RE: [EquineRepro] Lavender Foal Syndrome

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

I would like to thank all the people who did research for us on our foal. We
had Dr.Jack Leonard from Pennsylvania, a vet who has been consulting with
the Arab breeders here in Egypt for over 20 years, come out to see the foal
yesterday. At that point, the foal was 5 days old and the kids who were
working with him had been living in the box with him 24 hours a day to feed,
massage and handle the colt. Unlike our local vets, Jack was equipped to
thoroughly investigate the foal and told us that it had cataracts and a
faulty heart valve. If the foal had merely been blind, the kids would have
kept working with it, but with a heart problem, it was a hopeless case. The
foal was, by the way, exquisitely beautiful, a sort of chinchilla grey with
three white feet and a blaze, and he was very responsive to his care. We had
him put to sleep and buried with the rest of our horses in the desert, and
then we all came back to my house to see that the kids got some sleep. We
suspect that the mare's last foal may also have had some kind of similar
problem after talking to one of the grooms that was working with her when
she foaled last time and the foal died...that foal, however, did not have
the colour. The foal's sire has many healthy offspring on the ground and
competes at limited distances successfully in his 20's. The mother is a very
strong mare who will be kept for endurance work and not be bred again.

Jack said that this was a classic case of Lavender Foal Syndrome and that
he'd only seen 3 or 4 in all his years of practice. It was a heartbreaking
experience and one I hope never to repeat. I know that it took so much from
Morad and Hortense to keep this foal alive, only to have to put it down out
of mercy. I've written to one professor at Cornell who is studying the
disease and offered to try to take blood samples for her. I suspect that the
mare is the most important factor here, but I don't know enough to know
really.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net







I have been researching Lavender Foal Syndrome for a couple of years and am
currently writing articles to increase awareness of this disease. LFS is
autosomal recessive and affects Arabian foals. It is characterised by the
lavender coat colour and neurological dysfunction. According to the late Dr.
Ann Bowling, autopsies have 'revealed an abnormal brain lesion'. Lavender
Foals have rigidity of the joints and convulsions or seizures, which is
accompanied by rapid eye movements. These foals are usually euthanised
within a few days of birth for humane reasons. Other characteristics may
include dytocia or difficult birth and a gray or blue hue to the eye colour.

There are diseases of very similar nature in humans, mice and rats which
will be used in comparative gene mapping to eventually isolate the gene
responsible. This research is currently underway and anyone who may have
experienced a LFS is encouraged to participate. I have uploaded a file for
anyone interested in further info.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions!

Heather