Prospect with Dam that had DSLD?

[Nova2000]

I’ve been searching for an all around dressage/ jumper/ eventing prospect. After a couple months of being let down repeatedly, I have fallen in love with an RPSI coming 4 YO. I’m getting ready to schedule the PPE, and just found out her mother has DSLD. She was put down as a 21 year old. She had a successful eventing career and then was bred.

Would knowing that keep you from considering the horse? Or would there be certain things to ask the vet to look for in the PPE?

Hopefully I’ve put this in the right forum.

[fordtraktor]

I wouldn’t risk it. I had a DSLD gelding. You couldn’t really tell much when he was 4. By 8 he was basically unrideable. There isn’t any noninvasive test and even then, the tests are often not conclusive. It also isn’t known how DSLD is transmitted. So many nice prospects out there, I’d avoid this one.

[Edre]

First, get clarification if you haven’t already: was she actually diagnosed with DSLD or did she suffer from soft pasterns that perhaps experienced some typical wear and tear per the age of the mare by the time she was euthanized.

If it was an actual DSLD diagnosis I would very likely pass. Unfortunately for the equestrian world, DSLD is still no where close to being truly understood. The heritability component is nebulous, diagnostics are invasive and inconclusive, and there’s no recourse for a horse who has it - at that point it’s essentially palliative care to keep a horse as comfortable as you can for as long as you can.

While not every horse with DSLD seems to have a parent with DSLD, and not every offspring of a horse with DSLD seems to have it themselves, it is an expensive and grim prospect for a horse to actually have which is why I would pass.

[Arlomine]

Absolutely would never, ever do it. There are plenty of reasons why horses become unsound. Why risk this one? There is a genetic component, and you don’t know if the horse is affected until you’ve already invested YEARS of love, care, training… Then you have a horse that has been retired at an early age through a lot of pain.
I personally wouldn’t even give it another thought.

[goodmorning]

Hmm are you sure it’s DSLD? And not dropped pasterns? Living to 21 with DSLD and an Eventing career seems a bit counter intuitive to me but perhaps.

if it’s actual DSLD I’d move on.

[Nova2000]

Thank you all for your thoughts. I know they put her down because of the DSLD. I have passed. In two months of horse shopping, this is only the second horse I have connected with. The first I passed on because of pre purchase issues. I seem destined to click with the ones that end up being unsuitable!

[Arlomine]

My understanding is that there is no such thing as “dropped pasterns”, as distinct from DSLD. Elderly horses do not drop their rear pasterns unless they have DSLD. It just takes varying times to catch up with them.

[Edre]

I would be leery of saying that every horse with what present as “dropped pasterns” has DSLD. Other factors can come into play, and in my experience not every horse with what present as “dropped pasterns” (not super extreme cases but mild changes) has been diagnosed with DSLD.

Of course, this is only made more challenging with the invasive nature of the tests and somewhat nebulous results that can occur. A 21 year old mare that had a full show career and euthanized at what is a respectably “senior” age does not sound like a horse that presented with the clinical DSLD symptoms and onset that I am most familiar with…although of course, each horse is an individual and we know DSLD can manifest in a variety of ways and timelines.

Due diligence is always worthwhile, though, especially in light of when it deals with something so devastating.