NEWS: My Little Pony, Postmodern Pony

CULTURE: My Little Pony, Postmodern Pony

A horse is a horse, of course, of course. No, really—a horse is an exact genetic replica of itself, and it's yours if you want it (and can pay the princess price). Whoa, Nelly: an American company called ViaGen, which offers reproductive technologies such as animal cloning, has successfully created the first commercially produced clone of a mare. The world's first and second horse clones were born in Italy in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

ViaGen is partnering with equine marketing firm Encore Genetics to create the first commercial horse cloning operation in the country. My question is this: Will the phrase "Clone of a mare" replace the old standard, "Son of a bitch"?

creepy. this might also be trouble for horse racing.

Why would you need to clone a horse when any farmer with two can give you as many as you want for a fraction of the cost?


[Edited on Mar 31, 2006 by James_]

See previous comment regarding racehorses. Why screw around with the uncertainties of breeding when you can just reproduce a champion endlessly?

Ummm.. I know it's been a few years. But last I heard the cloning process wasn't simple.
There were hundreds of deformed or still born failiures before before they got that freaking sheep cloned properly.

And here I thought the article was going to be about My Little Ponies

I think the question here is, if an older horse is cloned, will its DNA still be viable? I'm sure as age goes by the DNA is going to corrode a bit.

What I'm getting at is, do you think horses with genetic defects will come with warranties?

Nope, the Jockey Club and various others have already said that they are unwilling to register cloned horses. The horses that are being cloned are from western style cutting horses.

The problem is that clones aren't... well... clones. They're not necessarily (or even likely to be) identical to their parent.

alright. so rodeo horses are all going to be clones now?

Not at a price tag of $150,000 for the first clone (price goes down for multiples).

There are 19 surrogate mare that have been impregnated with the clones. The clones will be observed and compared to the originals to see how well they learn behaviors. Most horse breeders will tell you that many young horses seem to have a 'memory' for the behaviors that their parents learned which is augmented by the foals' environment and training. One of the goals of the cloning is to quantify this supposition (and make lots of money, since the horses cloned have all been serious money makers).

i love My Little Pony ...& i got all excited with the title of this article

Me too. I like to comb their pretty manes.

ooooh...my plan is nearly complete. i have now found the perfect vehicles for me and my...Mini Me...bwahahahah bwaahhahahahah bwahahahaaha

Let's get together for a My Little Pony Beauty Salon! I'll bring the hair spray

I bow to our new equine masters.

Hheheheheh . . . Commercial aminals off the shelf

Horse overlords, I for one salute etc.