# Confused about my kigers DNA results



## jannette (Aug 24, 2011)

I sent in for DNA test on my kiger gelding to actually see if he had fjord in his ancestry and was very shocked with his results. He is domestic bred. Weird thing is they came back Hanoverian, Selle Francais and QH


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

Interesting. He was sold to you as Kiger Mustang ? No sort of paper etc?


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Mustangs are of course domestic horses gone feral, and carry a mix of genes. Selle Francais and warmbloods were breeds imported over for use in the cavalry. Many of these were let loose and added to the mustang genes. QHs mixed in frequently too.

If it isn't known that your horse came from the actual kiger herd, someone just probably called him a kiger because of his color in order to make him more desirable.

I have heard though that the BLM may add horses to the kiger herd that appear spanish or have the right coloring, regardless of whether they are genetically spanish.

The spanish mustang registry has horses that appear spanish but may not have spanish blood. DNA testing is to verify that the parents were registered, not that they had spanish blood. So your horse could be a registered "spanish" mustang with the general mix of mustang genes if they fit the phenotype or their parents did.


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## ladygodiva1228 (Sep 5, 2012)

Can't help with the DNA results, but he sure is a handsome boy. Can I ask what brand of saddle pad you have?


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## CaliforniaDreaming (May 8, 2011)

There was an article in one of the horse web magazines (it might have been Equus) that mentioned the DNA test. They’re not particularly accurate in that they can tell you exactly which breeds your horse is, but they look for similar type alleles. I think the common denominator for you is that your two warmblood types were heavily influenced by the Thoroughbred (which were used as army remount stallions on the mustang herds) and there’s also Thoroughbreds in the Quarter Horse ancestry too.

Here’s the article: What DNA tests can—and can’t—tell you about equine ancestry

Interestingly, the mustang in the article also got Selle Francis and Hanoverian, which leads me back to that Thoroughbred remount theory, since it’s really impossible to determine actual DNA typing from the test itself. That horse isn’t actually a result of a Hanoverian being bred to a Selle Francis per se, but the likelihood is that whatever ancestry that went into those two breeds was also present in the mustang so it’s more like a cousin rather than a child. The article explains it pretty well between the three points of view.

I've been a bit tempted to send in my gelding‘s hair, just to see what the test gives him.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Buckskin dun or dunskin are fairly typical of Kigers. That coloration commonly has frosting which can give them a look similar to fjords.
Kigers having Spanish ancestry can also have heavy double manes.

Fjords would not be in their ancestry as they were not brought in to this country at the time the Kigers were established.

The above gives a fair representation of how they work. Each breed they have chosen markers from are unique to that breed. When they look at the markers they use probability to determine where the mix of markers came from. Those breeds have much in common to the ancestors of the Kiger and so make sense in that manner but as mentioned it is not a representation of a horse crossed to b resulting in c which is the crossed with d to produce e (your horse).


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## charrorider (Sep 23, 2012)

That same article in Equus also mentions that one should send samples to three different reputable labs.


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## Palfrey (May 29, 2020)

@jannette He is super cute! I absolutely love him! 

Something that I don't understand about these DNA tests is that to me, Hanoverian, Holsteiner, Selle Francais, Trakehner aren't really breeds in the traditional sense. 

The Trakehner is of course, the most "pure" out of these warmbloods.

With open stud books, these horses are approved to the registry through performance, conformation etc. which gives you a lot of flexibility on which stallions to chose for your end goal. 

Whereas, with traditional breeds, breeding an Arab to an Arab gets you an Arab. 

Most (all) have Thoroughbred blood. One could be born in the Hanoverian registry, but becomes approved Holsteiner. You'll find Selle Francais blood in Holsteiners (e.g. Cor de la Bryere). It just seems odd to me to have it on a DNA test as a breed marker, but I'm not a geneticist--so I could be way off!


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## jannette (Aug 24, 2011)

stevenson said:


> Interesting. He was sold to you as Kiger Mustang ? No sort of paper etc?


Yes
He came from locals that had a small breeding program, however i did not buy him from them i am the 3rd owner.


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## jannette (Aug 24, 2011)

gottatrot said:


> Mustangs are of course domestic horses gone feral, and carry a mix of genes. Selle Francais and warmbloods were breeds imported over for use in the cavalry. Many of these were let loose and added to the mustang genes. QHs mixed in frequently too.
> 
> If it isn't known that your horse came from the actual kiger herd, someone just probably called him a kiger because of his color in order to make him more desirable.
> 
> ...


That makes sense.


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