1. Publicly acknowledge that the Arabian breed has many carriers of CA, across all bloodline groups. We can�t ignore it any longer. Solving this genetic mystery and thus improving the breed starts with acknowledging that the problem exists.
2. Fund research that will find the genes responsible for this condition and develop a DNA test to detect carriers. Significant research is being done at The University of California, Davis in the United States and at the University of Bern in Switzerland.
NEWS FLASH: The Arabian Horse Association has now created the Arabian Horse Foundation. The new 501 (c) 3 will focus on several areas for funding: Youth and Scholarships; Education and Equine Research with a focus on diseases and illnesses that affect our breed of horses, and a Displaced Horses funding category.
The unique feature of the Foundation pledging is that you, the donor, can designate where you want your contribution to go. So please tell AHA that you wish to donate funding to go DIRECTLY to research on cerebellar abiotrophy.
Send your contributions to: Arabian Horse Foundation, 10805 E. Bethany Drive, Aurora, CA 80014, or click on the Arabian Horse Association link at the left of this screen.
3. If you know of a horse with symptoms, obtain DNA samples (or encourage the owner to do so), and, if the horse must be euthanized, have the brain examined postmortem for the loss of Purkinje cells that is the strongest evidence of a horse with CA, and provide that information to research as well. A lack of samples is the single biggest problem that researchers are currently facing.
4. Thank the Arabian Horse Association for running one educational article on genetic diseases in Modern Arabian Horse Magazine, for setting up the Foundation, and encourage them to put more time and effort into additional educational efforts, including the creation of pages on the association web site that provide information and assistance to owners of affected horses.
6. Ask the Arabian Horse Association to work with university researchers to create a monitoring database to track the incidence of CA in the breed. As the official breed registry, the Arabian Horse Association has a wealth of pedigree data that could be used to help veterinary research.
7. Communicate to Arabian owners everything they need to know about Cerebellar Abiotrophy. Given the risk, Arabian owners need to be as well-educated on this subject as anybody in the horse world.