# Texas A & M Horse DNA Testing?



## buggy (Aug 8, 2016)

Hi,
I did the same with my old mare. She was very Quarter Horse typey. I had many people ask about her AQHA status-I bought her as grade. Her top 3 breeds came out to be morgan, qh, and Galician. I questioned those results also- I had never heard of galician. 

I am following this one too. I am curious.


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## Espy (Feb 25, 2015)

It's not reliable, IMO. My PI (he's a PhD geneticist) and I had a lengthy conversation about it once. The dog ones don't work either. It's fine to do for fun, but it's definitely nothing to take too seriously.


I can't remember the whole explanation he gave me, but I'd be happy to ask him again if anyone is interested in why they aren't reliable.


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## BluegrassEquestrian (Oct 24, 2016)

I am most interested in why it isn't reliable! I wondered if they had students doing the testing and if they could have "messed up" lol
Also, does anyone know where I can have reliable DNA testing done?


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

If you go to the Horse Ancestry page and look at the phylogenetic tree and read their disclaimer and explanation you will understand better how it works.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

They are matching genetic markers and many breeds share genetic traits. They are not giving you percentages so you can't say just because it is in the top three it has all of those crossed. Or that it has (especially number 2&3) all three up close. It could be you have a cross or you have Missouri foxtrotter with some influence way back in the line of the other two. They are not saying you have a warmblood. There was a thread about bloodlines earlier this week. Purebred QH. But if you look at that horses line there is significant thoroughbred influence and some Conemmara. Test that horse and you'd come up with the first two and third would be the closest related pony. Had you not seen the pedigree you would think it was full of hooey...


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

You probably have a Morgan Quarter cross and since both of those share genetics with that Galician because those markers are there in a greater quantity than other ancestors it ended up being the third.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

there is a dog one that is generally good though. Embark is the best, at least for telling Wolf content. it has been incredibly accurate in that regard.

But i agree on the horse one. some breeds are just too close. Like my paint. he has Qh,Tb and paint on his sire side. All running lines so his would be LOTS of TB. BUT a lot of QHs and paints have alot of eachother in them but different breeds went into makeing the paint horse (hence tobiano patterns not being aloud to be dual registered with the AQHA). Also some QH lines are being introduced into Appaloosa lines. BUT you can have a horse that is 85% Arabian and still register it appaloosa because they allow outcrossing to arabians. testing that REGISTERED appy would pull up many breeds that his bedagree would reflect but may not be accurate percentage wise.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

That's the reason they do not use Paints or Appy because they are going to show a mish mash. Paints will mostly come up QH and TB. They explained that breeds that allow cross in the registry (except for those like QH where the cross is an established breed and limited to that one breed) causes confusion. They also do not (nor will they) give percents because of shared traits. Their papers make for interesting reading and the chart is fascinating.


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