I got on this forum to see what was new in the world of HYPP. All I found was insults being thrown back and forth and lots of arguments........May the good Lord help a newbie to the disease that just needs a little advice! I purchased an awesome 4 yr old Palomino gelding in July. He almost immediately showed symptoms. We have been working to make him symptom free since then to no avail. He's only had a few major attacks but they usually are releaved with Karo and Banamine. He is also on large doses of Acetazolamide. Eating oats topped with a little carrots and Karo. Will not eat Timothy Hay. So he is eating mixed grass hay in the field and the same in his stall at night, but from a hay bag to slow him down. Once the cold weather is not an issue, I will be soaking his hay for in the stall(moisture is supposed to flush the potassium from the cells faster-which is why grazing is supposed to be optimal). On the new dose of meds(two weeks),I have seen one mild episode. Giving him Karo in his feed may also be helping. Exercise has not been an option because he has muscle ataxia. Not alot of control, but that seems to be improving. We purchased this wonderful little guy because of his temperment. Very mature 4 yr old. Had I know about HYPP, I would surely not have bought him. I do not advocate breeding for HYPP because I have seen what it can do to a horse. It is sad. It is a disease that we can diminish from the horse world. But thats not my business. I was hoping to find someone else who has  experienced more than the occasional attack and has controlled it. I would be happy to have this guy just be my trail buddy(and not the eventer that my daughter hoped he might be).

 

 

I'm sorry to hear that your horse is suffering from this very sad disease.  I do know two horses at our boarding barn that are N/H and both have had attacks.  One was a teenaged QH whose owners have owned him for a quite a while but I guess have never tested so they had no idea he carried the gene (happily he is a gelding).  Mother and daughter share the horse and were devastated by his attacks, he had two instances of muscle spasming across his whole body, it was creepy.  They immediately switched his food, I do not know additional details as far as supplements or meds, but he has had no further attacks in the past year or so and is ridden nearly every day in H/J. 

 The other horse is a (fat!) QH pony who had a recent attack.  I don't know the owners of that one very well, so I cannot speak to her health or treatment.  They recently bought her (she was still at our farm with previous owners) -- I do not know if previous owners or present owners were aware of her condition at the time of her purchase. 

Good luck with your gelding and I hope that you are able to keep him healthy!

Thanks for the encouragement. The tremors are freaky to watch. The bad attacks usually include tremors and difficulty breathing. Collapse sometimes occurs as well. My horse has gone down twice. Both times were on a hot, humid day. He hates the Karo. But when he is down, he is usually too weak to fight.

I have heard of horses who only have a few attacks thier entire life. Lucky them. But the attacks can occur at any age. Supposedly more common at 3-4 yrs and teens.

Aw, poor little guy, I hate to hear horses suffering from this.  I hope that someone with more hands on experience managing this can give you more information.

I just wanted to say I'm sorry you're going through this with your gelding. I know HYPP is a touchy subject, but none of us will jump down your throat for sticking with your horse, don't worry - we just get concerned about safety of the horses and people, and are constantly horrified that people breed horses specifically for this gene still. I've never had any personal experience with HYPP, but I think a few people on here will be able to give you more info. Your boy sounds like a good horse, I'm sorry this happened to him. :(

I'm sorry you're dealing with this also, but I think the only bashing you will find is of the breeders that will knowingly breed a horse that is HYPP N/H or worse H/H.  I think it's great that you are doing what you can to help him.  It sounds like you've done your homework and are doing what you can for him.  Good luck...he sounds like a sweet fellow.

Your horse is a lucky fellow to have such a caring owner!!  I hope that you are able to get things under control soon.

 I don't know about this condition... but there are people who are knowingly breeding horses with tremors?  That seems sick.....

Jackson, it is a genetic condition found in QH lines and horses carrying the gene continue to be bred because they often produce the crazed over-muscly look that has become popular in the halter ring.  Hence its controversy -- unethical breeders that continue to breed N/H and H/H horses despite the fact the horses might drop dead at any time simply because they are driven by money.  They don't care that somewhere down the line some poor person like the OP buys the horse for themself or their child and then has to deal with this extremely traumatic disease which can cause a horse to fall over on its rider with no warning or collapse with muscle spasms and suffocate.  It's completely preventable by responsible breeding. 

Just a quick FYI on what the arguments the OP was referring to are usually about.  The ones who suffer most (besides the horses) are owners like this who buy a horse unknowingly, wanting only to give a horse a loving home and end up with vet bills and heartache through no fault of their own.

Oh my god thats horrible!  It always hurts me to hear about people who care more about money then their horse.  I can't believe that someone would want to knowingly allow a condition like this to be spread.  Is there any way to keep horses who are muscled due to this out of the show ring?

The only way these type of horses can be kept out of the show ring is if the judges would stop picking them in the halter classes.  Then breeders would start breeding for whatever is winning and not for the heavily muscled type.  Why they don't pick a correctly conformed horse according to what the breed standard is instead of what happens to be in fashion, I don't know. 

A while back there was a poster tried to justify their breeding program by insisting that condition was easy to control and there was no reason not to breed N/H horses.  Apparently there are some who consider the Impressive QH line so wonderful, that it must be kept going at all costs, even breeding those who have the HYPP defect.  Never mind there are plently of that line that don't have the defect around.

Spotted Pony

 

I believe that AQHA, FINALLY made a rule that you can't register H/H horses (I'm not 100% on this, but I think that is what I heard?), now they need to take that next step and block N/H horses as well.

Solaris:

I believe that AQHA, FINALLY made a rule that you can't register H/H horses (I'm not 100% on this, but I think that is what I heard?), now they need to take that next step and block N/H horses as well.

This is correct.  In 1998, there had to be a statement of notification on the registration.  In 2007, if a horse is H/H they will not be allowed to be registered.  Here is a link from AQHA regarding HYPP and their rules from 1998 to date....it also has a Q&A at the bottom of the page:  http://www.aqha.com/association/registration/hypp.html

 

 Ohh I feel soo bad for you and your horse, having to go through such a horrible condition. I've owned 2 Impressive bred horses, maybe three but one isn't registered so I'm not sure. One is tested for HYPP and she is N/N(thank God), the other one I had a while back but he was never tested. I didn't know much about it back then, and so I really just thought that it was somthing more like the Lethal white desese(not sure if that's wut it's called), I thought that all it had to do with is breeding. But when I bought this mare somebody told me to make sure she was HYPP N/N and I asked why. Well that's when I learned the truth. It's really a horrible condition, and I've heard of Top halter horses just dropping dead in their stalls after a show . At least the Gelding that I had that wasn't tested never showed any signs of HYPP, I keep in touch with is current owner, but I really do pray that he doesn't have it. It would be absolutely horrible. Good luck with your horse I hope he improves soon.

Lethel White is something else entirely.  HYPP is a dominate disease, that is the horse is going to have problems when it has both copies of the gene and it may show lesser symptoms or none at all with only one copy of the gene.  But with only one copy of the gene, there is simply no way to tell if the horse is ever going to show symptoms or how severe they're going to be. 

LWS is a recessive disease.  A horse with one copy of the gene will not be affected by it and there is only a 50% chance of the gene being passed on with breeding.  A horse with two copies of the gene will only live a few days after foaling.  Horses that might be carrying this gene should be tested and if they are carriers they should be bred only to horses that don't have the gene.  Eventually it should be able to eliminate the gene from the breeding pool entirely. 

With HYPP, because it is a dominate gene, it should have been eliminated from the gene pool as soon as it was discovered.  Refusing to register all horses with both genes unless they are gelded or spayed and all colts with a single copy.  Mares with a single copy don't have the same influence that a stallion would and many wouldn't be bred any way, but any single copy mare who has passed on the gene to two foals, the registery should decline to register any more foals from that mare.  Also the registery should require that parentage and HYPP status should be determined at the same time by the same lab so that there can't be any hanky panky with substituting another horse's hair or blood for the test. 

Spotted Pony