6 Panel

Heres my 'Simpliefied' Sumaries from researching each, hope you fnd these explinations helpful!!

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• HYPP

  • HYPP stands for Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis. 

  •  This disease affects the electrical impulses within the body that control muscle contraction. 

  • The defective gene results in clinical signs of muscle tremors and fasciculations 

  • . In some severe cases, horses may be unable to stand, or even unable to breathe. Horses can show symptoms with only one copy of the defective gene, but symptoms are often more severe if they have two copies of the mutation.  

• HERDA

  • HERDA stands for Hereditary Epidermal Regional Dermal Asthenia. 

  •  Horses with HERDA have defective collagen, an important protein that is part of skin, cartilage, muscles, and tendons.  

  • The major clinical sign is skin that is easily injured, torn, or even sloughed off. The skin is also very slow to heal. There is no treatment for the condition, and horses that have it are often euthanized.  

  • Horses will only show symptoms if they have two copies of the mutation for HERDA. Horses with only one copy of the mutation are clinically normal. These animals are called ‘carriers’. They can pass copies of the mutation to their foals, and if one carrier is bred to another carrier, the foal might inherit the mutation from both parents and be symptomatic. HERDA is limited mostly to horses with reining and cutting horse bloodlines. 

• GBED

  • GBED stands for Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency.  

  • Like PSSM, this disease also affects how sugars are stored, but in a different and more severe way. 

  •  It results in abortions, stillborn foals, and foals that are alive but weak at birth and die or are euthanized soon after. 

  •  Like with HERDA, horses may be carriers for GBED – if a horse has only one copy of the mutation it will be clinically normal. Paints and Appaloosas can also carry the GBED mutation. 

• MH

  • MH stands for Malignant Hyperthermia. 

  •  This disease changes the way muscle cells handle calcium, and thus the metabolism of the cell. 

  •  Horses with MH will appear normal most of the time, but have specific occasions when they show symptoms.  

  • During an attack, horses will have a very high fever, profuse sweating, high and irregular heart rate, high blood pressure, and rigid muscles. Attacks are triggered by certain anesthetic agents or stress, and are sometimes fatal.  

  • MH is believed to be less common than either HYPP or PSSM, but the percentage of affected horses is not yet known. Several breeds including Quarter Horses and Paints can be affected. Horses may be positive for both PSSM and MH together, and these animals appear to suffer from more severe episodes of tying up than horses that have PSSM alone. 

• PSSM1

  • PSSM stands for Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy. 

  •  This disease causes changes in the way sugars are stored and used by the muscles.  

  • It causes frequent episodes of ‘tying up’ if not properly controlled by a special diet and regular low intensity exercise.  

  • There are two types of PSSM. 

  •  Type 1 is caused by a genetically identified mutation, which is testable.  

  • Type 2 is suspected to be genetic, but that mutation has not yet been identified by researchers.  

  • Most Quarter Horses with PSSM have type 1. Horses will show symptoms of PSSM type 1 with one or two copies of the mutation.  Like HYPP, PSSM type 1 is more common in halter QHs than in other lines. Some QHs have been shown to have mutations for both HYPP and PSSM. 

• MYHM / IMM

  • Equine immune-mediated myositis (IMM)  

  • Testing for a gene 'statistically associated with' IMM

    • Not all horses carrying the markers are affected. Many very successful horses are posative, and uneffected.

    • That being said; results are something to be aware of and take into concideration.​

  • This is a disease that typically causes rapid and severe symmetrical wasting of the topline muscles, often following exposure to or vaccination against respiratory infection by Streptococcus equi, the organism responsible for equine “Strangles”.  

  • The loss of muscle mass is primarily attributable to inflammatory destruction of fast-twitch muscle fibers, with a diagnosis of IMM being based on biopsy of the atrophied muscle and identification of invasion of muscle fibers and local blood vessels by T-lymphocytes and macrophages, two types of white blood cells involved in adaptive immune responses and the clean-up of cellular debris.  

  • Full muscle mass can be regained within several weeks to months.  

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  • However, approximately 40% of horses affected by IMM will experience at least one recurrence of an atrophic episode, with the extent of muscle loss and resultant decrease in quality of life being severe enough in some cases to warrant euthanasia.  

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Color

Color is what I would call the LEAST important thing about a horse. But if a horse is the whole package and a beautiful color it's the 'Icing on the cake'!

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We test all our horses just so we know what the color possibilities are. Some I'm able to deduce based on phenotypes. 

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If you have any questions about equine diseases or color genetics I'm more than happy to discuss them with you!

-Adair