Ivahri Arabians Australia

Our Philosophy on SCID

1. A Committment to Openness

We are a small breeding facility that breeds relatively few foals each year and only deals with a handful of mare owners each season (at the most). That is the way we like it.

If you choose to use a stallion owned by us we assure you that we will tell you everything and anything that we know about the stallion of interest to you. We will give you the information you need to make up your mind whether or not to use the stallion.

2. Our obligation to you regarding SCID

We strongly recommend that any mare owner fully investigates how SCID is likely to impact on them & their mare.

We are open about the fact that none of our stallions have been tested for the SCID gene. We also make it publicly known that NONE of our stallions have, to date, sired a SCID affected foal. In fact, we have never bred a SCID affected foal.

We will be selectively testing our horses for SCID once the Vetgen licence period expires or when testing & public disclosure is made compulsory. We will not willingly support a US monopoly that singles out Australian & New Zealand Arabian owners by forcing them to pay as much as FIVE TIMES that which European owners pay. Australian & New Zealand breeders have been held to ransom for some years while European breeders have access to affordable testing.

Lastly, if a mare owner wishes to use one of our stallions but wishes to have the stallion's SCID status tested, on payment of the breeding deposit we will have the test done. In the event the test result determines he is a SCID carrier the deposit will be repaid by us IN FULL if the mare owner opts not to proceed with the mating. 

3. YOUR obligation to us regarding SCID

Learn as much as you can about SCID- the facts that is, and not the hype. There are quite a large number of links to studies that have analysed the frequency of SCID... and this is extremely low. If your mare is a carrier mare and you wish to use our stallion let us know- we will assess whether the mating is worth proceeding with- and will test the stallion for SCID if you wish to proceed.

4. A few SCID related facts

Did you know that the chances of breeding a SCID affected foal is less than 1 in a hundred? There are recent studies that show the chances are as low as 2.5 in one THOUSAND.

Did you know that there is no obligation for breeders to disclose the SCID status of their stallion to you? There are stallion owners out there hiding from people the fact that their stallion is a SCID carrier. We aren't like that- we tell you upfront they aren't tested & they haven't sired a SCID affected foal. Further, we make a committment that in the event that one of our stallions is proven to be a SCID carrier, we will publicly announce this & notify our Arabian Registry. We give any mare owner who has used our stallion consent to publicly name the sire of any foal which does turn out to be SCID affected.

Did you know that very few Arabian breeders have tested their horses to date? Did you also know that most Arabian breeders have never bred a SCID affected foal?

In short- understand SCID, don't be scared by it.