upper-level event horse Che Mister Wiseguy, and in 2011 he produced three clones of his favorite horse, the first event horse ever cloned. This was no easy feat: a couple of the clones were not successful when the embryos failed to implant properly, so he had to keep trying for a couple of years. But he had his reasons for sticking it out. “I cloned Wiseguy for three reasons,” he explains. “He is a gelding and I wanted to have his genes passed so I can have his progeny; because riding Wiseguy is the best feeling ever and I wanted to have more like him; and because so many people wanted to buy Wiseguy and he always has had so many fans that I thought that by cloning him, some of his fans would be able to have babies by him through his clones. I always wanted to have more horses like Wiseguy—actually I always wanted more Wiseguys. His clones will be able to produce what he can’t, and by cloning you get the same genetic match that you can’t even get on full brothers, full sisters or even twins. There- fore, his clones will be able to produce what Wiseguy could have produced if he were a stallion.” Wiseguy recently celebrated his sixteenth birthday, while
all three of his clones, Wiseguy Too, Wiseguy Too Two and Wiseguy Too Top turned four at the end of April. Based in Ocala, Florida, Ronald just started breaking them in March, though he had to put things on hold while he’s been travel- ing for work and competing his other horses. “I always break my horses when they turn four,” he explains. “I start playing with them on a lunge when they are close to four years old and then I get on as soon as they turn four.”
Cloning and Misinformation Horses are generally cloned either for reproduction or perfor- mance, though if one has deep enough pockets, a favorite horse—or dog or cat, for that matter—could be cloned for sentimental reasons. Kathleen McNulty of Replica Farm, LLC in Bedminster, New Jersey and an authorized representative of Texas-based ViaGen, says she and ViaGen’s investors hope that cloning world-class horses will help bring public attention to the cloning process. (ViaGen is a leading provider of cloning technology.)
“There are a lot of negative attitudes about cloning and I
think it’s because people don’t know any clones,” says Kath- leen. “People also think that you’re not getting a good qual- ity tissue sample if you clone an older horse, but that’s not true; it doesn’t matter how old the horse is that you clone
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Three clones of Che Mr. Wiseguy: 1) Wiseguy Too, 2) Wiseguy Too Two, and 3) Wiseguy Too Top.
because they’re brand new cells—it’s not degraded tissue from an old horse.” She also points out that they haven’t had any health issues in the clones. “We say that nature sorts them out—if everything isn’t okay, the mare won’t carry them to term. Once the foals are on the ground, they’re perfect. We have two of the top vets in the country working with us and they foal the babies out, so the babies get a good start,” she says. Of course only time will tell if these clones live up to the
promise of their DNA. Kathleen points out that you can’t expect a weanling to dazzle; it’s the mature and well-trained sport horse that truly reflects the original horse. Quite a few top sport horses have mature clones who are now perform- ing: Gemini is seven, Quidam de Ravel is 12, and there are Zangersheide (a Belgian breed) cloned horses even older. “These clones are jumping and they’re doing just as well as their donors, but you have to be patient,” says Kathleen. “They are young and need time to grow and learn.”
Sapphire Last year the mare Sapphire, who was ridden by McLain Ward, died of colic at age 19, but her genes live on through her two clones Kara BC and Kidjaz BC, now six years old. Sapphire is also survived by several offspring: she had two foals in 1999 and 2000 prior to beginning her competi- tion career, and had a filly and a colt born one year ago by embryo transfer. Known around the barn as Sara, the 1995 Belgian Warm-
Che Mr. Wiseguy and Richard Zabala-Goetschel competing at Rolex Kentucky in 2009.
blood mare was part of the gold medal winning U.S. Olym- pic teams in Athens in 2004 and at the 2008 Beijing Games
Warmbloods Today 15
Photos courtesy of Richard Zabala-Goetschel
Amber Heintzberger
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