Hoof wall separation disease and the genetics of it in the connemara pony

Abstract

During my time as a student I come across many interesting cases but this one case about the pony X I couldn’t let go. The reason it became so interesting was because when I first heard about this condition, Hoof Wall Separation Disease or HWSD it was not settled to be a recognised disease nor yet a genetic disorder. Thanks to some Connemara breeders I came in contact with the Connemara-pony blog spot. Where owners and breeders from all over the world could contact each other and share their stories. People started then to realise that they had a genetic problem in the Connemara breed where the hoof wall separates from the underlying structure and the affected pony bear its all weight on the sole instead of the hard hoof. At first there where many who questioned this theory and many of the breeders societys who didn’t want to recognise this condition as a genetic problem. But now just a few years later the Connemara research group has developed and thanks to veterinarians and reasercher there are now a genetic test for this condition and more or less all the breeders’ society encourage to test the breeding ponies.