Category: Wild Equine Research

Genes link wild horses in Western Canada to Siberian Breed

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A genetic study of a remote population of wild horses in Western Canada has posed a raft of new questions about their origins, with the results revealing an intriguing link to the Yakut horses of Siberia. It is assumed that the horses observed by European fur traders in the early 1800s in association with Tsilhqot’in First Nations in the Chilcotin area of south central British Columbia were descended from Spanish-derived horses brought in about 1740 along native trade routes from plateau grasslands in what is now Washington State. Today, an estimated 1,000 feral horses still survive in remote areas of… Continue reading

Research reveals domestication’s effects on horse genes

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A study, carried out by scientists at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for GeoGenetics, detailed some 125 genes related to physical and behavioral traits favored by humans. By comparing the genomes of modern domesticated horse varieties to DNA sampled from now-extinct wild horse species, researchers were able to isolate genes that control skeletal muscles, balance, coordination, cardiac strength, fear response, and more. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2014/12/16/Research-reveals-domestications-effects-on-horse-genes/4501418747928/#ixzz3MOKCWUBB   Continue reading

Interior Secretary Calls For Prize To Make Better Wild Horse Birth Control

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Thanks to the Facebook page of our Member OHHAWA for this story from the USA.  An excerpt from the Oregon Public Broadcasting Facebook page: “U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell calls the nation’s wild horse crisis an “intractable problem.” During an appearance in Portland, she suggested that the government needs to offer a big prize to get drug companies to make better birth control for wild horses. Jewell supervises the Bureau of Land Management. The agency spends tax dollars removing wild horses from the range when the BLM decides there are too many in one area. Last week the agency awarded… Continue reading

Horse Trail Scientific Monitoring Program

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This report forms part of the biophysical section of the Horse Trail Scientific Monitoring Program. Its primary focus is to observe and record the impacts of horse trail crossings on aquatic ecosystems and to ascertain if any of these impacts are of high concern. As was emphasised by Pickering et al. (2010) there have been no studies of the impacts of horse riding on streams within natural areas to date. This project will therefore add important knowledge to this understudied area of scientific research, and its findings will inform the direction of future monitoring. Stream health impacts from horse crossings… Continue reading