Wwyd?

[Alexsmom128]

Hi all,

Posting in h/j because relevant horses are all in this discipline.

An Oldenburg broodmare had five offspring with multiple sires: 3 were euthanized with confirmed EDM, 2 were euthanized with all the symptoms of EDM (no necropsy for these). All five owners now in contact with each other and aware of situation.

Ownership of broodmare changed in past few years and after the discovery of the EDM status in all five offspring, broodmare gave birth to a sixth goal a couple of weeks ago. Broodmare owner aware that all her previous offspring had EDM; she is now listing foal for sale as high performance prospect.

The owners of the EDM five are broke and heartbroken. I am one of them. Anything to be done to forewarn whoever buys this foal…? Does owner have legal responsibility to disclose that this mate has been known to throw at least 3 confirmed EDM offspring? The five of us would hate to see new foal owner be unaware and end up like us. But we are unsure of what if anything can be done about this situation.

[skip99]

From the UC Davis website

“Horses are genetically predisposed to eNAD/EDM, but an environmental trigger in the form of insufficient vitamin E in the diet is required for the onset of clinical signs.”

Since the broodmares changed owners perhaps the foal in question will have sufficient levels of vitamin E and not develop EDM?

[Amberley]

This is tricky in terms of this specific sale. While it is strongly suspected to be an autosomal dominance pattern of inheritance there is also a protective effect for foals raised on good pasture and in a new environment the mare may not produce an affected foal.

However, if this were me I would send a letter to the Oldenburg registry in your country and the parent registry enclosing copies of the veterinary records. The only way this kind of thing will truly be addressed is if the registries get involved. And if you haven’t already I’d also reach out to Carrie Finno at UC Davis who is doing a lot of research in this area.

[Alexsmom128]

What’s interesting about this mare and the foals is that all of them (including new baby) were born and raised in New Hampshire. Nothing imported. Conditions similar enough with new owner.

Also, my horse did not have low levels of serum vitamin E. We supplemented, but even then not enough to prevent progression.

[trubandloki]

Do you have any local horse related publications that you could get a subject related article published and all five you owners can give quotes about how this happened?

In other words, getting the information out there that this mare produced multiple foals with this issue so if someone googled her they would know this?

(Not an article about how horrible this horse is or this breeder is but an educational article about this issue and the hereditary side of it, and how it can be prevented and… )

[beowulf]

@Alexsmom128

What’s interesting about this mare and the foals is that all of them (including new baby) were born and raised in New Hampshire. Nothing imported. Conditions similar enough with new owner.

NE hay tends to test lower in Vit E than other areas, it’s why some vets advise additional supplementation of Vit E & Selenium. Some grain manufacturers local to the NE like Poulin do add additional Vit E for this very reason.

It’s possible the management is different enough that the new foal won’t be affected. The new owner isn’t responsible for the prior 5; things may be different. Other than letting the new owner know, your best recourse is to contact the registry like Amberley said, and maybe even mention this in some way at foal inspection.

If you are the type, you could respond to the ad[s] you’re seeing with a caveat emptor; be succicnt, state only the facts, and invite discussion versus shut down the owner for her decision to sell the foal.

Good luck. I wish these things were discussed more openly. You may also want to mention this mare’s pedigree in the EDM facebook groups, if you haven’t already.

[axl]

I suggest cross posting in the breeding forum.