swayed back issue comes from genetics as well. Saddlebreds also have a particular issue in that the gene pool is shrinking as fewer and fewer of them are bred every year. That’s going to cause these heritable diseases (and new ones) to continue to proliferate just like they have in some breeds of dog.
I would have thought initially that the warmbloods would have been less prone to it, given that many registries accepted outside blood (and bred for type instead of breed). But - the popularity of certain lines most likely keeps things perpetuating.
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I’m not calling you out for anything. I asked questions. Calling you out would look much different, that I can assure you.
It would be great if we had the technology and testing capabilities for horses that we do for cattle. But we do not.
I also still do not understand what genetic test you are referring to regarding the stallion owner that refused to test but if you don’t want to answer that question, then ok.
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Yes! From 2017.
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I also feel like HYPP was being dealt with in early days of genetic testing, when even the concept of testing was not widely known. And it was a relatively new disease with inconsistent presentation.
We have learned a lot about genetic testing since then, so HYPP should be somethung registeries should learn from.
I wonder about the fact that QH is the prominent breed in North America while the main WB registries are European. They may just have not been as exposed to that particular genetic debacle. And as HYPP is slowly bred out of the QH population people stop thinking about it.
Also it seems there isn’t yet a clear genetic test for these orthopedic anomalies. That makes it really hard to regulate.
I was responding to the quote above. Nothing to do with any particular breeder.
Otoh, back 20 or so years ago, I had a friend who was looking to breed a mare. I don’t remember all the details, but because of family history, she wanted to have a blood test done on stallions she was considering for her mare so she wouldn’t end up with the equivalent of an orphan foal due to harmful antibodies in the mare’s milk. (Please don’t quiz me - it was a long time ago, and not my circus lol, but she had a very legit reason for wanting to make sure mare and stallion were chemically compatible.)
There was more than one stallion owner who refused (and lost her business) a simple blood test that the mare owner was willing to pay for - vet call fee and all.
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Makes sense it would be hard to capture by x-ray/imaging. But this is interesting, evaluating as foals–(less mass to deal with ??) --the article is from 1993! 
If it is inheritable, you would think it would adversely impact thoroughbred performance and hence being an undesirable effect, be bred out of the population because those specimens would have limited opportunity to reproduce?
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Thanks for the link!
“It is entirely possible that at higher levels, pre-purchase examination radiographs will come to include a check on C6. While it’s not possible to radiograph the deeply positioned C7, we do at least know that this will only be present if the C6 anomaly exists.”
So it looks like when I win the lottery and decide to blow it on high priced thoroughbred yearlings (better then drugs and expensive cars!) this might be an option?
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