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Week 9/2009: Finnhorse hereditary diseases under investigation 

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“In the past, some horses were known to bite the wood of their stalls, a phenomenon known as crib-biting. It was thought they did this because they were hungry.

Nowadays, it is known that crib-biting is not caused by a lack of food alone, although it also used to be regarded as a bad habit caused by environmental factors.

“There is now some evidence that the tendency for crib-biting is partly hereditary, although its onset also depends on the environment,” says Karin Hemmann, a geneticist from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Helsinki.

The researchers at the faculty will be launching a research project this spring to investigate the genetic illnesses of the Finnhorse. In addition to crib-biters, the project will also focus on horses suffering from sweet itch.

A crib-biter is a horse that leans against the crib or fence with its teeth and strains its neck muscles, letting out snorting noises. The horse may also do so without leaning

Sweet itch is a skin condition that causes horses to suffer from an itchy eczema in the summer. A horse will rub against trees and fences, causing considerable damage to itself. .

The research will shed light on genetic as well as the environmental factors behind the conditions. The data will be compared with research made on other horse breeds.

The Finnhorse is of particular interest to geneticists, as the horses’ pedigrees have been registered in studbooks since 1907.

“A homogenous population gives a unique starting point for the study of the role of genes in illnesses that are caused by multiple factors,” says Hemmann.

The research group is now seeking Finnhorses that suffer from sweet itch and crib-biting horses of all breeds to participate in the research.

Text: Anna-Kaisa Pitkänen
Picture: Hippola/Suvi Louhelainen
Translation: AAC Noodi
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