Splashed Whites and Lethals: What is happening on Facebook?

On May 18, 2024, an emotional Facebook post shed light on the heart-wrenching realities of horse breeding, emphasizing the sometimes sorrowful outcome of genetic complexities. Stuart Russell's post of an all white foal born with defects incompatible with life evokes deep compassion, reminding us about the need for ongoing research into genetic compatibility.

Team Etalon is actively researching and publishing on issues from color compatibility to health genetic variants including Splashed White and Fragile Foal Syndrome.

If you have experienced, or know of anyone who has experienced, a white foal born with complications suspected to be genetic in origin, please reach out to Etalon at [email protected]. We are committed to continually gathering information related to genetics and outcomes so that we can share the analysis and information with the public. It is only through community involvement and close collaboration that we can work to reduce adverse outcomes in breeding thus elevating the equine community as a whole.

Listen to the latest episode of Genetics Unbridled to hear Etalon CEO, Christa Lafayette, and foal owner, Stuart Russell, discuss what happened and what we know.

Facebook post by Stuart Russell

ATTENTION horse breeding friends/stallion owners….. OLWS needs to be tested for, so we did. (Our mare was negative as was the stallion) The Splash genes also seem to create their own tragic issues. Please research your breeding choices. This perfect in every way filly was born with a tongue too short, preventing her from eating properly. It caused major issues and she was euthanized. This is not the fault of the stallion nor the mare but a genetic issue we should better manage. Rest in Peace little Betty White. **Amended to say only the dam had SW2; and the stallion has one copy of sw2

In response to this terrible news, WhoaZone Equine has committed to compiling survey results relating to SW2 outcomes.

Facebook post by WhoaZone Equine on May 20,2024

🔥 The Hot Topic of the weekend... Splash White Genes in reining breds. It is our hope to help create some sort of data tracking sheet to inspire researchers at a major university to help us study this further to see what the relationship is to splash genes and birth defects, if any, and if the linebreeding taking place has any correlation as well.

🛡️We will NOT share individual names or pedigrees from this survey with the public. This is a streamlined way to provide a research party a way to trace pedigrees etc in one place.

We are not for bashing, fear-mongering, or anything of the like... But if we as breeders don't do our due diligence for the future what are we doing?

❤️With that being said if you have had issues with a Splash Gene foal or have a viable homozygous Sw2 Foal we would love for you to participate in this survey.

This survey is not for those who have successfully bred multiple splash gene horses we know there are plenty of those.

➡️This is specifically for those who have had issues with a Splash Gene foal or have a viable homozygous Sw2 horse or other combination of white genes creating a Max White that is normal.

It is worth noting in a peer reviewed study: “The PAX3C70Y allele is only 24 years old and occurs exclusively in Quarter and Paint Horses. We did not find a horse homozygous for this mutation, and based on data from mice it is unlikely that a homozygous PAX3C70Y/C70Y horse would be viable. As PAX3 is required for several key steps in neural development, homozygosity for this allele will most likely result in embryonic or fetal lethality [26]. Therefore, the mating of two heterozygous PAX3 +/C70Y horses is not recommended in order to avoid the accidental production of an embryo homozygous for this allele. The MITFC280Sfs*20 and MITFN310S alleles are extremely rare. Data from mice again suggest that these alleles will most likely result in severe clinical phenotypes such as e.g. microphthalmia in the homozygous state [27]. Therefore, horses with such alleles should also not be mated to each other.”

➡️ You can read the full article from 2012 here: https://shorturl.at/IFTk6

➡️ Updated article from 2019 here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6677290/

✨Take The Survey: https://forms.gle/hrWPUo8oXqMm6jHP8

If you have experienced, or know of anyone who has experienced, a white foal born with complications suspected to be genetic in origin, please reach out to Etalon at [email protected]. We are committed to continually gathering information related to genetics and outcomes so that we can share the analysis and information with the public. It is only through community involvement and close collaboration that we can work to reduce adverse outcomes in breeding thus elevating the equine community as a whole.