Hairless foals are being born in many breeds. However, except for the Belgian Draft Horse, the Saddlebred and the Akhal Teke, they usually are an extremely rare occurrence, so very rare that formerly they got shown in circus freak shows alongside the Wonderous Ape Man and the Bearded Woman for the time they lived.

The reason for this rarity of the defect among the majority of breeds is that hairlessness at birth or shortly after can be caused by certain deficiencies the mare is subjected to during gestation. E.g. a severe lack of iodine in the fodder supply, as well as lack of other trace minerals, can cause a foetus to never correctly develop a coat. Other, also unrelated causes can be severe immunological reactions or massive fungal infections or parasitic infestations. However, all these instances are indeed singular and so far and wide between, that it is safe to say they are not genetically caused.

This is different for the abovementioned breeds, which suffer quite clearly from a condition which is genetically caused. In fact, the Belgian Draft Horse Association already has a gene test available, which can verify whether an individual horse is carrier of their version of the Hairless Foal Syndrome, or - as they call it - JEB (Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa).

The disease has been found to be caused by a socalled "lethal recessive". This means that both parents need to be carriers (unaffected horses carrying the recessive disease gene) to produce offspring which is affected (showing the disease). Such foals inherit the recessive gene from both parents and having no healthy gene to fall back upon the disease then gets expressed. "Lethal" means that the disease itself always causes the demise of the affected offspring, either in utero, shortly after birth or way before the normal lifespan is lived out. Other well-known lethal recessives among horses are e.g. Lavender Foal Syndrome or the Lethal White Syndrome.

You can read up on JEB on these websites:

• http://www.belgiancorp.com/jeb.html
• http://dga.jouy.inra.fr/lgbc/projets/bulleuse.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junctional_epidermolysis_bullosa

The Belgian Draft Horse associations have made the test obligatory for breeding stallions, the results of which (whether a horse is a carrier or not) are being noted in the horses' pedigrees and breeding records.

Gus Cothran worked on the same genetic disease cropping up in American Saddlebred horses:

• The epitheliogenesis imperfecta locus maps to equine chromosome 8 in American Saddlebred horses

Obviously both breeds share the same genetic disease with symptoms and genetic loci being the same.

However, what has lately been seen cropping up in Akhal Teke foals - even though having similarities to JEB - appears to be slightly different. Here is a list of similarities and differencies:

Lethal hairlessness is a genetic disease not just in horses, it is quite common an occurrence with various expressions in several species, e.g. dogs, cats and even humans, caused by quite different genes, sometimes by recessive, sometimes by dominant or co-dominant genes. Hence what we see in hairless Akhal Teke foals need not necessarily be just a variation of JEB, it can just as well be something entirely different. While there are some syptoms which point towards a link to JEB, they may also be caused by entirely different biological mechanisms.

What we certainly do have to take into count are the following facts:

Firstly, Akhal Teke have been severely selected towards a sparse coat, mane and tail hair ever since the breed was selected for "type" (this means roughly since 1880-1900) instead of work; and secondly, we have a plethora of dilute genes and genes which change hair structure at large within the breed, which have been linked to lethal recessives among other breeds or species, too.

Given that the breed these days has an average AVK (Coefficient of Ancestor Loss) of around and under 50% and given the heavy inbreeding going on within the breed, it was just a matter of time until we saw lethal recessives combining. Hairless foals are among the first clearcut and visible lethals the breed experiences, though looking at the extremely high amount of failed gestations and conceptions it is very likely that there are more we do not even yet know about.

Regarding the Hairless Foal Syndrome it can be conjectured, not without some evidence pointing towards this, that it has been the abnormal (for the breed) selection on type and sparse hair and the heavy inbreeding which has sustained this recessive within the breed. The various foals have been reported to have been born to "the typiest of parents" and themselves are said "to show very refined type", as per the modern and warped definition of what is type for the breed.

The first hairless foals were registered in the Akhal Teke breed 1938. By 2008 such foals have been born in Turkmenia, Russia, Germany and the USA. The lines and families carrying the defect have been vaguely narrowed down to Bek Nasar Dor, Sapar Khan, Slutshay, Toporbay and Kir Sakar.

Given that there are several quite popular sires among the known carriers and given the very close breeding of any modern Akhal Teke, we are right now only seeing the tip of the iceberg. The statistic likelihood of a foal receiving the defective gene from two carrier parents is 25%, which will cause an affected individual. Inheritance of one gene from such a pairing, thus becoming a carrier, is at 50%.

As can be learned from JEB, there is a high probability that affected foals are not carried to term, as we also know from a variety of sources, such as the few breeders openly speaking about the problem or the MAAK publications themselves, there is a tendency to hide such occurrences away as aborted, deadborn or died nameless foals. The amount of mares not producing a live, healthy foal after having been covered is quite a bit above the average among Akhal Teke horses. Some of this may be attributed to old-fashioned care for the mares. However, the Hairless Foal Syndrome may also be a cause adding to this fact. If hairless foals are born into such small gene pools as those existant in Germany or the USA, the defect must have spread quite some by now, which doesn't gel with the low number currently reported from within the CIS.

So, let us have a look at the recent foals born with this defect and their lineage:

Currently we know of 10 foals born naked and having eventually died between roughly 2000 and 2008, within a population of some 3000 breeding horses.

1. filly, born on the 10th of March 2004 in Ashgabat studfarm (by Germes, out of Kesketli - halfsister of Gozetim via sire Altiyab), she died 4 months after her birth
2. filly Ingozel, born on the 25th of March 2004 in Ashgabat studfarm (by Germes, out of Gozetim - halfsister of Kesketli via sire Altiyab), she lived two years, developed severe laminitis and died
3. colt, born 2005, Turkmenia, severe deformation of the front feet (laminitis?), reported by French breeder N. Perquis
4. filly Nagaya by Arslan out of Mariula, at Stavropol, Russia, lived several years
5. filly Malyshka, by Dsheyran out of Tuitshi, Stavropol, Russia, lived two years, died after developing severe laminitis
6. colt, born 2002, studfarm Akhalt-Service, Russia, died 4 weeks later 
7. filly Mumia, born 2005, studfarm Akhalt-Service, Russia (by Mashuk, out of 2841 Mimoza), died September 2005 after development of laminitis and abnormal (for a Teke) hairgrowth on weakening back legs, Mumia is reported having molars growing sideways in her jaw
8. filly, born 2003 somewhere in Russia, owned by the same breeder who bought Mumia
9. filly, born to a partbred Teke mare, probably by a partbred or purebred sire, USA, also eventually died
10. foal, born 2000, in Dagestan, by Kavkas out of Mria, dead
    

Akhal Teke Inform, the MAAK publication, wrote an article about the two Germes-fillies, in which the author suggested further research ought to be done. An article about the Stavropol Sphinx was published the same year in the MAAK Almanac. That was in 2006, now - 2008 - the majority of breeders still are not aware of the problem and we haven't heard of any effective genetic research done by anyone, even though the Akhal Teke management has been in contact with e.g. Gus Cothran in the past. He would be a likely geneticist to look into the problem, given that he already did research on Saddlebreds suffering from JEB.

Several horses have been positively identified as being carriers.

Gozetim, bay mare, *1990, she foaled the hairless filly Ingozel. Gozetim has a COI of 9,17%, she is heavily inbred on Peren, Kir Sakar and Katshkir. Her AVK is 41,5%, the coefficient of relationship between her sire and dam is 17,5%.

Germes (Bitaraplik), black stallion, *1995, he sired two hairless foals, one on Gozetim, one on Kesketli. Germes has a COI of 10,42%, he is heavily inbred on Keymir, Kir Sakar and Katshkir. His AVK is 37,8%, the coefficient of relationship between sire and dam is 19,7%.

The filly Ingozel, offspring of the two horses above and hairless foal, had a COI of 12,59%, she was heavily inbred on Kerven, Kir Sakar and Angar, her AVK was 29,4% (should be 100%).The relationship coefficient between Bitaraplik and Gozetim is 23%.

The mare who foaled the hairless filly Mumia is 2841 Mimoza, thus she also is a carrier of that recessive. She has a COI of 4,49%, is inbred on Meledepel, Bek Nazar Dor and Gelishikli, her AVK is 45,5% and the relationship coefficient between her sire and dam is 8,6%.

The sire of Mumia is Mashuk, *1999, he has a COI of 2,69%, is inbred on Slutshay and Skak, his AVK is 50,9% and the relationship coefficient between his sire and dam is 5,2%.

The filly Mumia, offspring of the two horses above and hairless foal, had a COI of 4,79%, she was inbred on Mariula and Fialka, her AVK was 48,2% (should be 100%).The relationship coefficient between Mashuk and Mimoza is  9,3%.

It is necessary to gather the pedigree data of these horses to give breeders a chance to see who may be carrier (all offspring of the above-mentioned 4 horses may be carriers), who is a proven carrier (all horses which foaled or sired a hairless foal definitely are carriers) and whom to avoid when breeding either a proven carrier or a supposed carrier - until a test is developed.

Further carriers which have been identified are e.g. 943 Arslan, 2001 Mariula, 736 Keymir, 1223 Karakeyk, 1054 Gilkuyruk, 2206 Gortenziya, 1934 Gulisar, 796 Sere, 87 Dor Depel, 301 Mele and 332 Mumme.

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