From the Peruvian Horse World Forum

My mare was recently diagnosed with DSLD - Peruvian Horse World:

I'm new here and actually joined on account of my mare being diagnosed with DSLD.
About four weeks ago I noticed my mare was favoring her back left foot and that her fetlock was swollen, so I called my vet out to have x-rays as well as an ultrasound. Turns out she broke a chip off of a bone in her back left foot and as a result she has developed moderate DSLD.After crying (I swear, I thought I was going to lose it because this horse is basically my baby and simply a trail horse. ...

DSLD-ESPA in Germany?

The annotation for this video is in German. Loose translation follows:

We have four Peruvian Pasos with showing DSLD symptoms. I hope to find other people who have experience with this disease.

Cry for the Horses

http://lindayezak.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/cry-for-the-horses/

Unfortunately, by the time Chris and Jenn got Angie, she was in the advanced euthanasia stage of DSLD, a disease that inflames the animal’s connective tissue. She had been misdiagnosed, and the previous owner hadn’t bothered with a second opinion. The kindest thing to do was to put her down.

Another Sad Story

Here's another horse euthanized due to DSLD-ESPA:  A Sad Story

Esmeralda is a Paso, a Peruvian breed of horse with a smooth swaying gait. They are charming animals, but their breed is prone to DSLD, a disease where little tears form in the ligaments, but do not repair with the same elasticity as before. Eventually a horse with DSLD cannot walk or stand. They are in constant pain. There is no cure.

While this is tragic for the family, I hope they find some peace and comfort in knowing they allowed their beloved mare to pass away peacefully and with dignity.  Until the research provides us with more answers, that's about all any of us can do.

Mariposa Lazo - 20 May 1985 to 15 June 2005

Another one gone.

wolflahti: Mariposa Lazo - 20 May 1985 to 15 June 2005

Mariposa Lazo - 20 May 1985 to 15 June 2005


It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining for the first time in weeks, the sky is a clear blue, and the wind is warm...

And my horse is dead.

...

She is twenty, not really that old, even for a Peruvian Paso but she suffers from DSLD, degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (equine connective tissue disorder).

...

Good-bye, Mari. You were as good a horse as anyone has a right to ask for.

And from the comment section on this blog:

Alisandro was calling for Mari every fifteen minutes or so throughout the first night, but now that it's a few days later, he seems to have accepted that she's not coming back - at least not anytime soon. He too is a Peruvian Paso and likewise has early stages of DSLD, and he made himself quite sore pacing the fence that first evening.

Goodbye Marimba

The day we put Marimba to sleep, I woke up thinking about Tina, my dog, who missed her 16th birthday by two weeks. I rescued her at six weeks old, and she had been with me ever since. It was the first time I had been faced with making *that* kind of decision. I found it odd that upon waking, Tina was the one in my thoughts instead of Marimba, but there she was.

Goodbyes are never easy, especially when they are final. Worse yet is the goodbye we must say when we made the decision. I made the choice not to end her life, but to end her pain. We like to think they'll be better off. We say goodbye dear friend. I love you. I will miss you. But whether or not they understand us, we don't know. There's regret, a very heavy heart, and a void left where there was once joy.

Marimba's final moments were spent here at home with me and my husband saying Goodbye. My vet offered to load Marimba on the trailer, take her away, and euthanize her at the clinic. But I couldn't bear the thought of her final moments being afraid in an unfamiliar place with strangers. It is important to say goodbye. And so we did.

Death is Nothing at All
by Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without affect,
without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just around the corner.

All is well.

Goodbye Marimba. I love you. I miss you.

Another Case of DE

From the Horse.com Forum
13 y/o Peruvian Paso
http://forum.horse.com/tm.asp?m=767749&mpage=1

I am wondering if anyone has experience with dsld horses. I have a Peruvian Paso mare that is around 13 years old and has been having some issues. She started about 5 years ago and then stabilized with a barefoot natural trim. It seems as if things have been progressing and she is having more troubles walking with her hinds- very dropped fetlocks and tight muscles, walking wide, ect. I have the vet coming out today, but wondering if anyone had any other ideas.

Lessons Learned

A horse owner wrote Don West regarding her DSLD-ESPA diagnosed Peruvian Horse. She didn't get a vet check and believed the owners when they told her the horse was "out of condition." You can read her letter here on Don West's website. (Note: This letter and reply were written four years ago. There is more information on DSLD-ESPA available now than there was then.)

In his reply, Don West states that DSLD is found in many breeds.
TRUE! There are many members participating on the DSLD-ESPA Equine Yahoo Group, and they own various horse breeds affected by DSLD-ESPA.

Don also states in his reply that Paso Finos don’t seem to have the problem. Sorry Don, there are owners of DSLD-ESPA affected PFs on the DSLD-ESPA Equine Yahoo Group, also.

For those with recently diagnosed horses: Members of the DSLD-ESPA Equine Yahoo Group are trying a few experimental treatments (treatments--not cures) with some success. If you have a horse with DSLD-ESPA, please consider joining the DSLD-ESPA Equine Yahoo Group and participating in these trials.

Answers...

I don't have anything else new to post about, so here's a link to a Question posted on Yahoo Answers from the young owner of an Arab cross asking people to look at pictures of her gelding and tell her if her horse has DSLD. I tried to post an answer (even though the question is a couple of months old); however, Yahoo won't let me post or even vote. Don't know why. So if you have a Yahoo account, please try to post an answer directing the owner over to the DSLD-Equine forum for answers. And don't be too shocked at some of the answers posted in response to her question.

Another Quote from Fugly Horse of the Day! and a Comment

Fugly Horse of the Day!: Genetics: It's really not like playing roulette!: "Significantly, HE STAYED SOUND to get a zillion points - which to me is a HUGE reason to breed to him. If you want soundness, start with soundness."

Recently, I read a post on the DSLD Equine group which referred to a report that keeps circulating via the internet. I included the link to the report because I think it's important that people should be able to recognize it immediately for what it is and what it is not.

It IS a report that questions the existence of DSLD/ESPA and challenges the current research.

Although it includes a reference to NAPHA on the title page, it is NOT a report approved by NAPHA, nor can it be found on their website (at least I haven't found it--I did read in their minutes that the report was presented and NOT APPROVED).

Certain websites are circulating this report as a NAPHA report which includes the names of committee members whose contributions were not used nor were they consulted when the report was finalized. These members were upset that not only were their contributions ignored, but the report contains only one viewpoint. They asked to have their names removed. However, the report on the website above still contains their names on the Title Page. Also found in this report is an eMail from an individual who was not asked (nor did they give) permission to use their name or eMail. It's very easy to create a copy of the document and remove the names, eMail, and reference to NAPHA. The only reason I can see for not doing so is because it makes the report seem credible. That said, one website circulating this report did remove the eMail and names from the Title Page; however, the Title Page still says it's a NAPHA sub-committee report. (Technically, I guess that is true, but where is the statement that says NAPHA did NOT approve this report?)

As for the report itself, read it if you like, and keep in mind that

1. Dr Mero's work was peer reviewed before publication,
   
2. Drs Halper and Cothran are internationally known, recognized, and respected for their research. I can't imagine that they'd risk their reputations to research something that doesn't exist. (Would you publicly humiliate yourself in front of your peers?)
   
3. Respected magazines such as THE HORSE, HORSE JOURNAL, and EQUUS have published research findings regarding DSLD/ESPA. Yet, not one of these magazines has published the "report" found circulating on the internet.
   
4. USEF (or the United States Equestrian Foundation--which NAPHA is registered with) helped fund Dr Halper's latest research.
   
5. The AQHA funded Dr Halper's groundbreaking research on tendon and ligament cellular development (involving proteoglycans) in horses.

So, world-renowned researchers, highly esteemed magazines, and organizations such as USEF and AQHA, or some "report" floating around the internet. Who do YOU believe???

PLEASE, if you're breeding or buying, do your homework. Check out siblings, sires/dams, grandsires/granddams, etc. as far back as you can go. My mare (a Nat'l Reserve Champion by the way) didn't show any signs/symptoms of DSLD/ESPA until she was 15 years old. Keep in mind when you're researching the pedigree that this is a systemic condition...look not only for lameness, but early deaths, unexplained illnesses, etc. Because the bottom line is this: Whichever side of the research you're on, the quote from Fugly is applicable. "If you want soundness, start with soundness."

Getting rid of DSLD-ESPA (horses that is)

Hmmm, a couple more links:

http://www.bluebonnetequine.org/about/contact.htm

http://www.topix.net/forum/city/eubank-ky/T0D2905NHMTM83DHU/p2 (scroll down to last post)

Could this be a trend? Note on the equine rescue website it states:

Crimson was donated after developing Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis (DSLD).

And here's a quote from the second link:
The breeders in Peru would cull horses that had any defects by shooting them. They would not sell them or even give them away because they did not want these faults in either gait, confirmation, or temperament passed down. Breeders in this country get rid of their culls in a different way, they sell them to some unsuspecting person. At one time I thought the Peruvian Pasos were probably the safest horse to buy. I have changed my mind completely though since DSLD is very common in the Peruvians now.

If You Ride Your DSLD/ESPA Horse, be Prepared

for comments like this one found in this forum. Scroll about halfway down the page. Look at the picture with the caption It was painful to see this poor Peruvian

Video: 1981 Peruvian Paso mare affected with DSLD - ESPA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FshquBJVeBw

Paso Fino horse suffering from DSLD-ESPA

on the Fugly Horse blog. Click and scroll down to read/view picture.

Another story of heartbreak

Long, but worthwhile reading IMO.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/PPasoRescue/message/732