A recent study found a highly significant increase in inbreeding in the global thoroughbred population during the last five decades
Thoroughbreds are the aristocrats of the horsing world: glamorous, subjected to odd mating rituals and more than a touch inbred. All are descended from three Arabian stallions brought to England in around 1700; animals which, Charles Darwin said, had “the commingled blood of Arabs, Turks and Barbs” in their veins. They make the Habsburgs look genetically diverse.Scientific Reports
At first, horse breeders did not consider inbreeding a problem. On the contrary: horses, like maidens, were better when purer. Within a century of the arrival of those three stallions, it was decided that the job of perfecting the horse had been done so well that the stud book was closed to new entrants. Aristocrats policed the parentage of their horses, listing their dams and sires in Weatherbys stud book.
Such fees make the very best thoroughbred semen one of the world’s most expensive substances, at around £6m a litre. Precise sums are difficult as it is not sold by the bottle and quantities naturally vary, but there is no doubt this is a profitable business. The finest stallions can earn a million pounds in a day.
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