Collection of hair samples for genetic analysis

Here you find the article concerning the FeNomen project.

The Swedish-Norwegian Foundation for Equine Research have funded the project ‘FeNomen: Fertility in national Norwegian horse breeds’. One of the goals of the project is to describe genetic variation in the Norwegian Fjord Horse, and to identify whether there are genes which contributes to decreased reproductive performance in the breed. The genes we are looking for are recessive which means they are not detrimental to reproduction of the individual horse but may have negative effects on the performance of the population if found to be widespread.

What type of sample?
Hair samples from up to 800 individuals will be genotyped, primarily horses from the breeding population.

What kind of horses do we wish samples from?
The primary sampling population is Fjord Horses that have been breeding in Norway between 2000 and 2020. Because a substantial number of Norwegian Fjord breeding stallions have been exported during this period, we are reaching out to the international Fjord Horse community to retrieve samples from these horses.
Here is a list of breeding stallions that we would like to receive hair samples from. The excel sheet is sorted by year of birth. The reason some stallions may not appear on this list because we already have sampled them.
Other Norwegian born (exported) Fjord Horses are also eligible for sampling from (no list provided)

How do I submit samples?
Sign up for submission of samples here 
After signing up, you will receive:
• Envelope(s) for submission of hair sample
• Consent form, to be signed (use of the sample for research purposes)
• Pre-addressed envelope for return of samples
The project can provide refunds for costs for returning samples upon receiving a receipt and banking details to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

How do I take the sample?
Hair samples are easiest retrieved for the tail of the horse by tugging hairs with hair roots. 25-30 hairs with root are necessary to perform genetic analysis. The horse must be dry when the samples are taken.

Here is a video how to take the hair sample  (if you don't have dropbox, just close the dropbox window and the video will appear)

Further questions? Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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