Paso Finos affected too!

2007 post from the American Paso Fino Boards.  Kudos to them for having an open discussion:

http://www.americanpasofinos.com/forum/showpost.php?p=152765&postcount=6

More Paso Fino owners have been showing up on the D/E (shortening
DSLD/ESPA for equine systemic proteoglycan accumulation) yahoo list
lately with positive cases. Along with a lot of other breeds. Latest
one a Percheron/Morgan cross. There is currently a DSLD positive Paso
Fino at a rescue here in WAshington state who's 38 yrs old! I was
amazed the old fellow's still around.


Just to add re symptoms:

early symptoms often are vague- slight 'offness' in gait, fetlock
swelling that might come and go, resistance to work in a horse that's
normally a forward mover. Fetlocks don't always drop, a good number of
horses remain pretty upright or even contract up. One of my Peruvian
cases dropped, the other's angles actually contracted over time. And a
lot of evidence now that tendons are affected as much and sometimes
more than suspensories. My gelding also had very loose skin, something
some but not all seem to show. Latest thinking of researcher Dr.
Jaroslava Halper at Univeristy of Georgia is that it's systemic
connective tissue disease similar to Marfans disease in humans. It has
to progress to a certain point before it can be identified in the legs
through the current diagnostic protocol, which can befound at the link
posted or also at Dr. Mero's site, dsld.org. The protocol includes flex
tests and ultrasounds by a vet who needs to know where and how to do
the measurements.

Questions from Yahoo Answers

Some good replies to the question below were posted; however, the only reply that gave up-to-date information received a thumbs down vote. I registered with Yahoo to vote it up but am not allowed to vote until I accumulate points. Here's the link:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080905122153AAN8Hze

Coon footed horse/DSLD put down?

I have a coon footed pony thats hind legs have dropped so far, he has completely straight legs now(not even an angle at the hock). He is 4 yrs old and is on stall rest. The vet gave him 5 months before he will be in so much pain he will have to be euthanized.

I Dont see the point in keeping him around for five months just to be in pain. Maybe if there was a good outcome but sense theres not is there really a point?

I think it would be best to put him to sleep now and not have him suffer at all...but a certain someone is saying it would be extremely selfish to do that.
Is it selfish to put him down before he is in pain or goes crazy from being stuck in a stall? I thought it would be doing him a favor.

Additional Details

My vet gave him 5 months before his pasterns would be hitting the ground and he would be in a lot of pain. Right now his hocks are hurting him doe to the straightness in his legs.