The development of modern horse breeds has been strongly shaped by stallions, making the male-specific part of the Y chromosome (MSY) a key genetic marker for studying their origins and spread. 
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Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni), along with international partners, traced the lineage of modern breeds through stallions. They found that most horse breeds in Europe, Asia, and the Americas share common male ancestors, whose influence became widespread only in the past few centuries.
A full report of their work is published in the journal PNAS.
Horses have been deeply significant in human history, shaping cultures and geopolitical developments. Over time, human activities like migrations, diverse breeding goals, and selective breeding centered on stallions have created a complex genetic ancestry in horses. The Y chromosome, passed down through male lines, offers insights into the origins and historical impact of specific stallions on horse populations.
For their study, the researchers analysed a large number of modern breeds and reconstructed their paternal lineages over the last 1,500 years. The scientists identified three major recent breeding influences and highlighted two fundamental historical routes driving the spread of Oriental horses.
The research team analysed data from 1,517 stallions across 189 modern horse breeds, covering a wide range of traits and geographic areas. They were able to decipher the enormous influence of Oriental stallions over the last few hundred years, demonstrating the origin and widespread distribution of Arabian, English Thoroughbred and Coldblood stallions, and exposing the consequences of intense linebreeding.
“The majority of stallions worldwide carry Y lines that can be attributed to an only approximately 1,500-year-old so-called Crown haplogroup. The predominance of Crown lineages in modern horse breeds is the result of the enormous impact of stallions of “Oriental origin” in the past millennium,” the study’s first author, Lara Radovic from the Centre for Biological Sciences at Vetmeduni, explains.
“The spread of Oriental horses was complex and started with the Muslim expansion. The similar spectrum of paternal lines in horse breeds from the Iberian Peninsula and the New World confirms the enormous distribution of horses of Oriental origin via the Iberian Peninsula after the Middle Ages,” Radovic adds. The survey also revealed a second major historical dissemination of horses from Western Asia, accompanied by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
“Our study shows that MSY analysis can uncover the complex history of horse breeds,” says the study’s last author Barbara Wallner from the Centre for Biological Sciences at Vetmeduni. “By tracing the legacy of Oriental stallions, we have demonstrated the inseparability of horse and human history and deciphered former unknown connections between geographically and phenotypically different horse breeds. We have also highlighted the consequences of intensive animal breeding, which have led to the loss of breeding lines,” Wallner adds.
According to Wallner, the work also presents new opportunities for capturing the historical development of breeding populations as a basis for meaningful decisions in breeding management in the future.
For more details, see:
L. Radovic, V. Remer, D. Rigler, E. Bozlak, L. Allen, G. Brem, M.Reissman, G.A. Brockmann, K. Ropka-Molik, M. StefaniukSzmukier, L. Kalinkova,
V.V. Kalashnikov, A.M. Zaitev, T. Raudsepp, C. Castaneda, I. von Butler-Wemken, L. Patterson Rosa, S.A.Brooks, M. Novoa‐Bravo, N. Kostaras, A. Abdurasulov, D.F.Antczak, D.C. Miller, M.S. Lopes, A. da Câmara Machado, G.Lindgren, R. Juras, G. Cothran, B. Wallner,
The global spread of Oriental Horses in the past 1,500 years through the lens of the Y chromosome,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.(2024) 121 (49) e2414408121,
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