Equine Genetics Study



In the July, 2009 issue of Equus Magazine, there was an article titled "How You Can Help Equine Genetics Researchers" on Page 12. I wrote to the address given, inquiring about having my Pony of the Americas participate in the study. Here's the reply. Please consider participating, too!

From: Sutter Dog Genetics Lab sutterlab@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: study of genetics of equine body size
Date: Jul 2, 2009 11:41 AM
Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you so much for your interest in participating in our study! We couldn’t do this research without help from owners like yourself. Let me introduce myself--my name is Esther Gu, and I am an undergraduate doing this research in the Sutter and Brooks labs here at Cornell.

We are collecting body measurements and tail hair samples from horses of all different breeds, shapes, and sizes. After enough samples are collected (we are aiming for 1,000 horses!), we hope to be able to take any given set of measurements and, from the unique combination of values that each horse gives, be able to identify exactly what breed the horse is from. Once we have enough samples, we will take the DNA from the tail hair bulbs and "scan" horses to see if we can find differences in their DNA (called gene markers) that could be linked to their differences in body size.

Your POA would make a wonderful contribution to our research. I would be more than happy to send you the materials you will need to do the measurements yourself. We will mail you a packet that includes a consent form to sign, instructions and data sheets for collecting the measurements, a tape measure, and a sheet to tape tail hairs to (which we collect for DNA). All we need from you is your mailing address.

With regards to the actual measurements, we take 35 body measurements, ranging from ear length to the circumference of the hind cannon. We record all measurements in inches. With an assistant, measurements can be done on a willing horse in 20 minutes—we don’t encourage measuring unwilling horses!

Additionally, if you know anyone else who may be interested in our study, we would deeply appreciate your referring them to us--we are looking for horses of every shape and size!

Thank you again for your assistance. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at sutterlab@cornell.edu or call the lab at (607) 253-3592.

I hope to hear from you!

Sincerely,
Esther Gu
--
Sutter Dog Genetics Lab
Phone: (607) 253-3592
Fax: (607) 253-3497
sutterlab@cornell.edu
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/faculty/Sutter/