Finding ‘the long-lost’ Croatian Lipizzan mare families

Lipizzan horse breed was founded in 1580 in Lipica and introduced to Croatia in 1800 by earl Andrija Jankovich- Bésán. Earl Jankovich founded stallion bloodline Tulip and mare families Czirka, Ercel, Traviata, Margit, Manczi and 502 Moszgo Perla. Herd books showed that South African Lipizzan population is based on Czirka and Ercel mare families that are originally Croatian thus provided potential genetic enrichment of Croatian Lipizzan gene pool. In this study a 648 bp mitochondrial DNA fragment from 50 South African Republic Lipizzan horses was analysed and 249 sequences from Čačić doctoral thesis was retrieved. Mitochondrial DNA analysis of South African Lipizzan horses and their comparison with Croatian Lipizzan horses present that South African Lipizzan horses have five unique haplotypes but still maintain connection with Croatian Lipizzan by sharing a haplotype. Future analysis with high throughput genetic marker such as SNP or WGS will surely provide interesting results.