Mapping gave visible clues about probable inbreeding, the researchers say. In their study population, Austrian Haflingers had one of the lowest inbreeding rates. | Photo: iStock

Where would your horse fit on a genetic map of the entire horse world? Very close to his full brother, at a slight distance from his paternal grandmother. Bundled in a general cluster of horses of the same breed, perhaps closer to those more his “type.” And widely spaced from horses of completely different origins.

While it might be fun to look at your horse’s lineage compared to that of other horses, it’s also useful. Swiss and Austrian researchers have learned that knowing the “location” of horses’ genetics—proximity to some, distance from others—on a two-dimensional map can provide important information to potentially improve breeding programs and help conservation efforts.

“With new technology, we can map not only the entire genome of a horse but that of multiple horses and then place all that data on a physical map to have a novel way of seeing the way horses are genetically related to each other,” said Markus Neuditschko, PhD, of the Agroscope national agricultural research center and Swiss National Stud, in Avenches