Horse Genetics Resources
Frequently asked questions about equine genetic testing
Sometimes genetic testing finds a surprise gene, and a horse or dog owner suddenly becomes aware that their animal is a carrier for a recessive inherited disorder. What should you do when this happens to you? Remember that the animal is exactly…
From time to time we are asked if we can test for breed to help an owner determine the breed of their horse. Unfortunately, because most horse breeds are genetically diverse, each breed as a whole will overlap with others so it…
We’ve started asking for horse hair samples to be sent to us in paper envelopes in preference to ziplock bags. There are two main reasons for this: Firstly, paper doesn’t trap moisture, instead it dries the sample out. This helps prevent bacterial…
Why should I do DNA testing? Horse owners choose to do DNA testing on their horses for a few different reasons. Breeders test for coat colour and health genes to increase their ability to produce healthy, desirable foals. They can also choose…
The Department of Agriculture has just updated the list of countries we can accept samples from. Quite a few have been removed from the list:We can no longer accept samples from: South and Central America Most of Asia (Japan, Macau and Singapore…
Another goal for this year: we will be updating our term and conditions to make it absolutely clear that when animals are tested at our lab, everyone who contributes to that process has a right to access the results. That’s the owner,…
Homozygous, along with her friend heterozygous, are (as far as I can tell) jargon developed purely with the aim of making genetics seem hard. Let explain what homozygous means for mammals – that includes us and all our hairy companions. Homozygous: both…
Not all foals get a name as soon as they pop out. To keep their paperwork clear and unambiguous we recommend referring to un-named foals in the following way: Mare’s name-year-sex For example if your mare Caramel Kisses has a colt this…
One of the frequently asked questions here is “Do I need to put in a new order to get more tests done?” The answer is no, you don’t. Just email us with your request, and we’ll check we have enough DNA left…
Here’s how to take a hair sample from your horse for testing In the PHG lab we start your testing by extracting DNA from the horse hair samples you send us. This is what our instructions say about taking the sample: “Choose…