33 replies to this topic

[Demelza]

Thanks to Beth Minich of the Arabian Horse Foundation for passing this information on:
http://www.arabianho...uch_Tympany.pdf
http://www.arabianho...PT_Hannover.pdf

[marketing]

http://www.arabianho...PT_Hannover.pdf

http://www.arabianho...uch_Tympany.pdf

[ponygirl]

wow nasty disease !!!

[Demelza]

Thanks for fixing the links Heidi :0)

Yes Ponygirl, it can be nasty, which is why we're trying so hard to raise awareness and increase participation in the research.

Cheers,
Demelza.

[Demelza]

Sorry to be a pain moderators, but I'm just bumping this up again to keep it on the first page. While GPT appears to be in any Arabian bloodline, it seems to be particularly prevalent in Egyptian bloodlines.
A yahoo support group is available. Scientific articles, surgery costs and latest updates from the research centres: http://pets.groups.y...alPouchTympany/
Cheers,
Demelza.

[ShannonC]

Demelza, on Feb 16 2009, 05:07 PM, said:

Sorry to be a pain moderators, but I'm just bumping this up again to keep it on the first page. While GPT appears to be in any Arabian bloodline, it seems to be particularly prevalent in Egyptian bloodlines.
A yahoo support group is available. Scientific articles, surgery costs and latest updates from the research centres: http://pets.groups.y...alPouchTympany/ When joining, please provide a real name... but from that point on you can remain anonymous.
Cheers,
Demelza.

Hello Demelza,
Could you tell us WHAT Egypitan bloodlines is it prevalent in???
Shannon

[Demelza]

No Shannon,
Sorry but it's confidential... names have been brought up in the past and it did not go down well, especially as it's still unclear how GPT is inherited.  Some people are happy to talk about their own horses, but I'll leave that up to them. I only have 1 horse on my database that is not SE or ER.
D.

[PAS]

In all the years that I have bred Egyptians, I have only had one foal with GPT.
I have most of this family, grandmother, mothers, sisters, sons, grandsons and granddaughters maybe even a few great greats....  Yet only one mare ever produced it.
The colt was put down at 6 months of age due to our inability to help him.  He became infected and we thought it bets to let him go rather than continue his suffering.  This colt was sired by Mahrdalim El Nisr and out of a Rasmoniet RSI daughter who was out of AK Shesarra.

[Demelza]

PAS, on Feb 22 2009, 06:55 AM, said:

In all the years that I have bred Egyptians, I have only had one foal with GPT.
I have most of this family, grandmother, mothers, sisters, sons, grandsons and granddaughters maybe even a few great greats....  Yet only one mare ever produced it.
The colt was put down at 6 months of age due to our inability to help him.  He became infected and we thought it bets to let him go rather than continue his suffering.  This colt was sired by Mahrdalim El Nisr and out of a Rasmoniet RSI daughter who was out of AK Shesarra.

You are wonderful, thanks for your honesty. I agree... sometimes it seems to appear out of the blue in a family, never to be seen again... yet other times it appears quite alot in a particular family. It will be interesting to sit and wait for what the researchers come up with in regard to the mode of inheritance... at the moment polygenic inheritance cannot be ruled out. For some reason certain families are more prone to it than others.... maybe a handful of horses happen to carry more than one gene, so when they come in contact with the other necessary gene(s), they throw a GPT foal more often? Conversely, perhaps most horses don't carry any or only carry one of the necessary genes, so it is more rare? (All just speculation on my part).

Anyway, the more samples and pedigrees we can get, the closer we'll be to unlocking the mystery!

Cheers,
Demelza.

[Juniper]

PAS, on Feb 21 2009, 09:55 AM, said:

In all the years that I have bred Egyptians, I have only had one foal with GPT.
I have most of this family, grandmother, mothers, sisters, sons, grandsons and granddaughters maybe even a few great greats....  Yet only one mare ever produced it.
The colt was put down at 6 months of age due to our inability to help him.  He became infected and we thought it bets to let him go rather than continue his suffering.  This colt was sired by Mahrdalim El Nisr and out of a Rasmoniet RSI daughter who was out of AK Shesarra.

Hi Kimberly

Did the vet know what it was?

Christine

[PAS]

What do you mean by "what it was?"  He had GPT. He was born with it. Ultrasounds showed that surgery would/could not fix it. We did not know there was anything wrong with him until he was about 3 going on 4 months old.  The infection was in the pouch itself and was horrid and responded to nothing we did.  It was very sad.

[Juniper]

PAS, on Feb 25 2009, 12:52 PM, said:

What do you mean by "what it was?"  He had GPT. He was born with it. Ultrasounds showed that surgery would/could not fix it. We did not know there was anything wrong with him until he was about 3 going on 4 months old.  The infection was in the pouch itself and was horrid and responded to nothing we did.  It was very sad.

Had the vet seen that before?
That is the question

[PAS]

Yes, he had seen it before.

[Demelza]

Bringing this topic to the surface again. Please, anyone who has bred a GPT affected foal, open the links above, then send pedigree details and if possible, samples to the research centres. A huge number of samples are required before any test can be developed.

[Suellen Taylor]

Demelza...you know about Spunky, as I am sure some others might remember from a few years back....GR Shadow x Khalia Spring. Registered name is Khalid Omar Khayal..AHA 0616625..if you want his full pedigree.

Unfortunately, Spring is no longer with me, as she was the mare that succumbed to the HcG shot, which I also talked about....however, Spunky Bruiser is here, 4 years old this year, after five grueling operations his first year of life...fat and sassy.. and doing well.  

He loves his pasture mates, and romps all the day.  I love this fellow, and had plans to train him to a cart, until I saw a driving class once...no way!  But he will do very well on a trail, I bet!  He is curious, VERY easy to handle..and sweet..guess it was all the handling he received as a foal.

Do you think that any samples from him would be useful?  I can certainly do whatever I am able for you!!

[Suellen Taylor]

Deleted, as it posted twice..so sorry!

[Demelza]

This is the letter I recieved from Hannover some time ago - it explains some of the difficulty in sending samples overseas. I am really hoping our European members will participate in the research as it is much easier for them to be involved. University of Hannover already has most of the pedigrees that I collated, including your boy, Suellen. For someone like you who doesn't have the horses in your breeding programme any more, it probably doesn't make much sense to go to the extra cost of having blood samples taken and trying to send them to Germany. However, for those that can afford the expense (a pittance compared to the costs of GPT surgery I might add) and especially if the horses involved are going to be bred from again, please get your vet to get in contact with Hannover and see it is possible to get those samples over there.

Alternatively, I am hoping some research will be started in the USA, as it is the country with the largest Arabian horse population... this will only happen if there is a perceived need... so people who have these foals, especially if they are appearing on a regular basis, need to start being squeaky wheels.

"Dear Demelza,

my name is Alexandra Zeitz and I´m working on guttural pouch tympany at the Institute for
Animal Breeding and Genetics of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Prof.
Ottmar Distl told me, that you have inquired about sending blood samples of horses from
affected families. Thank you very much for your interest and the support of our reseach
project!

For the import of blood samples from New Zealand, Australia and USA to Germany we need
some official documents:
First of all, our institute has to apply for an import permit at the Ministerium of Agriculture in
Germany. At the moment, we´re trying to get this permit.
Additionally, we also need a health certificate of the horses. So, it is necessary that the
horses are examined by a veterinarian and that the vet issues this health certificate. I´ve
attached an example of such a certificate to this Email. It is important, that the health
certificate is not older than 10 days, when the samples will arrive at the airport in Germany.
We also need a document of an official veteriarian (e.g. Dr. Jos Vermunt, Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry, NZ), that New Zealand / Australia / USA are free of transmissible
animal diseases notifiable to the O.I.E. (see attachments).
All these documents have to be attached to the parcel with the samples. The samples have
to be send over the german airport "Frankfurt/Main" and we have to inform the veterinary
border control at least one day before the samples will arrive there.

So, you see, that it takes quite a lot of effort. I hope that these informations are useful for you.
It would be very nice, if you could inform the owners of the horses about this procedure and
ask them if they are willing to pay for the veterinay examination, blood collection and so on.

If you still interested in sending blood samples or if you have further questions, please feel
free to contact me.

Kind regards,

Alexandra"

I have copies of the export and OIE docs available on my GPT group. They just need to be adjusted to suit the individual. It's the import permit that is tricky, and from what I understand, direct communication between your vet and the University is required so that the relevant authorities can be notified when the samples are due to fly into Germany.

[NAF]

I have never seen that sort of problem before but now that I know what it looks like if I ever do , I will know what I am dealing with.  jan

[Trish aka JMO]

That's great Jan....another educated breeder

[Juniper]

http://www.ncbi.nlm....Pubmed_RVDocSum

Quote

Thus, our analysis indicated sex-specific QTL, a fact which is in agreement with a two- to fourfold higher incidence of GPT in females. This is the first report of QTL for equine GPT and a first step towards identifying genes responsible for GPT.