How do you test for Falabella in minis?

[Diva's Girl]

I was looking at some Falabella minis and noticed that Diva looks almost Identical in her build as a lot of the Falabellas. How do you test or tell if your mini is Falabella or has Falebella in them?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Mainly from the pedigree- what are her bloodlines?

 

[Diva's Girl]

Well her AMHR registry name is: Hershey's Stormy Nite Diva's delite and her sire is Stormy Night's Delite. Her lines are primarily Alaskan mini lines but from there I would have to look at her papers and registry to see. Her breeder was a man named James Clemet who bred minis in Palmer Alaska.

 

[HGFarm]

You would need to have the extended pedigree of horses in the background.... if you contact the Falabella registry, they could probably see if your horse is or not........

 

[Diva's Girl]

Ok, thanks. It doesn't really make a difference to me if she is or not as we don't have any conformation shows up here and I don't currently plan on breeding her but it did spike my curiosity.

Thanks for helping me!

 

[HGFarm]

I love researching pedigrees and who is who and all... it's fun and interesting. It's just fun to know what you have there.

 

[ruffian]

I don't believe there is a "test" for Falabella.

 

[Jean_B]

The Falabella bloodlines are the result of a breeding program in Argentina - it is a "prefix" that was given to the horses raised by the Falabella family (sort of like "Arenosa" etc). There is no genetic or DNA test that can be done - only in-depth pedigree research.

 

[HGFarm]

Wow, Diane, I had no idea! How interesting!!!

 

[Mona]

Not sure I'm a believer, but....

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I always believed that the Falabellas had andalusian blood in them?

 

[HGFarm]

I dont know what the Falabellas had in them... I know some were bred down from big Appaloosas... dont know about the rest.

 

[Diva's Girl]

Wow, this is very interesting.

I doubt Diva is Falabella or has any Falabella bloodlines but I thought it was cool that her conformation looks like one. The only difference is her neck which is a tad thicker than the fallebella's neck which she inherited from her Dam's side with her great granddam, Norda's Little Skunk(HOF), standing at 37.25inches. Her great Grandsire, Mini white cloud, on her Dam's side was 32.5 inches.

Does it cost anything to look at the registry ancestry of your horse past their initial papers?

 

[Diva's Girl]

Yep, that's her.

Wendy was her old owner, we haven't transferred her papers over yet due to our busy schedules.

Thanks for looking her up for me.

 

[Tammie-C_Spots]

Some of the very early pedigrees from Argentina that I have copies of, show the horse's "breed" on their Argentine paperwork (and transcribed sometimes onto their FMHA paperwork) as Arabians, Clydesdales, Shires, Appaloosas, Quarter Horse or even some that say "Anglo" or "Albino" or some mixture of the two (i.e. some say Arabian/Shire, Arabian/Clydesdale, Arabian/Trotter, Arabian/Quarter Horse, etc.)

So, beginning almost 200 years through selective breeding, the breed was developed. There are some letters from the Falabella family that give the story of their development. There is quite a history of the development of the breed -- such as the belief that the "Anglo" horses that show in the pedigree were those Spanish horses that became wild after the attempted conquest of South America. This would include the Moorish horses from Africa, the Spanish bred horses, the Criolla horses, and since Andalusian lines were introduced into South America in 1536, certainly it is possible they are in the mix as well.

It's quite a fascinating history, but the breed has some distinct physiological differences from other horses, that have been scientifically studied in several places around the world such as France, Japan, Italy and Austria -- and these studies were done in "recent history". It was noted in 1982 that the Argentine Falabellas have seventeen vertebrae instead of eighteen, and at least one less pair of ribs. These studies were only done on Argentine imported Falabellas, and there are several other unique characteristics in the breed that help set it apart from other "miniature" horses.

It's all pretty interesting, but I think the most interesting is the development of the DNA testing with its unique "markers", and I wish it were available more easily than sending specimens off to Europe to prove purity. The DNA testing is what sets the standard for registration in the Stamboek and they maintain specific records and a large database of DNA markers and bloodlines.

A small Thoroughbred was used as early as the mid 1900s. They have quite a mix of blood to produce what we in today's Falabellas. The foundations of the Falabella herd in Argentina were from wild stock found on the pampas of Argentina.

Tammie