Large Deletions at the SHOX Locus in the Pseudoautosomal Region Are Associated with Skeletal Atavism in Shetland Ponies.

Skeletal atavism in Shetland ponies is a heritable disorder characterized by abnormal growth of the ulna and fibula that extend the carpal and tarsal joints, respectively. This causes abnormal skeletal structure and impaired movements, and affected foals are usually killed. In order to identify the causal mutation we subjected six confirmed Swedish cases and a DNA pool consisting of 21 control individuals to whole genome resequencing.

Associations of health status and conformation with longevity and lifetime competition performance in young Swedish Warmblood riding horses: 8,238 cases (1983-2005).

Objective: To determine associations of health status and conformation with competition longevity and lifetime performance in young Swedish Warmblood riding horses.

Design: Cohort study and genetic analysis.

Animals: 8,238 horses.

Prevalence of clinical findings at examinations of young Swedish warmblood riding horses.

Background: Soundness of an individual horse is important for animal welfare and owner economy. However, knowledge of health status in normal horse populations is limited due to lack of systematic health recordings. The aim of the investigation was to study the prevalence of veterinary clinical findings in 4-5-year-old Swedish warmblood riding horses, and their influence on overall health scores, where associations to future longevity has been indicated.

Genetic analysis of clinical findings at health examinations of young Swedish warmblood riding horses.

Background: Soundness is important for welfare and utility of the riding horse. Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common causes of interruption in training and of culling. Despite great importance, heritability of a majority of health traits in horses has previously not been estimated.

Equine hospital data as a source for study of prevalence and heritability of osteochondrosis and palmar/plantar osseous fragments of Swedish Warmblood horses.

Reasons For Performing Study: Disturbances in skeletal development, primarily osteochondrosis (OC) and palmar/plantar osseous fragments (POF), have been commonly reported as problems in young horses. However, there are few reports of such findings for epidemiological analyses or breeding purposes.

Objectives: To evaluate equine hospital data as a possible source of information for genetic evaluations by estimating prevalence and heritability of OC in the stifle, hock and fetlock joints and of POF in the fetlock.