Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Wine Country/Gastroguard

It did have me thinking that I should mention to the 
research vet, the genetic aspects of the study.  But 
don't discount the environmental aspects either.  My 
horse had been raised on pure alfalfa cubes at a 
breeding facility that doesn't really ever "use" their 
horses.  Given his same genetics and raised in a 
different environment off of the alfalfa cubes, I wonder 
if the thumps issue would have ever been an issue.  
Also, related horses may be horses that were raised at 
the same or similar facilities, and that may be more of 
a factor than the genetics themselves.

The other thing that went through my mind - I've been 
too busy to call the equine dentist.  I wonder if any 
mouth ulceration - and then electrolyting and irritating 
the mouth tissues - could cause him not to eat and 
drink - then the next step is a gastric ulcer..... Ya 
know, there are a thousand different questions that we 
don't have the answer to right now.

K.
> 
> > Heidi, I find it really interesting that you, as a vet
> > and a breeder, would bring up genetics in a conversation
> > when they are just beginning to scratch the surface of
> > what will be revealed by the scoping studies.  We do not
> > have any real hard data yet to support any of your
> > conclusions, therefore anything that you claim here is
> > still in the realm of theory.
> 
> Sure, a lot of it is still theory.  But the bottom line remains that it has
> been interesting to observe over the years that the horses who exhibit
> ulcer-like symptoms (much like your horse has done) are often related, and
> that the ones who virtually never exhibit such symptoms are likewise also
> often related.
> 
> It's too bad that more vets who are observing these horses weekend after
> weekend aren't also interested in the subject of genetics in general and
> population genetics in particular.  There sure do seem to be some
> interesting trends.  It's also interesting to share one's medical
> observations with equine geneticists from time to time.  Alas, veterinary
> school does virtually nothing to educate future veterinarians about the
> effects that genetics have on both performance and disease (other than
> memorizing lists of breeds with predispositions to certain specific diseases
> and syndromes).  Many practitioners write off problems as "environmental"
> (read "management") that do, indeed, have familial patterns, and visa versa.
> 
> Heidi
> 

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