Equine Genetic Testing for Breeding Season

Breeding season is the most important time of year for the equine industry. Genetic testing gives breeders real data such as: diseases, health risks, performance markers, unique color & pattern variants, ancestry insights like inbreeding coefficient, and more. Genetic testing allows breeders to make better decisions, reduce loss, and improve foal viability.

5 Reasons Why Genetic Testing Matters for Your Breeding Program

Research suggests that managing genetic risks can have measurable benefits on reproductive outcomes! Genetic testing can greatly benefit and improve your breeding program by:

1. Reducing the risk of lethal genetic diseases by identifying carriers before breeding occurs.
2. Preventing high-risk or incompatible pairings that could result in foal loss.
3. Increasing the likelihood of healthy, live foals through informed mating decisions with full, comprehensive genetic testing panels.
4. Preserving valuable bloodlines by allowing responsible use of carrier horses.
5. Improving transparency and confidence with comprehensive, documented genetic results for buyers.

Genetic testing allows breeders to confidently plan pairings that maximize health, predictability, and foal outcomes. Reduce risk, improve foal viability, and set up your horses for success. Don’t wait until the foal hits the ground to find out what you could have known months earlier!

Genetic Risks Are Not Rare!

Serious genetic disorders can silently affect both stallions and mares, as they can be carriers for several genetic risks without even being unaffected!

For example Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome (WFFS) is a fatal, inherited condition that causes extreme skin fragility and usually results in foals being stillborn or euthanized shortly after birth (Center for Equine Health). In Warmbloods, 9–11% of horses carry the WFFS mutation (Center for Equine Health). If two carriers are bred together, there’s a 25% chance each resulting foal will be affected by this lethal condition (Center for Equine Health)!

Testing before breeding identifies carriers so breeders can avoid carrier-to-carrier matings, the only scenario that produces affected foals.

What Should You Test Your Horse For?

Many health risks and diseases are more commonly found among specific breed groups, however, it is still important to perform comprehensive genetic testing as it is never impossible for a horse to be unaffected by a disease or silently carry a condition.

Some of the most common health risks and diseases to screen for are:

• Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP)
• West Nile Virus Symptom Susceptibility / Risk (WNVR)
• Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (PSSM1)
• Lethal White Overo (LWO)
• "Warmblood" Fragile Foal Syndrome (ffs)
• Hereditary Equine Regional Dermal Asthenia (HERDA)
• Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency (GBED)
• Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)
• Malignant Hyperthermia (MH)
• Myosin-Heavy Chain Myopathy (MY & IMM)
• Recurrent Laryngeal Neuropathy (RLN)

The Pro Package 2.0 is the most comprehensive equine genetic test on the market, as it includes ALL currently available genetic health tests. All Etalon's equine DNA tests include free access to Build-A-Horse, a virtual simulator tool to predict potential breeding outcomes using your horse's real genetic results.

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