Data Reanalysis Once a Year

It can be said that sequencing is done in a few days, but data analysis is never completely finished. 

As we all know, every horse, like every person, is different. But all horses have – speaking roughly – “the same amount of same DNA”. Yet still all the observed variability of individual animals is encoded in it. Of course, there are differences between them due to e.g. training etc., but the inherent variability is given at the DNA level.

As progress in the knowledge of the equine genome is rapid, but for obvious reasons not as rapid as for example in humans, it is quite clear that it will be a long time before the equine genome is truly well understood and described, with fine details and nuances not definitively known probably never. This is due to the fact that all living organisms are constantly evolving, adapting to environmental changes, and selection is taking place among them, as a result of which even their DNA changes from generation to generation in the long term.

From the perspective of an owner who is interested in the genetic background of a particular horse or horses, it is a great advantage to have a whole genome sequence available. Of course, you can have a single genetic marker examined that you need to know at the moment, but we are quite sure that next month or year you may be interested in a completely different marker. This means another sampling and another examination.

Once fully sequenced by Equinetest, the DNA sequence can be saved and returned to at any time. If you have your entire genome sequenced once, you will no longer need any further examination at the DNA level. We will simply take your horse’s genome sequence anytime in the future and find in it anything new that you will be interested in, or that the experts will discover by then.