# Dwarf research



## mistyrose (Jan 7, 2006)

Dr Gus Cothran is starting research into dwarf characteristic in miniature horses. This is what he needs;

1. From live dwarf miniatures;

Send to Gus Cothran- Dept of Veterinary Science 108 Gluck Equine Research Center University of Kentucky Lexington KY 40546-0099

A. Picture of animal ( very important so he can look at same types of problems together)

B. 2 tubes of blood in lavender or yellow topped tubes. Label tubes with "dwarf" Ship ups 2 day

C. 2 tubes of blood as above from sire and dam if possible. Label " sire" "Dam"

D. Pedigree of sire and dam if you are willing to send it.

2. Any donations of money can be sent To Dr. Gus Cothran Dept of Veterinary Science 108 Gluck Equine Research Center University of Kentucky Lexington KY 40546-0099

A. Please put for Miniature horse dwarf research in memo.

Please send asap. Dr. Cothran will be going to Texas A+ M in March. I will post an address for him there when this occurs. Research will then be done at both Universities. He will be applying for grants but most of the funding will need to come from us 'the miniature horse community'.

I would like to ask everyone to send what they can to help us finally get some real research done.

_*E. Gus Cothran _

BS - North Texas State University

MS - North Texas State University

PhD - University of Oklahoma

Research - Equine Parentage Verification and Research:

Biochemical genetic relationships and evolution of the Equidae

Population structure and the maintenance of genetic variation in horse breeds

Genetic relationship of domestic horse breeds

Genetics of wild horse populations

Conservation genetics of rare breeds

Evolution of the protease inhibitor system in equids

Relationships among genetic variation and reproductive characteristics in horses

Gene mapping in the horse


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## mistyrose (Jan 7, 2006)

AMHA genetics committee is selling raffle tickets for a Lutke Harness to help raise money for this research.

The tickets are $5.00 The drawing will be Feb 25 at the General membership mtg. You need not be present to win.

Tickets can be gotten from Me -Libby Rosen 13040 N. Old 3C Rd Sunbury, OH 43074. or if you live close to John Eberth(KY), Sue Brooks (Minnesota), Tony Greaves (TX) or Barbara Naviaux (CA) they have tickets also.


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## Arion Mgmt (Jan 7, 2006)

THank you Libby for helping,

Since I am the one actually doing the lab work at UK, Gus is my advisor, and he has relied on me for input and work with this research. I thought I would like people to know there is someone within the industry having the most intergal part in this research. Gus told me two days ago he is waiting on the address for A&M, both universities will be involved, after Gus leaves UK, I will be the one at UK that will be making sure research continues at UK. Also I am the one doing the digital Xray research that I started at UK this year, and Gus has okayed it with Dr. Swerzcek the equine Pathologist, right now the only body samples we have are mine that I have kept in my freezer, we need more of those as well.

Gus tried to get the A&M info two days ago when I was at Gluck delivering the new dwarf mutation sample to the lab I am working in at Gluck. Next week I will be at Gluck almost on a daily basis, so I will know when samples come in so everyone will know someone there is making sure this is going somewhere, not into lala land. Gus has asked me to field any questions on samples needed, due to his busy schedule, and because I am within the industry. Gus is working on research money already at A&M to make it available for this research when he gets there. The unfortunate thing about the grants is having to have alot of research already done and some knowledge of the successfulness of the research, right now we do not have that info, Gus said it would be very unlikely we would get public grant money for this, now private grant money from a trust or business is not as difficult but they must feel it is worthwhile and worth their investment. This is why most equine disease research is done from private donations and grants and inside industry financial help namely you all.

John


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## Teresa (Jan 7, 2006)

Have you ever considered forming a non-profit organization for this research. If so, the contributions would be tax deductible and you might get more donations that way. I'm not sure what category this would fall under. I have formed one non profit but it was for a private school.

I know of a couple of lawyers that visit the forum...maybe they would be willing to help and I can help with any typing that needs to be done. This is soooooo important to our industry, and it is time that it gets the proper research.


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## rabbitsfizz (Jan 7, 2006)

This is exactly what we need- _real _ action!! Well done.


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## hhpminis (Jan 7, 2006)

WOW! This is so important. Well done, please lets keep this subject near the top so more can see it. I will encourage all I know who may have a dwarf to send samples as well.

Thank you Libby for bringing it to our attention and thank you John for being part of this work. What fascinating work it must be too.


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## Firefall (Jan 7, 2006)

Will there also be a Paypal account we can send to?


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## Margo_C-T (Jan 7, 2006)

I mentioned this on another of the related threads, but will ask again, as it might have been overlooked....would pedigree and photo information ONLY on a dwarf be of any help? The one born here was long(about 10 years)ago,but I do have photos of her, and, I think, I still have photos of both parents-though I no longer own either. I can also supply a pedigree on both parents. Just a simple"yes" or "no" would suffice!

And rest assured, I will be sending a check to Dr. Cothran at A&M(I am partial to Texas, having been born there!)

I agree with others--this is really EXCELLENT, concrete news/information--FINALLY, it looks like a REAL start in the right direction!

(And just to 'support the cause'-I have owned and sold two Lutke harnesses, and don't even NEED one, at this point!-I will buy a-yep, only one!-but at least my heart's in the right place!!




: raffle ticket from one of the folks mentioned!) Gee-the "new" wink is sort of odd-looking.....?


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## mistyrose (Jan 7, 2006)

Yes if all you have is a pedigree from an long gone dwarf, send that especially if you have pictures to send also.

The pictures are important because there are different "types" of dwarves that are seen. These will most likely be different genetic defects in the dna code. They have a better chance of finding a defect if they are comparing "apples to apples" and not to "apples to grapes". The "grapes" will be looked at too, but with other "grapes"

If you want your donation to be tax deductable you can make it out to;

1. AMHA for Genetic Research on Miniature Horse dwarf defects.

2. University of Kentucky at Lexington for Genetic Research on Miniature Horse dwarf defects.

I would appreciate if you email John at [email protected] so we can keep track of the funds that should be available.

BTW I think AMHA is going to take PayPal soon


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## Dee (Jan 8, 2006)

My question is the same as Margo's. i really don't feel comfortable taking blood from my horses and I don't know the pedigree of him either....but I do have a ton of photos of him!!!! He is just to cute to not have a ton of them :lol: . I also have some good ones of his legs and feet if that would be of any help????

Dee


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## kaykay (Jan 8, 2006)

im so excited that this is finally happening! Im going to ask Mona to put this info on the rescue site under our dwarf page.


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## rabbitsfizz (Jan 8, 2006)

Can we get this up on Little Bit's Forum too???


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## Little Bit (Jan 9, 2006)

:saludando:[SIZE=12pt]Hi Jane~[/SIZE]

This has been pinned on Little Bit's forum as well.



:

I will be taking one of my little dwarfs back up to Texas A & M hopefully this week for Dr. Honnas to trim her hooves again for me, so I will talk to him about this; perhaps he can draw some blood for the study then.


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## Little Bit (Jan 9, 2006)

[SIZE=12pt]John you wrote:....[/SIZE]



> Gus is working on research money already at A&M to make it available for this research when he gets there. The unfortunate thing about the grants is having to have alot of research already done and some knowledge of the successfulness of the research, right now we do not have that info,


Is there any way that the research and information that has already been gathered from the studies done at MSU and the University of California-Davis, done by Dr. Ann Bowling, can be used?


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## mistyrose (Jan 9, 2006)

There are no records of the research done at UC at Davis. My understanding is that there was never a official study done just some random autopies and DNAs. But we haven't been able to get records from Davis.


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## Arion Mgmt (Jan 10, 2006)

When I was at UC Davis in 1994 for an internship under Ann Bowling, they only had one adult dwarf that was donated a couple of years before I got there and some other pics of dwarfs and I think a few DNA samples of others. They took blood samples when they got it, they took pics and then put it down and did a necropsy and then displayed the bones. I saw the pics and bones, the dwarf was not the most common type that I have seen over the years throughout the country. They did get some dwarf samples over the years, but I do know from Ann herself that since there was no financial support, anything that she was doing she did, "on the side". I do know that a lot of what she did know was in her head, not really officially documented, and the info I did see that she had in 1994 was sparce at that time, she did however feel strongly back then that it was an autosomal homozygous recessive mutation, and her opinion had not changed over the years. I do not know what has been done at MSU, other than some research has been done, noone has brought anything out from there.

When I got to UK in 1996, They had "supposedly" six or seven DNA samples of dwarfs, but no pics for any of the samples, and I asked Dr. Cothran if he knew for sure if they were dwarfs and not just small minis and I told him I had seen multiple types and showed him what dwarf samples I had and pics of "normal" very small minis, he then knew this was going to be more complicated than he realized. And for us to go anywhere we need pics with the dwarf samples so we know which type it is. Because, if the diiferent types are different mutations, then it will muddy the waters, so to speak, trying to find a mutation of one type. This is why the documentation by pics is so crucial. So we are sure what we have.

John



mistyrose said:


> There are no records of the research done at UC at Davis. My understanding is that there was never a official study done just some random autopies and DNAs. But we haven't been able to get records from Davis.


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## Little Bit (Jan 10, 2006)

[SIZE=12pt]*Here are a couple of posts that were made on Little Bit's Forum, when I asked if anyone had sent any blood samples to the research that was supposidly being done at MSU. I knew that one lady had sent samples, but could not remember who it was, darn CRS! * :no: [/SIZE]



> IT WAS ME JANELL THAT SENT BLOODWORK FROM A TOTAL OF 9 RELATED . THE DWARF, ZOEY, SIRE, DAM, FULL SISTER, (1) 1/2 SISTER BY DAM, (4) 1/2 SISTERS BY SIRE. WE ENDED UP PAYING FOR IT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE PAID BY SOMEONE ELSE. MSU DIDN'T EXPLAIN TUBES RIGHT, JUST SAID CERTAIN COLOR TOPS WHICH MY VET DID, AND I GUESS THEY WERE NOT UNIVERSAL. SO WE HAD TO LOAD ALL 9 MINIS AGAIN AND TAKE IN FOR BLOOD WORK. IT WAS DIFFICULT TO TAKE THEM IN TWICE AND HAVE EVERYONE POKED ON AGAIN, HUBBY IS ON A DIFFERENT SCHEDULE, I AM ON FIRST SHIFT HE IS ON SECOND, BUT WE MANAGED TO GET THEM TAKEN IN TWICE. IF VET COMES TO OUR PLACE IT IS AN ADDITIONAL $125 FEE, GLAD I DIDN'T HAVE HIM COME HERE TWICE, WITH THE BLOODWORK, OVERNIGHTING SHIPPING FEES, AND TRAVELS FEES IT WOULD HAVE REALLY BEEN A BIG BILL. WE HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING BACK AND THE VET HAS EVEN CALLED. I DON'T THINK THEY HAVE GOTTEN ENOUGH RESPONSE TO REALLY DO MUCH WITH IT.





> From : Judy Marteniuk <[email protected]> Sent : Thursday, February 24, 2005 1:41 PM
> 
> Subject : Dwarf study
> 
> ...





> Janell, When **** was asking for blood samples, I was willing to sent Angel's blood along with her dam and sire's blood samples! But **** would never tell me who the doctor was, nor where to send the samples! She wanted me to send them to her and she would forward them to the doctor! I declined to deal with her!
> 
> Bill


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## mistyrose (Jan 11, 2006)

I have contacted Dr. Judy Marteniuk at MSU and will put her in contact with Dr Cothran and John. She also gave me some other names that I will get to Dr Cothran and John.

But please remember we need samples and funds. If everyone with Miniature horses would give $10.00 we could get a lot done.

1. From live dwarf miniatures;

Send to Gus Cothran- Dept of Veterinary Science 108 Gluck Equine Research Center University of Kentucky Lexington KY 40546-0099

A. Picture of animal ( very important so he can look at same types of problems together)

B. 2 tubes of blood in lavender or yellow topped tubes. Label tubes with "dwarf" Ship ups 2 day

C. 2 tubes of blood as above from sire and dam if possible. Label " sire" "Dam"

D. Pedigree of sire and dam if you are willing to send it.

2. Any donations of money can be sent To Dr. Gus Cothran Dept of Veterinary Science 108 Gluck Equine Research Center University of Kentucky Lexington KY 40546-0099

A. Please put for Miniature horse dwarf research in memo.


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## [email protected] (Jan 12, 2006)

Thank you John (Libby and the rest of the AMHA Genetics Comm too!) for getting this information out, especially you John for all your efforts over the past few years. I'm always so thrilled to see families that have had great success give back too - you're whole family has always been generous with their information and support.

Can I ask will someone be taking notes at the AMHA meeting of Johns report - or can it be emailed/posted here? This is such important information that I know I for one would love to have updates as they become available. I was hoping to attend, but may have conflicting plans at that time.

Libby - you had mentioned AMHA might be setting up PayPal for donations as well? Do you know if Gluck with have or can establish a PayPal account too?

This past year we supported Katrina victims with a percentage from each sale, and I would be happy to do that with the Dwarf Gene research too. Would it be okay to use your information here on our website? Or do you have a site you would like it linked too?

Thanks again for all you're doing!


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## Bess Kelly (Jan 14, 2006)

I would ask that info be provided for the tissue samples that would be helpful from any necropsy....and any special instructions for the vet performing this. It would not seem practical that each of these animals could be done at A&M but, I feel comfortable that at least some of the people who own such animals would give consideration to donating such samples. Naturally, there is an expense for each one who is participating in this research but, I feel the majority of people who are truly interested would participate if possible.

Of course, there is a huge emotional link to these special needs horses. With that goes reluctance to perform certain efforts beyond a vet drawing blood. BUT, we surely need to have the answers and this is THE PLACE to begin the study. I beg each of you who may have a dwarf that passes to please consider that they may make a huge impact upon this long overdue research and consider making their lives have an even greater impact upon resolving the affliction with which they suffered. In my heart I know that these special ones would approve.


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## Arion Mgmt (Jan 27, 2006)

Hello Everyone I gotthe info from Gus for Texas A&M

The checks need to be payable to "TAMU Foundation". They need to be mailed to Jerry Zalmanek's attention at the address shown below to this person. The accompanying letter should state that the funds are to be earmarked for the benefit of research endeavors in the area of Miniature horse dwarfism and there are no stipulations on their use. Once an acct number has been established, it would be helpful to have it listed in the letters as well.

Merrie Noak

Business Coordinator I

Dept. of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences

Texas A&M University

4458 TAMU

College Station, TX 77843-4458

Attention Jerry Zalmanek

Any questions email please email me.

John


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## Margo_C-T (Jan 27, 2006)

Thank you, John, for the additional information! I do have a question, which I will ask here, as it might also be pertinent for others--May I send the information I am in the process of getting together--photos, of dwarf, sire, and dam, and pedigrees of same(no blood, as all are long gone from here)--to Dr. Cothran at his previously published address at the U. of Kentucky, and my check for donation to the research to the Texas A & M address you just added? (I have already sent off for a raffle ticket, to Libby Rosen.)

My donation can't be very large, but just think--if EVERY AMHA(and AMHR, for that matter!)sent only $10 or so, that would provide ,at the very least, an excellent start to the needed research!!

As Secretary of our state AMHA-approved club, I will be taking all of this information to our next Board and regular club meetings!

Again, thanks!

Margo Cox-Townsend


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## mistyrose (Jan 28, 2006)

Yes you can still send the information you asked about to the University of Kentucky address. Dr. Cothran will be there until April and the research will continue there also when he moves to Texas.

1. From live dwarf miniatures;

Send to Gus Cothran- Dept of Veterinary Science 108 Gluck Equine Research Center University of Kentucky Lexington KY 40546-0099

A. Picture of animal ( very important so he can look at same types of problems together)

B. 2 tubes of blood in lavender or yellow topped tubes. Label tubes with "dwarf" Ship ups 2 day

C. 2 tubes of blood as above from sire and dam if possible. Label " sire" "Dam"

D. Pedigree of sire and dam if you are willing to send it.

2. Any donations of money can be sent To Dr. Gus Cothran please use address below;

A. Please put for Miniature horse dwarf research in memo.

The checks need to be payable to "TAMU Foundation". They need to be mailed to Jerry Zalmanek's attention at the address shown below to this person. The accompanying letter should state that the funds are to be earmarked for the benefit of research endeavors in the area of Miniature horse dwarfism and there are no stipulations on their use. Once an acct number has been established, it would be helpful to have it listed in the letters as well.

Merrie Noak

Business Coordinator I

Dept. of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences

Texas A&M University

4458 TAMU

College Station, TX 77843-4458

Attention Jerry Zalmanek


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## Arion Mgmt (Jan 28, 2006)

Right now any research involved with me is at UK, and I AM the one actually doing the hands-on research. I am staying at UK and continuing my research at UK and anyone that wants to send samples and or money donations to UK can send it now and after Gus leaves you can put it attention John Eberth. Since the check would be made out to UK I would obviously not be cashing them, I would be giving them to the Gluck center to earmark for my research there. Right now there is no research being done at TAMU until Gus gets there, and the samples that they use will be the ones sent in and/or the ones from me. I hope this clears up some of the confusion on "who" is actually doing the "what" and "where" it is being done.

John


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## LeahSugar (Jun 2, 2006)

I have a little, what I THINK is a dwarf miniature horse with an uncommon severe angular limb deformity... I'd love to contribute to the cause if I could.

Here's her webpage...

www.mybrokenangel.com

Let me know if I can help out with the research end.

Leah


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## Little Bit (Jul 13, 2006)

*Leah, if nothing more, you can pull some of Tao's mane hairs(make sure you get the root or little bulb at the base of the hair approx. 30 +) and send her pictures, taken from both sides and from the front, list her Dam & Sire and any information you have on them, and send to Dr. Cothran...this alone will be a LOT of help to the dwarf research program!




: *

When the equine dentist, Carl Mitz, was here awhile back, that is what he did with all my dwarves, plus took a tissue sample(from their gums) and sent it into the dwarf research for me...he collects all this info. as he sees lots of dwarf minis in his travels across the U.S.



Later on, I gathered up all the background information I could on all my babies and e-mailed it to Carl, then he sent it on to Texas A & M for me. :bgrin


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