With all this talk of genetic defects and such going on in the Kentucy Mountain and Rocky Mountain associations, I thought maybe it was time to have Looseriders' take on it all. Kind of a layman's thoughts.

When the genetic defect was first brought to our attention, we did as every good horse owner should, we took our Kentucky Mountain horses down 250 miles to get their eyes tested. We were looking for the genetic defect symptom(cysts)or a full blown case of what they now term as ASD (Anterior Segment Dysgenesis). This, in many cases, has had dibilitating affects on horses with ASD. (I.E. blindness). All of our horses tested clear of any sign. (We could not have been more relieved!) However, even though that part of the testing was over, we now faced another challenge!

The biggest problem that we have come across in our research and in our dealings with other horse owners affected by this disease, is the fact that many different people put a very different spin on all this talk of ASD. With Looseriders being honest and forthright in all its dealings with horse people and such, we came across some unexpected opposition. When breeding our two "clear" mares to other gaited stallions, we felt that it was prudent to not breed to stallions that exhibit any sort of ASD. That of course is a decision that we made and every horse owner needs to make for themselves. That is not what I question. What I seem to have a problem with is the fact that many horse owners took it as a personal afront to them, that we decided not to go with a stallion that had ASD or cysts.

I just didn't understand. Of course, many horse owners gave good points about all kinds of genetic diseases that have been out there for years, and you could easily spend years trying to prevent some unfortunate results. However, I just felt that in many cases, these horse owners were just not seeing the whole picture. Instead of seeing it from our point of view, they were simply taken aback by the fact that we didn't want THEIR stallion, no matter the reason. It almost seemed to me that they underemphasized the problem just to get a few more breeding fees from mare owners.

Of course, not all that we run into was so horrible. We ended up with great stallions and great babies from Gaitway Farms!(www.gaitwayfarm.com). I just believe that with a little more honestly and a lot less hiding and sidestepping of the issues, we could all have helped one another in a very uncertain time. With all that the medical community is capable of, we as horse lovers and owners need to step up to the plate and use a little more common sense and a lot more of our hearts!

Your Fellow Horse Lover,

Karie Sande-LaNou (editor)