Unfortunately no. You cannot assume status backwards as even two carrier individuals can produce a clear offspring. However, we do know that two clear parents will always mean a clear offspring.
Testing is easy. It’s a simple hair pull (they can also test blood or semen) just like you are used to doing for DNA Proof of Parentage. It is hoped that WFFS testing will become a requirement in the future and as such should be linked to the horse’s Parentage...
The focus for breeders needs to be on reducing risk and avoiding carrier-to-carrier breedings (which are the only combination that can potentially result in the fatal disease being inherited). With the vast majority of stallions and mares being untested, a breeder...
If both the sire and dam are clear of the gene mutation (N/N), then there is no chance of an offspring inheriting the mutation. If a carrier of the recessive allele (N/FFS) is bred to a normal horse (N/N), each foal has a 50% chance of having two copies of the normal...
Initial estimates were that between 6%-11% of the Warmblood population are carriers of WFFS but the test has not been widely utilised and as more people test it will be better understood the true carrier rate.
