In the early days of Glimmer, before they realized it had jumped and became virus-like, it was believed the genetic defects were the result of inbreeding ponies.
An otherwise healthy mare could be a carrier, passing on the glimmer virus to her young.
Fostering was thought to be fine, there’s no way to pass on bad genetics in breast milk, right?
Wrong.
In a particularly horrific case, a mare was so desperate to “make the babies better” she bit off the foals healthy leg trying to clear the glimmer warts away by biting them off.
