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Friday, December 23 2011 / Published in Weekly Feature

Duplicating Greatness? Clones and Sport Horse Breeding

Put the best mare to the best stallion and hope for the best sums up the gamble of breeding.  The hopes and dreams that arise during 11 months of gestation escalate when that spindly, splay-legged foal enters the world.  To fulfill his or her destiny as a superstar, that foal needs to be genetically loaded.  The high tech of reproductive science and genomics isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but suppose you have a chance to resuscitate a great bloodline, one that has pretty much disappeared:  would you consider cloning?

A number of horsemen have already answered yes.  There are clones of cutting and reining horses, jumpers, and pony hunters:  Rainbow Connection, Sapphire (the gelding owned and ridden to 2003 Pan Am individual gold by Mark Watring) and Gem Twist, to name just three. Also, some people of means have cloned a beloved equine for personal enjoyment.  From the moment these “twins” are born they display familiar characteristics and behaviors, many without ever meeting their “original.”  Clones are opening doors to new knowledge about learned and inherited behaviors.

Rainbow Connection didn't have time for babies during her 20 year show career. Dr. Betsee Parker decided to clone and got Rainbow Reflection, but the trial and error of SCNT resulted in a "litter" of three more Rainbows, shown here with Oliver Brown, their trainer and handler. Photo by Janet Hitchen

Yet, for all that clones are replicas, they are unique.  Some people are thrilled, others are offended or apprehensive, but one thing is certain:  it won’t be long before cloned sport horses and ponies enter competitive arenas.

The Birth of Equine Cloning

For hundreds of years, horticulture has utilized cloning or asexual propagation, but reproductive cloning, aka Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) is relatively new.  SCNT celebrated its first success in July 1996 when the Finn-Dorset ewe called Dolly was born in Scotland.  In early 2003 scientists in Idaho cloned a mule.  Later that year Cesare Galli, Director of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology and his team of colleagues in Cremona, Italy made history when they created an embryo from the combination of an empty equine egg with a skin cell from a donor mare and implanted it.  The resulting Haflinger foal, named Prometea, was the first successful horse clone:  she was also the first to be cloned from and then carried by the genetic donor.  DNA testing verified that the foal was the exact genetic twin of the donor mare.  In 2008, after being artificially inseminated by a Haflinger stallion, Prometea gave birth naturally to a healthy colt.

The first cloned horse in North America and only the third in the world, produced by Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2005, produced findings that contributed greatly to the success of equine clones for commercial purposes.  Until 2006 all cloning took place as experiments by scientists:  that year, however, ViaGen, with then partner Encore Genetics, produced the first commercially cloned foal:  Royal Blue Boon Too, the genetic twin of Royal Blue Boon (1980-2011), registered Quarter Horse and cutting horse mare with career earnings of more than $380,000.

The Science

The SCNT process begins with a single mature unfertilized egg whose nucleus has been removed and discarded; it is replaced by an adult somatic cell from the donor animal.  [A somatic cell, which contains both sets of genes from the donor’s original sire and dam, is any body cell, but not an egg or sperm cell.]  The resulting embryos are cultured and monitored for normal cell division and growth.  When ready, they are transferred to carefully chosen host mares who, under veterinary supervision, carry the developing fetuses to term.

The process involves intense trial-and-error.  Hundreds of cells might be cultured to create embryos, yet many won’t make it past the first week and those that make it to the transfer stage don’t always survive in utero. The science of cloning continues to evolve by leaps and bounds, but the jury is still out.  Cloning has its enthusiasts but also its neigh-sayers.  A cloned gelding, of course, is born as a colt with full reproductive capabilities and fillies can grow up to be broodmares, so it is a means to perpetuate bloodlines that otherwise might be lost.

Clones In Competition

Breeding sport horses boils down to producing equine athletes with the scope, range, movement, talent and brain for their discipline or sport: brilliance is a bonus.  The cost of a clone is about $165,000 (with discounts for any additional live foals born as a result of the SCNT process):  that’s a ballpark going price for a horse capable of high performance level competition.  The variables – nutrition, nurturing, environment, trainer, rider and the element of luck – make each foal a gamble.

Right now, there are laws in place to prohibit the registration of clones with the Jockey Club and with the Quarter Horse Association – no matter what the originals might have accomplished or how fancily they are bred. In fact, a 2007 ruling by the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) bans all clones and their offspring from international competition.  A number of old-fashioned horsemen think that’s a bad rule, including Frank Chapot, who pointed out:  “It probably could not hold up and how could anybody enforce it unless they take DNA samples?  The horses may have papers, but who knows how a horse is bred?  Those papers might be good – or not.”

The live cover stipulation for Thoroughbreds registered with the Jockey Club makes sense in many ways.  However, no one can predict what the future will bring, especially when the classic distance bloodlines of 20 and 30 years ago seem to be headed the way of the Dodo bird.

For the American Quarter Horse Association, FEI and other governing organizations banning the registration of clones and their progeny:  that seems a bit rigid.  Who can deny that the reining world would benefit from foals out of that great broodmare, Royal Blue Boon?  As for the jumper world, you’d have to be a daggone fool to turn down the opportunity to campaign the get of a proven performer like Gem Twist via Gemini.

That a bunch of clones in competition arenas would impact adversely on the so-called level playing field is a specious argument, at best.  Not every great horse is an easy ride.  Not every trainer will have the tact to find the right human partner for a sensitive and quirky equine athlete. You can put a mediocre rider on a good horse and have some success, but it takes a great rider to allow any horse to blossom and fulfill its destiny.

One thing’s certain:  time and performance records will tell the tale of the clones:  that and the demand for their get.

-By Lauren Giannini

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The✨April issue✨ of Sidelines Magazine is here The✨April issue✨ of Sidelines Magazine is here and we are so excited to feature three-day eventer Liz Halliday on the cover! Big thanks to photographer Melissa Fuller for the beautiful photo of Liz and Cooley Nutcracker- Liz Halliday-Sharp - HS Eventing. Liz and her horses have taken the eventing world by storm - and find out how Liz is at the top of the sport as a female eventer! As the horse world gears up for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event 2023, it's the perfect time to enjoy our eventing issue!! We also feature eventer and woman entrepreneur Frankie Thieriot Stutes, who is not only an eventer, but also runs Athletux and FRANKIE CAMERON handbags and accessories. And don't miss our eventing story on Robert "Bobby" Costello, who will be leading the US Eventing team to the 2024 Paris Olympics- and US Equestrian has named Bobby the eventing technical advisor/chef d'equipe!! Liz, Frankie and Bobby all have GREAT stories - don't miss any of them and don't forget to get your tickets for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day event! We are also excited to introduce you to hunter-jumper rider Casey Lorusso Smith, who is not only a talented rider but also a psychotherapist and incorporates horses into her career. If you are up for adventure, then read the story on dressage rider Priscilla Baldwin who certainly doesn't let any grass grow under her feet! We also head to the west coast to catch up with hunter-jumper trainer Jim Hagman of Elvenstar Farm, we feature beautiful art by equestrian artist Tammy Tappan, and we get to know Miranda Jones and her family. Miranda is not only an attorney who spends a lot of time in the courthouse, but she's a rider and spends lots of time riding, and is joined by her daughters also! We are excited to feature Stephanie Lightner in our Unbridled column, and don't miss our columnists George Williams, Robert R.L. Jacobs and Margie Sugarman! It's a great issue - and you can read it online, but don't forget to go to the website and order a subscription and get every issue delivered to your mailbox!! Enjoy this issue and enjoy the ride: Link in bio!!
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Marie Meyers has been around the world because of Marie Meyers has been around the world because of dressage, but it’s her farm in Moorpark, California, that has captured her heart. The farm and the business that thrives there represent Marie’s lifelong journey—a journey made up of good friends, spectacular horses and relationships made to last.

Marie was raised in Southern California, and spent her childhood playing just about every sport under the sun, but she didn’t discover riding until she was 14 years old. “I loved animals so much, so I started taking lessons. I did jumping at first, but I was very bad at that, for sure!” Marie laughed.

After some time, Marie moved on to take lessons at Foxfield Riding Academy and began riding dressage. “I fell into dressage by accident,” Marie said, “At the beginning, I thought it was extremely boring, but then I got hooked. By the time I graduated from high school, I had plans to travel to England to work for Franz Rochowansky, a former head of the Spanish Riding School.”

In 1988, Marie’s hard work paid off, and the pair was selected as alternates for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. “They didn’t take the alternates that year, so we didn’t go to Seoul, but the experience, the training and the European Tour afterwards set me up for the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, Sweden,” Marie said.

In addition to having success representing her country, Marie was busy with her life—marriage, a business, teaching lessons and clinics. 

Learn more about Marie in this month's edition of Sidelines Magazine. Click the link in our bio for more 🦄

📸Photos by Lindsey Long Equine Photography, www.lindseylong.com

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We are starting a ‼️new series‼️ here on o We are starting a ‼️new series‼️ here on our socials where we share some of the lovely stallions, and their breeders featured in each month's magazine. Our first feature on this #STUDSunday is...

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Contact Cheryl Maye at (703) 431-9096 for more information
https://www.mayeshowponies.com/more-info/stallions

You can find ALL of the stallions featured towards the back of the magazine in the equestrian gallery. Keep a look out EVERY Sunday for a new handsome STUD muffin🧁 and don't forget to subscribe to get your very own edition of Sidelines Magazine, the magazine for horse people, about horse people 🦄

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