***** NOTE: this post is still in progress, I’ll update as I learn more !!!!!!*****

Potential inbreeding problems with Akhal-Tekes was brought up on the Yahoo list and got me curious to find out more. As Akhal-Tekes are still on the rare side, especially outside of Russia and Turkmenistan, one thing to watch with breeding is the resulting Inbreeding Coefficient (IBC). The IBC quantifies the number of times common ancestors appear in a horse’s pedigree. The more times an ancestor appears the higher the IBC.

There are various definitions of linebreeding and inbreeding on the internet. Inbreeding seems to be consistently defined to be when the horse has an IBC of 0.0333 (3.33%) or higher (a 3-3 match). The acceptable cutoff for inbreeding tends to be 0.0667 (6.67%). Linebreeding would be having an IBC between 0.018 (1.8%) and 0.0333 (3.33%). Less than 0.018 (1.8%) is considered outbreeding, or a Hybrid.

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Akpay:      4.8128 % (8 generations)    5.4091 % (all generations)
Habib:       5.0451 % (8 generations)    5.5914 % (all generations)
Darginka:  2.4314 % (8 generations)    3.0343 % (all generations)
Pagoda:    3.5329 % (8 generations)    4.2359 % (all generations)

foals:

Habib-Akpay: 4.6463 % (8 generations)
Habib-Darginka: 3.6719 % (8 generations)
Habib-Pagoda: 4.5331 % (8 generations)

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From my results with my own horses, I thought it may be important for my next breeding stallion not to have Sere or Ametist in their pedigree.

So I looked up a very nice local Teke stallion whose pedigree I know (Pan Tau), however, breeding him with either Pagoda or Darginka brings the IBC up to 3 but does work to bring down Akpay’s IBC to 2.3% (Polotli showing up repeatedly in linebreeding). So does that preclude my use of Pan Tau with Pagoda and Darginka?

Pan Tau: 8.7043 % (8 generations) 8.8655 % (all generations)

Pan Tau-Akpay: 3.6548 % (8 generations)
Pan Tau-Darginka: 3.6347 % (8 generations)
Pan Tau-Pagoda: 4.9762 % (8 generations)

Because Akhal-Tekes are rare should one be attempting to lower the IBC each generation until the horses are mostly hybrid or just be conscious of the possibilities? Or is it important to look at those characteristics to be retained and breed for them. Of course consideration of both is important. But what do the numbers really mean?

Funnily enough when I went looking at other breeds there were stallions standing that had IBCs of 25% (Morgan) to 37% (Thoroughbred). There also seem to be a lot of Thoroughbreds and Arabians over 10%. Thoroughbreds have an average IBC of about 8% and acceptable is considered up to 15-16% (Foss 2002). The mean IBC for Hannovarian stallions was the lowest I found at 1.33% (Hamann & Distl 2008).

I did a “random” (the ones I had full pedigree information on) sample of 20 Akhal-Teke stallions in North America and the average IBC was 2.5%, with the range going from 0.65 to 7.9%.

Although it is established that inbreeding has a negative effect on lifespan, disease susceptibility and reproduction, other morphological effects have not been established in horses (Curik et al. 2003; Forry 2008). In fact, others believe that for purebreds, “Improvement and uniformity of type and characteristics can only come through in-breeding and line-breeding and the practice of consanguinity in horses does not decrease size” (BHInbreeding.html). However, there is the same possibility for negative recessive traits to show up as well.

Any ways, just speculations on my part about Inbreeding. Until I am able to spend my extra time riding I will postulate about a future breeding program. Any comments to sort me out or any opinions are always welcome!!

(Note: all IBCs were calculated using 8 generations of the known pedigree and I’ve posted all the duplicate ancestors on each horse’s page.)

Check out Akhal-Teke.info for more information

Also to note is that as of next year one is going to be able to export Tekes from both Turkmenistan and Iran. That will open up lots more blood for breeding and I am sure will create some even better Tekes.