Can DNA test be done on horses to determine father and mother of a colt?

Question

Can DNA test be done on horses to determine father and mother of a colt?

Answer 1

yes it can but both parents have to have be in the system before you would get the result.

Answer 2

yes

Answer 3

Yes.  These days, certainly in Great Britain and Ireland, a blood sample from the foal and a hair sample from the mother must be sent to Weatherbys (the racing admin people) so that the foals parentage can be confirmed and it can therefore be registered as a thoroughbred.  They keep samples of DNA from all the stallions on file so that they do not need to keep taking samples from the stallion for every foal each year.

It is a very useful process as it has uncovered mistakes and mix-ups in the past.  The first that I know of (I was there) was when a mare was sent over from Ireland to one of our stallions, she arrived heavily pregnant and in due course gave birth to a healthy foal.  The samples were taken and sent away for confirmation and we waited for the mare to come back into season so that she could be mated.  We had an urgent message from our vet (who sends the samples away) to say that the paternal DNA test had been failed, and that the stated father of the foal was not correct!  We did some investigation and ultimately discovered that we had been sent the WRONG mare!  Whoever was sending the mares over from Ireland had got two mares with very similar markings mixed up and put the wrong headcollar (with the mares name on it) on each mare.  If it hadn't been for the DNA test we would have covered the mare and sent her home without ever knowing!

Another mix-up that I heard of was where two mares gave birth on the same night and the following day they, and their foals, were turned out in a small paddock for a bit of exercise.  All seemed well and as the foals grew stronger the mares and foals were sent on to a nursery yard where they continued to thrive.  The DNA samples were duly taken and sent away and again there was a phonecall to say something was wrong and that the stated father did not match either of these two foals.  Upon further investigation it was discovered that, somehow, during that first day in the paddock, the mares had swapped foals!  As neither mare had bonded with her foal at that stage, they did not notice that they had the wrong baby!  By now though they had bonded and settled together so they could not be returned to their real mothers.  The stud had to wait until they were 6 months old and weaned from their mothers before they could be returned to their rightful owners.

Answer 4

Absolutely, but it requires blood or other tissue samples from both parents and is fairly expensive.