OTTBs for SCIENCE!!

A cool thing about the equestrian blogging community is that we are all fairly unified in our love for ponies, right? (duh, emma...)

But also within the community there are various sub-interest groups. Some bloggers are into art, or writing, or graphic design. Or history or technology or science. Etc etc, you get the point. Which means that as we get to know each other within the realm of a shared love of horses, we can also find new folks with even more overlapping interests.

this post unapologetically includes fairly monochromatic photographs. bc.... well, mostly bc of the subject matter haha. to go along with the theme and maybe make it feel more 'pretty' than it actually is, here's a "artsy" (snort) shot of charlie biting his beloved fan after a ride on a particularly hot day

Personally, I kinda dig science. And often enjoy talking about ponies from a more scientifically methodological view point with other like-minded individuals.... like, say, Nicole from Zen and the Art of Baby Horse Management.

Most recently, Nicole brought a cool new cutting edge research project to my attention. Paul Szauter, the Chief Scientific Officer at EquiSeq, had uncovered Nicole's velociraptor's OTTB's pedigree through the Bloodline Brag on the Retired Racehorse Project's site and contacted her about collecting samples from Murray for a new study.

a special package!

The team is apparently looking for TBs with some combination of Northern Dancer and Raise a Native, tho I'm not sure about the exact criteria.*

Nicole obviously thought it was pretty darn cool to have her horse specifically sought out by a research team, and furthermore encouraged me to contact the researchers to see if Charlie would also qualify for inclusion in the study.

*Charlie has Northern Dancer x3, but no Raise a Native, and was accepted in the study. Meanwhile, Nicole had a friend whose horse has both but was not accepted in the study.

the letter from package #1

She encouraged me to reach out to Paul directly (pszauter at gmail) with my OTTB's Jockey Club name and year foaled to see if Charlie was eligible for inclusion in the study.

Naturally, tho, before I did so, I googled the ever loving crap out of this Paul fellow haha. Bc. Ya know. I'm kinda a CreepStar3000. Or like, if you didn't know that... well. Now you know. Ahem.

the letter in package #2, actually an envelope. plus included sample baggie

And I actually found a lot of really cool stuff in googling the guy - he personally has been involved in the field of genomics for quite a long time, and has conducted a number of studies specifically relating to horses - the last big one focused on PSSM.

I was even able to uncover some details on what this particular project was all about - and it looked pretty cool. The gist is that they're working on developing genetic tests to identify performance-related genetic diseases (like a predisposition for tying up) in such a way that may positively influence breeding practices and management of affected horses.

instructions to the vet or person responsible for drawing blood

So I emailed him (pszauter at gmail) and was pleasantly surprised to receive a very prompt reply. Charlie was accepted into the study!

Paul let me know that I would receive a few things in the mail:

- a blood sample kit with a vial, shipping container, and instructions
- an informed consent form and health questionnaire
- a hair sample kit with prepaid return envelope

hair sample! apologies for the blur...

The health questionnaire is pretty straight forward - asking some basic questions about the horse's lineage (for OTTBs this is all easily found via pedigreequery.com), siblings, and progeny. And about the individual horse's known history of tying up, a tie back surgery, any heritable conditions, and any other medical issues or special dietary needs.

It takes a couple minutes to complete the forms in a thorough manner - but it also probably won't require any real digging into information that isn't well-known to you.

and.... here's a vignette of my trunk and various pieces of tack. just 'cuz.

So. Charlie's well on his way to benefiting the equestrian scientific community - with the help of a few plucked hairs and some spare blood. Not too shabby!

Personally I'm pretty curious about what may come of this - but even if Charlie's only real contribution is giving them a better base N, that's cool with me too. I'm happy to participate, knowing that there are folks out there dedicated to using science to create better diagnostic tools and methods for improving the quality of life for horses today and the potential horses of tomorrow.

And in the meantime - if you have an OTTB, maybe consider shooting Paul an email too, including your horse's Jockey Club name and year foaled. Even if you're not super into science it's cool to participate!