Heritability of insidious uveitis in Appaloosa horses

Abstract

The Appaloosa horse breed is known to have an increased risk of developing a blinding inflammatory disease known as equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) (Dwyer et al., 1995). While several classifications have been described in horses, Appaloosas are most often diagnosed with insidious uveitis (Fritz et al., 2014;McMullen & Fischer, 2017). Previous retrospective research determined that Appaloosas are approximately 8-10 times more likely to be affected by ERU than horses from other breeds commonly presenting at veterinary services in North America (Dwyer et al., 1995). As an immunemediated disease, ERU is thought to be a complex trait