Horse Genetics Resources
What is fragile foal syndrome? Fragile foal syndrome (FFS) is a severe inherited disorder that has been found in a number of horse breeds. It is most commonly found in Warmbloods and is often known as Warmblood fragile foal syndrome. Foals with…
Naked foal syndrome (NFS) is a fatal inherited disorder that has been found in pure and part-bred Akhal Teke horses. Foals with NFS are born without hair, and may have other physical abnormalities too. All NFS-affected horses recorded so far have died…
We are nearly ready to offer testing for Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome. WFFS is a bit like HERDA, but in Warmbloods: it is a defect in the skin means that it is weak and easily torn. Skin on the legs is most…
Connemara Hoof Wall Separation Disease is an inherited disorder where affected ponies have their hoof wall easily break away from the underlying tissue. In severe cases they end up walking on their soles. It’s an autosomal recessive disease, meaning that it can…
We’re going to do three concurrent free testing offers. But don’t get too excited yet – not all horses and ponies are eligible. In order to be eligible, each horse or pony needs to be a carrier of the particular trait that…
We are currently working on tests for Naked Foal Syndrome which occurs in Akhal-Teke Horses. NFS is a lethal disorder and is just as strange as it sounds. Pic is from the G3Journal : NFS phenotype. (A) An NFS affected colt (case…
Cadbury Creme Eggs I first wrote this article comparing the KIT gene product to a pipe clamp. But it’s heading toward Easter now, and Cadbury Creme Eggs are in the shops! I think they make an even better analogy. Cadbury Creme Eggs…
Chromosomal abnormalities can cause untreatable infertility and happen in all horse and pony breeds. We are looking a few different technologies so that you can test your horse or pony for chromosomal abnormalities without needing to send samples overseas. The most common…
We’ve refined our HERDA test. HERDA is an autosomal recessive disorder, meaning that it is not sex-linked, and that HERDA carriers with one copy of the gene are not affected. HERDA is part of the Quarter Horse and Paint Horse 5-panel, and…
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…