Vikings Gave Us Smooth Riding Horses

            Have you ever ridden on a horse and the ride was just really “bumpy?” Chances are the horse you were riding on did not have the DMRT3 gene, otherwise known as the “gaitkeeper” gene.

Horses have long been a way in which human beings have been able to travel far distances. During the early centuries of mankind, horses were mostly used for transportation as well as a “vehicle” for riding into battle. Today, horses are prize animals showcased in equestrian competitions and the Olympics. Interestingly enough, there is one thing that you might not be able to see in Olympic competing horses: ambling. Why is that? The answer: Genes.

There is a certain breed of horses that are known to be able to amble, which is a type of gait that is not as fast as a gallop but faster than a walk which provides riders with a much smoother ride (See video for ambling). Evolutionary geneticist Arne Ludwig and others from the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin analyzed DNA from the remains of 90 horses some of which dating back to the 9^th century. They discovered that some of these horses contained this “gaitkeeper” gene which allowed horses to amble smoothly over long distances. This gene mutation was also found in early Icelandic horses but interestingly enough, not in any other horse remains found from the same time period in mainland Europe. The gene mutation DMRT3 has been viewed by researchers as a controller of the expression of genes in neurons that coordinate muscle movement allowing for the horses to amble.

Although just a theory, it is believed that the Vikings were the ones to first use these ambling horses and began to introduce them into the trading market of the 9^th century as far as the Middle East and Caspian Sea. With that in mind, the introduction of ambling horses for transportation revolutionized journeys over long distances for humans. Not only did these ambling horses make traveling smoother, it also allowed travelers to journey longer without having to stop to rest from the “bumpy” ride of horses without the DMRT3 gene, making trips much faster. To this day, there are many breeds of horses that contain the DMRT3 gene. So the next time you want to go horse-back riding, get a genetic sequence of the horses to find the ones that will provide you with a smooth ride.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/science/horses-gaits-ambling-vikings.html)

The Ability to Pace in Horses' Is Written in DNA

Swedish scientists have recently discovered a single gene, DMRT3,  in horses which determines weather or not they are able to trot.  Liam Andersson led the research group at the Upsala University which is 535 years old.  This could have a huge impact on horse training and racing.  Horses have three naturally occurring gaits: walking, trotting or galloping.  Horses which trot are trained to not break this trot and go into a gallop at higher speeds, because this will lead to disqualification.   Andersson and his team began researching in January 2011 with Icelandic horses. These horses have a gait called tolt, a gait so calm for the rider that it is “like sitting on a sofa,”. But only some horses can pace, and they wanted to find out why. They found that a single gene differentiated pacers and nonpacers.  They found this genetic mutation in other gaited horses, like the Paso Fino in South America and the Tennessee walking horse. Its genesis must have happened more than 1,000 years ago, Andersson said. The horses with this gene would have had a smoother ride and thus been kept and bred.  They then moved their focus to  trotters in Sweden. The researchers found the genetic mutation at a high frequency, which told them that its presence must inhibit a horse’s transition from trot to gallop at high speeds.



This is much more than just an interesting fact, it can actually save horse trainers a lot of time and money knowing this genetic detail.  For instance, in June 2011, Andersson and his team went to Agerup’s Uppsala stable to conduct a blind test on his 61 horses.  One trainer told the scientists that a few horses had trouble keeping their trot despite several years of training. They were not informed of the exact number (it was two) or the identities of the horses. The researchers collected hair samples, ran a DNA test, and in a few days selected the two horses in question.