Argued to be one of the oldest horse breeds in the world, the Akhal-Teke is an animal bred for the harsh climates of the desert. This breed is on the CPL (Conservancy’s Conservation Priority List). This breed however, has gotten to a point that the inbreeding has created a genetic disorder called Naked Foal Syndrome, or NFS. This genetic defect causes the foal to be born with no hair; there are sometimes a few stands or tuffs of tail hair, but nothing else.
Bred by Turkmen, the Akhal-Teke is from the country of Turkmenistan and is considered the forefather of the Arabian breed, which gave rise to various other breeds of horses. The Akhal-Teke is known for the metallic sheen of its coat and having very thin skin. They are a superb show horse
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Therefore, NFS is inherited as an “autosomal recessive trait” which means that there are 2 copies of the mutation, which are required to produce a positive offspring.
Results for genetic code:
N/N No copies of the NFS mutation; animal is normal.
N/NFS 1 copy of the NFS mutation; animal is normal but is a carrier.
NFS/NFS 2 copies of the NFS mutation; horse is
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Since then, the number has steadily increased. Many of the horses with the disorder were most likely registered as stillborn.
Signs of NFS
The primary signs are lack of “body, mane and tail hair,” there is also “abnormal teeth development”, “digestive disorders”, “persistent diarrhea and laminitis-like problems”. There are some cases, that the front teeth are “in” at birth or the molars grow “abnormally” from normal jaws. Secondary symptoms include “scaly, dry and inflamed skin”, as well as severe cases of sunburn in the summer and frequent “pulmonary infections” during the winter. This is due to the fact that there is no hair to keep the foal protected from the desert climates and normal weather patterns.
Death from NFS
Early demise is usually caused by digestive problems, whereas older horses need to be humanely euthanized because of severe laminitis-induced pain. Most of the time the foals are dead within a few weeks to months. The longest living NFS foal is about 3 years old. It is not clear whether a specific disease process causes their premature deaths as there are numerous problems that affect the foal.
Case
Due to the randomness of mutations, poor traits can come back into the gene pool after a number of generations.
Consequently, the dog we see fitting the classic mold outline in the American Kennel Club (AKC) Boxer breed standard is a bit different from the portrait we would see if the pup were allowed to grow up without surgical intervention. These procedures lie at the heart of a rather heated debate, especially in the Boxer world. Unlike many other cropped and docked breeds, the Boxer’s breed standard offers no choice regarding whether the tail or, most significantly, the ears may be left natural and still satisfy the
Curious owners can throw this question to their chosen syndicate and find out. When a horse’s career ends, they are often sold and the owners divide the profits. Other times, they are sent off to stud. It all depends on what the collective decides on.
...h apparently did not prevent transmission of T. equigenitalis (Erdman et al., 2011). With the exception of one, all other stallions were infected with T. equigenitalis indirectly via handling or contaminated fomites at breeding or collection facilities (Erdman et al., 2011). According to Erdman et al. (2011), this outbreak saw the largest number of horses that tested positive for the disease since the first outbreak in 1978. The source of the outbreak was most likely determined to be a stallion imported from Denmark in 2000 that had not been detected positive for T. equigenitalis neither upon pre-import testing in the country of origin nor quarantine testing in the United States (Erdman et al., 2011). The importation of this stallion in the United States subsequently led to subsequent transmission of infection between the years 2004 and 2009 (Erdman et al., 2011).
Horses and ponies that tend to store fair amounts of fat on their neck, butt and where their sheath or teats are can become chronically laminitic. However, this chronic laminitis is not limited to overweight or obese animals, but can occur in horses and ponies who are significantly leaner in their body or even, in some cases, perfectly normal. One key element to each of these horses and ponies is that they could possibly have a condition known as Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) which is causing the chronic laminitic issue.
his leg a number of times. The horse was tested and passed, but what the
The American horse racing industry has been admired by generations upon generations. Although it is a very cherished sport, like any other sport, there are many issues involved. The major issue that I find is that many owners make the decision to breed when there are other solutions. The Jockey Club, also known as the head council for the American Horse Racing Industry, should be addressing the major issue of overbreeding in the American horse racing industry.
To solve the issue of the wild horses, I would use the above mentioned suggestion, created by using the process of;
Everyone should have heard this phrase that dog is man’s best friend. We live with them, love them, and take good care of them. When people talk about dog breed, the advantages and disadvantages of purebred dogs is always a controversial issue. Lots of people like purebred dogs because they are beautiful and cute; some people prefer crossbred dogs because they believe purebred dogs usually have genetic disease. Indeed, many evidence and research show that purebred dogs are easier to have genetic disease, and many purebred dogs die from incurable genetic disease every year. However, people still do not pay highly attendant to this problem. Even though purebred dogs are pretty, cute and inherited pure blood compared with the mixed-breed dogs, people should not excessively breed purebred dogs in order to satisfy our desire because a lot of them suffer serious genetic disease, are abandoned on the streets and performed euthanasia in shelters.
Francis S. Collins is a renowned geneticist who originally became Ph.D in Physical Chemistry at Yale University and later on, a Medical Doctor at University of North Carolina. As soon as he graduated he was offered a fellowship in Human Genetics at Yale University under the guidance of Sherman Weissman, currently Sterling Professor of Genetics. In the late 1980’s Collins became known in the field of Medical Genetics for his development of positional cloning, a technique that allows to locate a hereditary disease-causing gene by studying the inheritance pattern within a family. Working with his method researchers found the genes responsible for diseases like Cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, Neurofibromatosis, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type one, and Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. In 1993 Dr. Collins succeeded Dr. James D. Watson as the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), overseeing the role of the United States in the mapping of the human genome. In 2009 President Obama personally recommended Collins to lead the National Institute of Health (NIH) where he works until present day. Francis S. Collins is by no means a bragging individual, bits and pieces of his accomplishments are scattered throughout the book and he makes no big deal about it; instead he j...
Deficient diets result in weight loss in the horse. Alternate causes of weight loss are internal parasites and diseases. Excess energy intake causes obesity which stresses joints and reduces athletic ability. A horse in moderate physical condition is described as “Back level”. Ribs cannot be visually distinguished, but can be easily felt.
With over nine million types of horses in the United States, the need for quality health care for the horses has never been stronger. It’s certain that more equine veterinarians than ever before will be needed in the years to come to provide the care that owners want for their horses. According to the American Association of equine practitioners (AAEP), nearly half of the equine veterinarians are involved with performance horses(44.8%). The AVMA’S most recent employment survey of 2016 indicated that there were about 3,874 veterinarians in exclusively equine practice, with and additional 4,177 involved in mixed practices.
Equine-Assisted therapy so far has shown commendable results. “Equestrian Therapy” acknowledges that “it is a fairly new technique for autism and other disorders that has been providing promising results such that many are consistently utilize therapy animals in their treatment programs and only for autism but also for people with Asperger’s syndrome. Equine therapy for special needs is an animal-assisted therapy that helps children with a wide variety of disabilities. This type of therapy makes use of riding horses as an effective way of providing physical and emotional therapy as well as psychological benefits” (“Equestrian Therapy”). Equine Therapy helps develop the motor skills of a child while they learn to ride a horse. The calming
Blowey, R. W. (1990). A Veterinary Book for Dairy Farmer (Third ed.). Old Pont Publishing Ltd.
Because of breeding, such endangered species, two examples of which being the golden lion tamarin and the Przewalski’s wild horse, have improved in numbers significantly (Smithsonian). Although they are bred in captivity, it protects and preserves the animals from s...