Omertà - or the Conspiracy of Silence

The expression "conspiracy of silence" relates to a condition or matter which is known to exist, but by tacit communal unspoken consensus is not talked about or acknowledged.

Conditions considered shameful or disadvantageous by society or a certain group of people result in avoidance of recognition of some problem in order to officially bury or hide it and thus prevent accusations, investigations or liability. A conspiracy of silence in some field has effects at many levels: those who are directly suffering, or causing others to suffer, perpetuate their cycle of harm and suffering, those who have suffered have their suffering extended by being having their condition ignored or minimized, and are not considered seriously or redressed appropriately, lessons that might be learned for the future are not learned, conditions are exacerbated or even this way allowed to become entrenched in the first place.

Conspiracy of silence is a well-known and much executed behaviour among many if not most modern breeders. Unlike breeders of former times, who had to present animals well able to perform and had no problem with destroying those individuals which were showing faults or defects, especially as their livelihood usually depended on their good name in this respect, many if not most modern breeders are more or less hobbyists or - if themselves professionals - selling mainly to hobbyists. Unless they are selling directly to the meat market that is. These hobby breeders usually feel that the name of their breeding is riding on the health state of their animals, or indeed often considerable amounts of money invested are riding on the trust customers and fellow breeders place in them or they do not wish to start over rsp. are unable to buy new breeding stock.

In view of the fact that since roughly 100 to 150 years ago studbooks of most pet breeds are closed as a rule and in view of the advent of pure showbreeding also among many if not most pet animal species, decisive and relentless culling has become more necessary than ever. As can be seen in nearly every pet breed which deviated from breeding for practical work, the assault (on genetic and general health) of inbreeding, genetic load, popular sire syndrome and omertà has led to genetic diseases cropping up and spreading through the genepools, as well as a general loss of health values.

While horse breeds are not affected as fastly as small pet breeds due their larger generation span, they most certainly are not immune to this mechanism. Quarterhorses with HYPP, HERDA or EPSM, Arabians with LFS, SCID or CA, or Friesians with hydrocephalus or dwarfism, these are just a few examples for genetic diseases spreading like wildfire through either closed genepools or genepools bred heavily for show and perusing largely popular sires to do that.

In all of these cases, in every one of them, the conspiracy of silence has seen to it, that the silence of breeders and owners alike allowed the initially but few cases of grave genetical diseases to spread throughout the whole breed, in some cases to the extent that so many individuals are carriers that culling becomes impossible. Only when so many animals are touched by the relevant problem, that at one or other point affected horses get sold to people unwilling to keep silent about it, a grudging acceptance takes place. Rescue measures at that stage then come much too late and the usual testing frenzy is more often than not just windowdressing.

An additional problem is that in small, closed genepools even with testing there soon comes a point when the genepool consists of so many carriers that finding good, fitting breeding pairs is a major difficulty. The longer a disease is not talked about and not taken into calculation, the sooner that state will be achieved. E.g. among Friesians this already has resulted in semi-opening of the before firmly closed studbook and strict rules as to lower inbreeding coefficients. This, one needs to say it clearly, is a breed with way more than 10,000 breeding individuals worldwide and still it was discovered to not be sufficient to cull within the closed genepool only.

The situation for the Akhal Teke with its much, much lower amount of breeding animals, may quickly become much more serious. Already today the genetic diversity of the breed is insanely low, an AVK of 30-50% (instead of at least 85%) in modern horses should ring any breeder's alarm bells long and hard. Next comes the fact that we already know that several of the extremely popular sires were or must have been carriers of the lethal recessive "Hairless Foal Syndrome". Such horses as 943 Arslan, 736 Keymir or 1054 Gilkuyruk, cases leading back to the immensely influental 448 Kir Sakar, 44 Bek Nasar Dor or 244 Toporbay, can be found by now in every single horse pedigree. That general genetic load and inbreeding depression also is by now taking its toll, should not be negated either, with a major lowering of the average life expectancy of the more recently born horses and the cropping up of such potentially polygenetic diseases as Wobbler Syndrome, Kissing Spine, ringbone, allergies, DLSD or OCD.

There is but one way to deal with this for buyers, especially when on the brink of acquiring very expensive horses:

• have the horse thoroughly checked by a vet, not the stable vet of the breeder, choose your own vet and make absolutely sure that he is not connected to the breeder!
• tell this vet about the potential problems he needs to carefully check up on: Kissing Spine, Wobbler Syndrome, OCD, DSLD, skeletal problems related to early work and overfeeding/pushing of foals
• if an independant vet cannot be engaged on place, make the sale and payment of the horse dependant on a thorough check-up done by your own stable vet. Arrange escrow of the payment with a trustworthy firm until the health of the horse has been cleared to your satisfaction.
• ask the breeder about such ancestors in the pedigree which may be or have been carriers of the Hairless Foal Syndrome and demand an evaluation by the studbook management prior to the sale. Have this evaluation checked by an independant geneticist!
• ask for a calculation of ancestor loss and inbreeding of your horse and if the intention is breeding, have the potential partners of it evaluated for pairing and the values possible foals will achieve.
• do not take the simple word of a breeder as being fact. The Akhal Teke may be a rare breed, it however is not different from any other animal species. If claims are made as to potential performance and abilities, ask for direct proof of what the direct ancestors of that horse actually and provenly achieved in those fields.

The most important thing to remember is the age-old saying: CAVEAT EMPTOR! As the buyer, you are the one who has to beware.

Hopefully critical customers of these horses will eventually force breeders to see the sense in breeding for healthy workable horses, in becoming aware and open about the genetical problems the breed is facing and in using modern methods and knowledge where they can help avoid or combat genetic diseases and genetic load.