I have a wonderful 13hh pony and I bought her as an Icelandic mix but the owner at the time wasn’t sure. I ran DNA at Texas A&M and it came back as Turkoman, Caspian and Percheron? Haha what? Does anyone know what these breeds are the foundation for? She is so unique looking. I tried tracing back her owners and poor girl has had 9 homes since 2015. (Im her last owner I’d never sell in a million years.)Then the trail ends, no way to find her parents yet. Any ideas?! Thank you!
The test is known not to be very accurate, so I wouldn’t put a ton of faith in it.
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They aren’t known to be very accurate so I wouldn’t trust it
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My understanding is that the more and more mixes wind up in the mix, the less and less accurate the test is. Particularly since the three breeds listed are the TOP three, it’s not meant to imply that those three breeds are the only gene sources. There’s probably SOME kind of pony breed that included Caspian markers, some kind of light horse breed, and some kind of draft horse breed. How much of which, where, is anybody’s guess. I’m not sure, but think that if there were any substantial amount of Icelandic (more than say a quarter?) breeding that it would have shown up? They have been such an isolated population for so long I wonder if their markers are more clear than, say, a Morgan, which sprung from an amalgamation of breeds pretty recently.
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I have a friend who sent DNA off on a stocky, pinto 14.3h horse she bought from a dealer. I can’t recall what company she used for the DNA, unfortunately.
It came back predominately Holsteiner, Hanoverian,and KWPN… which really had me scratching my head because those are all open registries which frequently use the same breeding stock. But my friend was over the moon, telling everyone about her new pinto WB.
Old owner of the horse finds my friend through social media a few months later, and produces the horse’s papers. Yep, registered paint. Even had a show record. No surprises there!!!
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These tests, IMHO, are worth nothing more than their entertainment value. Horse breeds are too intertwined genetically and even many with closed books have been closed for less than a century. The markers that are looked at are just not distinct enough. The people I know who have had these tests run all got similarly odd results, such as three relatively rare breeds allegedly in the makeup of an obviously stock type horse.
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Sometimes I think I should send my filly’s DNA off, especially since I know her parents. I would find it very amusing if it came back Percheron or any pony breed.
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The DNA tests for color and for genetic disease are very accurate. They are done by university labs. If you want to know if your horse carries HYPP or whether he’s roan or sabino, you can test for that. These are tests for presence or abscence of one particular known gene.
You can also do a paternity test if you have the DNA of the presumed father (like with humans).
The breed DNA tests seem to be run by private companies and have no particular accuracy. Either the companies are not working with a sufficiently large database, or they are using the wrong genetic markers, or technology is not advanced enough to find complex associations of genes, or horses are genetically more diverse within breeds than assumed, or the testing companies don’t take the job that seriously, or all of the above.
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Interesting…I received similar results from Texas A&M on a rescue pony that I own. I was told she was a Welsh cross, but DNA test results were Turkoman, Holsteiner and Missouri Fox Trotter with Andalusian as the fourth hit. There are no Turkoman breeders in the U.S. that I am aware of, but Turkomans may have influenced other breeds like the thoroughbred. However, there are lots of Akhal Tekes (the modern Turkoman) in the region where she came from, so that is a possibility.
I have seen other instances of people reporting odd results, so it’s best to take them with a grain of salt. I don’t think the tests are sophisticated enough with mixed breeds to be accurate. I’ll just say she is pretty, fancy, and still a mystery.
It does explain that due to similar far past ancestry ponies will often test as drafts and vice versa. The test is not claiming to be telling you a percentage that a particular horse is- it is telling you what far back ancestry probably played a role in the horse you see in front of you.
I have sent off three and all have been quite accurate, including a purebred we sent for fun.
In my opinion, DNA testing for both dog and horse breeds is still in the phase where it should be viewed as entertainment and little else. I have received truely ridiculous (and impossible) results and came to the conclusion that it’s fun but ultimately meaningless. My advice to anyone considering breed testing is to embrace the mystery and buy that Heinz57 some extra treats with the money you would otherwise spend.
Testing for genetic diseases is an entirely different ball of wax. That has real value.
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I very well known hound breeder I knew was having an argument about who was the sire of a particular hound and only trusted a certain guy in KY to interpret the results. A lesson there. I wonder about interpreting DNA.
In addition to the validity of the tests being questionable - it’s quite easy to Google.
