One of the most valuable resources and heritages of any country, are the genetic reserves of that country. We in Iran, have unmatched treasures such as the native Iranian horse genetic pool. And from this pool, we can identify a range of different breeds and ultimately have those breeds registered.
The goal of this identification and breed registration is the preservation and growth of these breeds. When through incorrect and uninformed breeding we mix pure breeds we have actually moved to destroy the pure breeds.
Not that hybridization or producing horses of mixed breeds is a mistake. That is not my point. But this mixing of breeds is only acceptable at a time that the number of our pure blood horses is above a minimum threshold, and we do not face the risk of extinction for that breed.
In that regard, several Iranian breeds have been identified and registered, that we can point to some such as: the Asil (Arab) horse, Turkmen, and Caspian. And considering the rich wildlife genetic pool available to us in this country many of our horses are not yet thoroughly identified and their fate remains undetermined, particularly the Dareshuri Horse.
With the help of the most well known and respected indigenous horse breeders of the country, through a postgraduate research project, I set out to identify the Dareshuri breed of horses. I was basically in search of the pure blood Dareshuri horse: a breed that was different from all the other officially registered horse breeds of the world.
For this means, we sampled blood from horses that were known and referred to as Dareshuri horses by their owners and breeders. With the laboratory procedures and genetic study we conducted, these horses were compared with themselves and with other recognized horse breeds.
After examining the results we found that other than one specific herd of horses that was distinctively known as “Daghe Do” (Brand 2) along with a small number of other horses whose were closely related to these “Daghe Do” horses, all the other horses studied carried the genes of other known horse breeds and weren’t qualified to be grouped into the same herd as these Daghe Do horses. Such that this herd was distinguishable from all other horses in the study.
For more explanation, using microsatellite markers, the PCR reaction, descriptive statistical analysis, and finally building the relevant phylogenetic tree we concluded that the horses of this specific herd, and the few horses that were close to this herd held a particular gene unique to themselves. We have built a phylogenetic tree that as you can see it contains different branches. Of these branches, the one that has been marked with a red circle and the number one (۱), is the group of horses known as “Daghe Do” (or Brand Two). Such that each and every endnode designated with an ID number in front of the number 1 (۱) is one of the Daghe Do horses. The second marked group (۲) are horses which are the confluence of Daghe Do and other horses. I mean this group here (bottom). They were the merging point of Daghe Do horses and other horses. The next point to note is the third group (shown next to the number ۳, the third group from the bottom) and that in this group, none were Daghe Do horses, but were close to Daghe Do. These horses can also be designated close to Daghe Do horses and can be accepted in the same herd as them, having close resemblance.
About the 4th cluster (marked with the number ۴, top) I have to say they are Arabian horses and that the nodes or ID numbers you can see in between the groups 1, 2, 3, on one side and cluster 4 on the other side all depict local horses that were each asserted by their owners and/or breeders to be Dareshuri horses. But as you can see clearly, they are located between the Arabians and the Dareshuris. And every one of these horses, based on how pure its blood is and the amount of genetic contribution of the Arabian versus Dareshuri genes in the horse, have been assigned a spot on this tree. Such that some of the horses were closer to the Dareshuris and some closer to the Arabians. In between these groups we can see that some have been placed under one branch meaning they have more resemblance and similarity to eachother.
I must add that due to the scope and importance of the research conducted at a postgraduate dissertation level, we were able to author two scientific papers and present them in two separate international conferences.
In order to explain the significance of having a pure breed of horses or other animals, we will consider a simple example together. Let’s say we have (a bucket of) red paint and (a bucket of) blue paint. By combining these two we can obtain a wide range of different shades of purple. But never and under no circumstances can we ever obtain blue or red from the color purple (we can’t go back to the base colors). No one can produce red or blue paint from (a bucket of) purple paint. Because of this, we need to have our pure blood horses preserved and through breeding our pure bloods and multiplying the base population we can only then undergo any hybrid production or mixing of breeds for other purposes.
It is of utmost importance and pleasure that this herd was identified since in the middle of the research my colleagues and I were at times very fearful that there might no longer be any pure blood Dareshuri horses in existence. But fortunately we found them to still be, even in such a small and threatening number and we are now responsible in paying special attention to the very small number of Dareshuri horses or maybe in better terms, these remaining pure blood horses called the “Daghe Do” (Brand Two) or pure Dareshuri horses whose numbers only reach around 35 horses at most.
Now, our responsibility lies with identification and registration of the breed and from there, identifying the horses that have the closest ties to these pure bloods and breeding programs with the goal of purification of the breed in general to ultimately increase the breed population altogether.
Lastly, by introducing the unique breed characteristics and traits of the Dareshuri horse internationally, we can present the breed to global markets and start exporting it in order to find its rightful place on a global level.
Credits:
Video Produced by Nabi Bahadori
Subtitles and Translations by Seyed Mahdiyar Abbasi