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 a clean, dry part of the mane (or tail dock when taking a sample from a foal) to pull out a small hair sample. Aim for 20-40 hair roots.

Wrap the hair around your fingers so you have a good grip, and pull it out by the roots with a short, sharp tug. (If you have ever had anything waxed, you will know that the faster it comes out the less it hurts!)”

But it’s hard to know exactly what 20-40 hair roots should look like. This visual guide should help you estimate when you have the right kind of sample. There are excellent hair roots in all these pictures – those are the slightly crooked, bulbous looking bits at the ends. For those of you taking samples from cream or white manes, I suggest holding the hair up to the light to check that your hair sample has these roots too. They can be difficult to see.

… and don’t forget: “choose a clean, dry part of the mane or tail” …