- Written by: Sharalee Worms
Genetic Assets
Genetics are not only used to figure out diseases and what is wrong with a horse but they are also used to find desirable traits that ae inherited. Genetic Scientists are constantly working to figure out how genes work, what their role is and how to test for both desirable and undesrable traits.
Not many of the desirable ones are offered publicly at an affordable price for testing just yet, but that will come.
Here are a few examples of tests that are being worked on:
Speed Gene
Large Heart Gene
Gaited Gene
Temperament Gene
We have some info on these genes on the site but will likely not foucs too much on them until testing is done on a broad scale.
- Written by: Sharalee Worms
MTSN - The Speed Gene
The variant for sprinting is written as "c" while the gene for stamina is written as "t".
This variant is also attributed to bulky muscles.
as an eg. Quarter horses were bred for speed, a lot of them are homozygous for the Sprinting Gene and their MTSN gene would read c/c.
To understand better we can look at how this knowledge is being used with Throughbreds, who also have a high portion of c/c horses. Bred specifically for racing as well, we can look at the following three individuals:
The c/c horse would be best suited to short races.
The c/t horse would be best suited for longer races.
And the t/t horse would be best suited for long endurance races.
Another example would be Arabians - known for endurance. Purebred Arabians are t/t and have no sprint genetics.
One thing that is certainly agreed on is tha tthe above is not a cut and dried answer for breeding speed or stamina into horses. There are more speed genes and gene combinations for speed to be discovered.
- Written by: Sharalee Worms
Height Gene
One of the contributing factors to height is the Gene LCORL/NCAPG - it is written as either "G" or "A" - a GG horse will be the shortest, a GA horse will be medium height and an AA horse will be the tallest.
- Written by: Sharalee Worms
Large Heart Genetics
The last time I looked this one was still just a well thought out and respected theory at this point. As far as I know they have no test for it yet but they do have various ways of making educated guesses as to whether a horse has it or not.
They call it the X Factor and it is thought that the gene is only contributed from the mother and down through her female lines. This would explain why in Thorughbreds the dam line is so highly evaluated when breeding decisions are made. This "X Factor is thought to be a mutation and thought to trace back to a mare named Pocohontas - (and seem feel they can trace it back further than her yet.
Thorughbreds like Secretariat (whos heart they actually weighed) and older ones like PrinceQuillo, War Admiral, Mahmoud and Blue Larkspur, to name a few were all thought to possess the Large Heart Genetics.
It is a fact that some of the best race horses had a larger heart than normal. The theory being that the larger the heart, the bigger the motor as more oxygenated blood can pump through the system delivering more speed.
In Our database we mark this as LH (large heart) - so the options we have are nn. n/LH or LH LH - we do not have these results in the online database at this time but will continue to track them and at various times spend more time on researching possible positives. At the time of writing we had results reocrded for approx 150 horses from internet sources.
- Written by: Sharalee Worms
Gaited Gene
Most horses have four basic gaits - the walk (three beat gait), the trot (two beat gait), the canter or lope (three beat gait) and the gallop and a 4 beat gait. Some breeds are known for performing other varying gaits than these typical four.
A mutation of the DMRT3 Gene was found in horses that could perform other gaits. The mutation allows more motion in movement than the non-mutated gene so the horse becomes more flexible in its leg movements contributing to the many different gaits we see in different breeds. Other genetic factors also contribute to specific gaits but the DMRT3 seems to be common to all the gaits.
The Pace - the mutation has been found in 100% of horses that pace. The mutation of this gene allows the horse to move both right limbs together at the same time, as well as both left limbs together at the same time. Horses without this mutation cannot do this. Breeds that pace would be: Standardbreds.
The Amble - Breeds that Amble would be: American Saddlebred, Florida Cracker
The Running Walk - Breeds that do the Running Walk would be: Tennessee Walker, Florida Cracker
The Rack: Breeds that Rack would be: American Saddlebred, North American Single Footing Horse, Racking Horse, Rocky Mountain Horse, Spotted Saddle Horse, Some Standardbreds can be encouraged to do this gait, some Tennessee Walkers can perform this gait
The Shuffle: Breeds that Shuffle would be: Walkaloosa, some Appaloosas
The Flying Pace : Breeds that do the Flying Pace would be: Icelandic
The Paso Fino, The Paso Corto and the Paso Largo: The Breed that does these gaits would be: Paso Fino
The Paso Llano and the Sobreandano: The Breed that does these gaits would be: Peruvian Paso
Tölt: Breeds that Tölt are: Icelandic, American Saddlebred, Aegidienberger (cross between a Peruvian Paso and an Icelandic)
The Fox Trot: Breeds that do the Fox Trot would be: Missouri Fox Trotter, Spotted Saddle Horse, some Tennessee Walkers can perform this gait
The Single Foot: Breeds that do the Single Foot would be: Rocky Mountain Horse, Spotted Saddle Horse, some Standardbreds can be encouraged to do this gait, some Tennessee Walkers can perform this gait
The Stepping Pace: Breeds that do the Stepping Pace would be: Spotted Saddle Horse, some Tennessee Walkers can perform this gait
The Show Gait: Breeds that do the Show Gait would be: Spotted Saddle Horse