Breeding by numbers

Will the evolving technology in areas of genetic selection, gene editing and DNA printing one day determine how we breed sport horses? Eleanor Jones asks the experts

WHEN the sport horse foals of the future take their first wobbling steps towards their dams, they may look exactly like those of today.

But it is possible that not only have all their genes been selected for desirable traits, their very DNA could have come from a 3D printer. The techniques and science to breed “super horses” are here.

“This is what the future might look like,” says Tullis Matson, founder and managing director of Stallion AI Services. “I’m not here to say what’s right, but what’s possible.”

Breeding for desirable traits is not new; the owner of a chunkier mare will look to stallions who throw more blood offspring. But what if you could pick a sire who passes on the specific jumping gene, or the piaffe gene?

“I think this technology will change how we breed, buy and sell horses,” says Tullis. “We’re very behind compared to the bovine industry. How much milk a cow produces, its protein content, can be seen in the DNA. Years ago, they had to wait for calves to grow up to test their milk, and suddenly, one sire was a super-bull. Now, they know a calf has the right genetics straight away. Is that the future of horse breeding?”

There are differences; milk production and protein content are quantifiable, while “we all have a different perspective on what’s a ‘good’ horse,” says Lucy Morgan, manager of animal cloning and tissue bank organisation Gemini Genetics.