# horse breed testing.



## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

Dr. Cothran does this testing. He started at Kentucky University and took the test with him to Texas A&M. 

It costs $25. Typically done for mustangs but I recently asked about other grades and I was told that yes they will test for those too. I believe you need 35 mane or tail hairs with the roots still attached.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Cat said:


> Dr. Cothran does this testing. He started at Kentucky University and took the test with him to Texas A&M.
> 
> It costs $25. Typically done for mustangs but I recently asked about other grades and I was told that yes they will test for those too. I believe you need 35 mane or tail hairs with the roots still attached.


Interesting. I'm gonna try this with Aires when I've got the money. Would he interested to see what they say he is/if they get it right, since I know exactly what he is (and his pedigree on both sides).
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Huh, I had no idea that anyone was doing that. I figured someone could, with genetic knowledge being what it is, but I didn't know if your average person could have a horse tested for breed like they can for color.

Very fascinating.

Makes me wonder though if they can differentiate between the different stock breeds like QH, Paint, Appy, even TB...since they've all been so inter-bred for so many generations.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

My understanding is that it depends. Sometimes there are very clear markers and they can say the horse is made up of xyz breed while other times it is general types. But for $25 I think I will get mine tested eventually.


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## SplashedOvero (May 16, 2012)

Thanks. Id love to know my horses breed. I get asked too often
What breed he is bc everyone loves his personality and looks
And I cant tell them or give the breed /breeds credit because idk what 
He is. My guess is paint with something elese but id love 
To just know for sure


Is there a website or number to order a test?


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## SplashedOvero (May 16, 2012)

Lol I just realized it said gourse instead of horse on my firsy post. I hate using my phone :/


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

Cat said:


> Dr. Cothran does this testing. He started at Kentucky University and took the test with him to Texas A&M.
> 
> It costs $25. Typically done for mustangs but I recently asked about other grades and I was told that yes they will test for those too. I believe you need 35 mane or tail hairs with the roots still attached.


Interesting. I am going to look into this! After a reasonably extensive search and contacting people, I could not find any breed dna testing for my needs, which seemed really odd since it is available for quite a few dog breeds_._ I have nothing against dogs, mind you, but w/o horses this country would not be on the map_._ It is available for the so called spanish mustangs, yes..but I couldn't locate anything for a specific breed w/o matching those on a given registry - which is of no use to me. I am 99% certain I am correct about a specific breed in my mares lineage...but I want to remove all doubt.


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## Horsesdontlie (Mar 11, 2011)

Breed testing is a pretty iffy. I remember doing breed testing on dogs while I worked in a vet clinic as the doctor wanted to test out the possibility. We tested AKC registered purebreds and mutt. All dogs came up with mutts pedigrees.

I remember a pure German Shepard came back 70% German Shepard and then I remember 20% being Shiba Inu. the other 10% was break down of a ton of random breeds. Sometimes they get a little bit right, but on the other hand they can be WAY off with the smaller percentages. 

I think it may be cool for $25 but I wouldn't trust it 100%.


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## enh817 (Jun 1, 2012)

I don't understand how they could test for breed. It's not like there's a genetic marker for each breed like there is for something like color. 
Only way I can wrap my mind around it is if there were a huge database of genetic markers which are characteristic to each breed, against which a horse's genetic code could be compared. But even that doesn't seem plausible with how many different breeds there are and how much variation there is within a breed and how many similarities there are between different breeds. 
I just can't fathom how breed (horse or dog) could be accurate or even legitimate.


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

I haven't researched it thoroughly, but my understanding is that breed testing for dogs is very limited and unreliable, and cannot for example determine breeds out of a mutt, although it can determine the two breeds of a 50-50 cross. I don't know why horses would be any different, so I would suspect it might be effective for verifying a horse is a QH for example, if it is all or almost all QH, but I would be surprised if the test were of benefit for a grade horse with several breeds mixed in, or in the case of Appys, where you have Arab, TB, and QH mixed in plus many other breeds prior to the early 1980's.

I'm just speculating of course, as I said I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I would guess the test would be reliable in some cases, but not in others - particularly the cases where a horse has several breeds in his fairly recent ancestry - say 4 or 5 generations...


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

Faceman said:


> I haven't researched it thoroughly, but my understanding is that breed testing for dogs is very limited and unreliable, and cannot for example determine breeds out of a mutt, although it can determine the two breeds of a 50-50 cross. I don't know why horses would be any different, so I would suspect it might be effective for verifying a horse is a QH for example, if it is all or almost all QH, but I would be surprised if the test were of benefit for a grade horse with several breeds mixed in, or in the case of Appys, where you have Arab, TB, and QH mixed in plus many other breeds prior to the early 1980's.
> 
> I'm just speculating of course, as I said I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I would guess the test would be reliable in some cases, but not in others - particularly the cases where a horse has several breeds in his fairly recent ancestry - say 4 or 5 generations...


I am guessing it depends on the breed one is testing for. If it had unique markers that have been 100% verified to be breed specific, then the best they could do for a grade is give someone a "percent probability" - which is at least _something_. Either way, it would require extensive genome mapping to be able to even determine the degree of accuracy for breed "x"...which "they" seem to have embarked on for the dog more than the horse to date. Their priorities are confused, imo.

But I agree w you, for some breeds such as QH's - the number of appendix accepted, as well as the breeds that made the "foundation" would make the certainty pretty darn "iffy", imo. And the spanish mustang "verification" is a little overblown. People want to say their mustang is "an original", but I really doubt the test results some base their claims on says, "100%" probability. I think it is more like, "some percentage less than 60", and the owner reports it as "a done deal".


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

The result set that I saw for a mustang tested gave the top 3 breeds or breed types (one was "true" pony rather than actual breed) that the horse best matched and then said if there were any markers for spanish blood - which this particular horse had some that could indicate spanish blood but not for certain. 

I am hoping to do it purely for curiosities sake - even for my grade. I doubt it will tell me he is 50 % this breed 25% this breed and 25% this or whatever. But to get an indication of what looks to be there genetically for $25 I think would be interesting. Plus if I ever decide to try to find a similar horse because I really do like some of his traits - it will at least give me a breed or few to start my search.

I'm quite sure it will not say "This horse is 100% QH" and allow you to registered it as such.


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## outnabout (Jul 23, 2010)

enh817 said:


> ... Only way I can wrap my mind around it is if there were a huge database of genetic markers which are characteristic to each breed, against which a horse's genetic code could be compared. But even that doesn't seem plausible with how many different breeds there are and how much variation there is within a breed and how many similarities there are between different breeds...


Exactly. There has to be genetic markers or patterns for individual breeds that will distinguish one breed from another. 
Nice research possibility for anybody out there going into genetics??? Good luck getting funding for it, though :-|


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

I guess I don't see it as being that far from impossible. If they can study race horses and have singled out genes that produce larger size, sprinters, horses that prefer dirt track vs. turf, genes that will give you the most likely top contenders, etc - which is research currently being conducted at Kentucky University - why can't they do this? 

There is already a huge horse genome project in place that is world wide. Its been in progress for several years now. Its been a couple years since I was at the symposium that had the discussion on it - so I'm sure its grown since.


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