Has anyone ever used DNA testing to find out their horse's breed?

I have had it done for my dog, and it cost me $60, but I'd imagine it would be a bit higher for horses. In the end, it basically was just for fun and really cool to know.

What actually happened was they sent a swab in the mail and I swabbed the inside of my dog's cheek. This collected his cheek cells. I then sent them back to the lab. At the lab they run the swab through a PCR machine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reac... which basically just magnifies/replicated the DNA so they have more of it to study. Then they send it though gel electrophoresis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel_electrophoresis). So basically, what happens there is the DNA is put in this clear jello-like material and then an electric charge runs through the jello-like material (it's usually agarose) and the bits of DNA are pushed through the agarose. Based on how small they are (how many nucleotides long) and how negatively charged they are, they will go different amounts through the agarose.

So basically when it's done you'll have this gel with different bands (segments of DNA) in different places depending on the size and charge. Now, this will be a unique pattern of bands. Say, if your horse was a thoroughbred then all thoroughbreds would have the same pattern of bands so the researcher at the lab could compare your horse's band pattern to a known thoroughbred in the database. Now if your horse is a crossbred it gets a little harder. What they try to do is look at the pattern of the bands and see what two (or three, four, whatever) breeds are closest to your horse's pattern and guess which breeds make up your horse. Now, this is done by a computer so it's pretty accurate, but there is definitely room for error, both in the collecting of cheek cells and in the lab when they compare your horse's bands to their database.

Now I don't actually know if they have this available for horses, it's kind of a big process because they essentially need to collect DNA from every breed of horse to create a database before they can offer a service like this. If they do have it, I think it's actually pretty fun, although everything seems to be more expensive for horses, doesn't it, so I'm not sure how much it would cost

This can be a superb question. And i must say, I suppose you pass over read Cowboy. I failed to take his reply like you did, i don't suppose he used to be calling you a do gooder. I could be fallacious but it surely failed to seem that manner. Now on to the question at hand. You will have first-class strategies however it is going to by no means happen. It might take technique to many people and to a lot cash, the breed associations will not put that type of manpower or cash available in the market. I trust Larie, I bought my mare to breed given that of her conformation and her breeding, if I so decide upon to breed her for a colt for me then that should be my proper. However, with matters like they are, i will not breed her. I'll simply go purchase what i would like. If more people would consider about what goes into retaining a mare even as she is preg. And then now not being capable to journey your child untill it's 2, that is a very long time and a lot of money to go into whatever. Education is what is going to alternate things. As I say that, there is a stable throughout the avenue from us that has essentially the most sad looking horses with infants by using their sides. These mares are just simple unpleasant. No conformation, cow hocked, ewe necked, sway backed. Just no longer pretty. Why would any person breed that?? Do they simply no longer be aware of? I do not need the answer but I actually suppose education is the first-rate.

I have only ever heard of this in dogs, but not horses. In order to do this there needs to be a database of genetic info for the specific breeds to compare your horse's DNA to. There is a market for this with all the mixed and designer breed dog owners so there are multiple labs that will do this for dogs. A friend of mine just had it done on her dog for about $120. However, I do not believe there is a test like this available for horses yet. You can browse google to see if you can find anything. I just did and found nothing of the sort. There are tests that can determine if your horse has a specific genetic disorder, what their coat colour genetics are, and can confirm parentage if you have a genetic profile from the parents to compare to, but I couldn't find anything on determining breed in a grade horse. Sorry.

I think its possible but of course a grade horse means that her lineage is unknown. The only way I could see a DNA test working is to determine who the sire and dam are and I am not sure but I bet its pretty expensive. I think the best way to guess he breed would be to look at her physical characteristics and compare them to the ideal standards of which breed/s you think she is.

YES it is VERY expensive and also a lot of work however if you want /have the money and will to do the test then it will determine for definite the breeds in your horse

It will determine parentage - that is if you have some idea of who the parents are but it cannot tell breed.

Otherwise it's a bit like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

A sequencing for tb's and peruvian pasos was attempted. However it was not successful because they only found one gene that was present in the peruvian pasos that was not also found in the tb's. So even as different as those two breeds are, it failed to distinguish. I am unaware of any attempts since that time.

As far as I know it can determine parentage (that is, match to candidate--sire and/or dam) but not breed.

See this YA from three years ago:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200908...

Wow, would that be interesting , considering my horse was captured in the backcountry of Nevada. Hense, he is a mustang.

While they do do this with dogs I have read data that supports the fact that the results are not accurate. by providing this to people they have only created a money making scheme that works because people need to slap a label on everything.