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What is HYPP N/N2007-11-24 21:21:36

I am looking for another horse to show on the Quarter Horse Circuit and I found this mare that is HYPP N/N. I know that it is a muscle sickness but is it always bad?

Answers:

If you are looking for a good horse to show on the circuit chances are it will have at least one line on its papers that carries HYPP. Your mare is a double negative which means she does not carry the disorder so you will not run into any of the problems associated with the disorder. If you ever decide to breed your mare try to stay away from any of those bloodlines even if the stud is also a double negative,it can still come out in the offspring. As far as buying the mare as a show horse there is absolutely no reason why she can't be a great horse for you. I show on the Canadian QH circuit on a N/N mare and have never had any trouble at all.

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HYPP is a genetic disorder running rampant for the past few years. What it does is affect the sodium balance in a horse's system thus increasing the potassium to a level that causes muscle twitching, paralysis and in some cases death from heart failure. Breeders have been very irresponcible breeding horses with this genetic defect. The NN connotation means that the horse has normal genes not carrying the HYPP disorder.

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HYPP stands for Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis. Kalium is the chemical name for potassium.

It is a genetic disease associated with the bloodlines descended from Impressive. It is what is known as a point mutation. A horse listed as H/H has two genes for the disease - one inherited from each parent. N/H is one HYPP gene and one normal gene. N/N indicates two normal genes.

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"Homozygous horses (H/H) are affected more severely than heterozygous (N/H) horses. Under ideal management practices, the defective gene does not appear to have adverse effects, but stress and/or increased potassium in the serum can trigger clinical signs of muscle dysfunction. Why some horses manifest severe signs of the disease and other exhibit little or no signs is unknown and currently under investigation. Unfortunately, a horse carrying the defective gene but showing minimal signs has the same chance of passing the gene to future generations as does the affected horse with severe signs.