Cloning horses, hmmmm?

So what do you all think about this? Try not to get too heated, I know this can be one of those controversial topics!!!

I just read some articles and I saw a very valid point. Someone mentioned in the inbreeding thread that TBs are all linebred/inbred for the most part and the tb registry won't accept any new bloodlines...??? Correct that if I am wrong. Anyway, they are cloning some of the champions who were geldings so they can keep them as stallions and pass those genes on - thus broadening the gene pools. Makes sense to me!

For selfish reasons I would get my horse cloned in a heartbeat (I wonder how much it is!!???) just so I could always have him with me. He is a gelding and once he is gone, he's gone. However, to clone horses for plain research I wouldn't agree with that because there are so many horses already in the sale barns, it would be better to go pick them up and thin out the unwanted horses, or the ones headed to the slaughter houses.

What do you think?

With all the fantastic horses out there that need a good home, it does bother me that people would even consider cloning a horse just to assure themselves another bread winning show horse or racehorse.

That being said, I would be in favor of it, if as you said, it was needed to assure the survival of a breed. I believe you need at least 500 independent bloodlines for a species to continue free of inbreeding. I would think in the case of most horse breeds, there isn't even that number available at this point. I'm not a breeder, so I have no idea how many bloodlines are out there.

The clones aren't going to be shown, they are only going to be kept as stallions and bred - to pass the genes along. If it was just to reproduce that horse to win some more money and titles, I would disagree with that.

I haven't really thought about it enough to have a firm opinion... but to have the opportunity to be able to breed to an amazing athlete that otherwise wouldn't be able to breed (already gelded)? Maybe I'm not thinking it through but that sounds great! I'd like to hear from people who are against the idea.

A cloned horse doesn't carry the soul/personality of the original. So if you clone your horse, it's never going to truly be your horse except in DNA and maybe looks. I think people would end up being disappointed because the horse might not be the same. It might likely develop an entirely different personality.

It's super expensive now but as they do it more and more I'm sure it'll come down in price.

Unless things have changed the register in the UK dosent allow cloned horses to race , nor does it allow IVF of any sort . The mare must be taken to the stallion , and both parents must be on the register .

All TB's in the UK can trace their linage to 3 imported arabians and if you look into a TB's history you can see names repeated many times in its history.

I don't think it should be done. There is natural reproduction for a reason. There is no need to screw around with genetics. I think it's a potion for disaster and producing some very sick animals.

I'm 110% against it.

I have always found the topic of cloning interesting. But I have never really looked into it so my opinions and knowledge are skeptical. I do know there was an article about cloning an arabian gelding who was a champion endurance horse for breeding purposes. I know they have also cloned quarter horses, donkeys and sheep. I am pretty sure the quarter horses that were in the article were cloned for competition purposes.

As for tbs? I can see why they wouldnt allow them to race. I'm not sure how other registries go about it but I do know with race horses they need DNA samples when being registered. Therefore if cloned animals were allowed to race there would be the possiblity for cheating if two or more horses had the same DNA. But than again tattooing/freeze branding could prevent this but it does give the "offender" an opportunity.

I think its a very valid point to be cloning geldings that seem to have that "special something" for breeding purposes. If its advancing the positives of the breed why not?

One of the down falls (i'm sure there are more but this is one im aware of) is that the DNA of the cloned animal is the same age as the DNA of the original animal. Meaning if your cloning a 20 year old gelding, the cloned foal will have the DNA of a 20 year old horse. Correct me if i'm wrong

I do believe that cloning is a good thing.

It will help us understand genetics better and benifit the scientic community. But I do not believe that cloning race or show horse geldings is a good idea for the following reasons:

1.) Champions are hard to find and breed for. Cloning will make them less common of course, therefor, they will loose their 'special' factor. Again, this will mean less money for good breeders because cloning with make it so that all the 'big horse people' will have to same horse as them. The small people will lose. (That whole thing didn't make a bit of sense.)

2.) Cloning should be used for bigger things than horse racing and showing. We could find so much out with it that they should be focusing on that, not breeding horses.

I'm not a super freak christian, but I don't beleive in messing with the Man's plan.