I haven’t written, yet, about my two new horses (very exciting!).
What I can tell you, is that both are mixed breed of unknown origin.
I mean, I could kinda guess what kind of horse they are… like you do with dogs, but I wanted to know their breeds. I was curious.
So, I sent off hairs to Texas A&M. They have a laboratory there that figures out the general direction of the DNA. They have documented certain prominent breeds for genetic testing so you get a general understanding of the lineage – or close enough. I was satisfied. (One of my new horses is most likely Gypsy Vanner/Hackney pony, the other is most likely Morgan/Standardbred.)
Buuuut, today I saw this! “DNA MY HORSE“. It says that this company is more specific with their breed calculator. I like that. I also like that it only takes 2 weeks for the results. Texas A&M was definitely a longer wait…. I may do DNA MY HORSE for my new horses, just to compare with the Texas A&M results.
Anyway, there is no affiliation, I just thought it was a great opportunity for those of you who have adopted horses and are curious about their breed. I know with my dog, I was very surprised when I did her DNA. She wasn’t at all what I thought she was!
Let me know if you do this!
Click image to go to website
I just did this, March 2023. I know the sire to my mare is an unregistered Standardbred. I 100% know this. My mare was seized in a neglect case from a man who had a Standardbred stud and about 24 grade mares of various background. My mare was about 18 months old at the time of seizure and weaned. I wanted to know what the other half of my mare’s breeding was.
The results of this test did not indicate ANY Standardbred. The results were given as Thoroughbred, Percheron and Hanoverian. This I do not believe. My mare shows physical characteristics of Standardbred and Quarter Horse. DNA My Horse has not answered any inquiry I have made, phone or email, to have a discussion regarding these results. They will not communicate with me, even to tell me they are looking into it or ask for another sample so they can re-test. There could have been a mix up, but they are unwilling to communicate with me, so I have to believe they are not on the level.
I LOVE DNA MY HORSE! We have gotten a couple of our horses tested by them and were thrilled with the results. The Texas&AM test is an ancestry test so it’s meant to tell you who are your horse’s ancestors and not your horse’s actual breed. We have uses Texas AM before and were very disappointed as the results just seemed so off the wall. Now that we understand it is an ancestry test it makes a little more sense. We got our grade QH tested (looked way too well bred to NOT be registered) by Texas AM and the results came back as Hanoverian, Mountain Pleasure, and Garrano. When I asked them to explain the results they said warmblood horses are the ancestors of Quarter Horses. Garranos were used to improve some QH bloodlines including King Ranch. I forget what the gaited Mountain Pleasure Horse was doing in there lol.
We sent this same horse’s hair sample to DNA My Horse and it came back as QH (as we suspected) with a parentage match to boot!! Never in a million years would I have thought we would have been so lucky to uncover our gelding’s past. We just sent in a third horse’s sample to them and cannot wait for our results. Waiting is the hardest part~
I did DNA on our dog – we were sure she was part coyote by the way she looks and acts. Turns out she’s mostly Alaskan Malamute and several other breeds. We used Wisdom Panel and it was kind of fun in that they show other dogs in their database that are related to mine.