Wodan M, a 21-year-old stallion at Luunja Stables in Tartu, has shown in both America and China during a promising international sporting career. As a result, Wodan can probably be considered Estonia's best horse, and so it was he who was chosen be cloned.

"As a rider myself, I would say that there are very few horses in the world as simple [to ride] as him. Basically, you could say it was as if he even knew the numbers of the fences himself. That's why this choice was made. He's got super blood in him. He's a really talented and super horse," said showjumper Urmas Raag.

Raag said that there are  lot of really good horse riders in Estonia, but a lack of suitable horses. For that reason, they are counting on cloning.

"So that these genes will be passed on and Estonian riders can ride quality horses. We are cloning this particular horse, so, in practical terms, there should be a copy of this horse. The clone will have all the good genes and its pedigree and appearance should be identical," Raag said.

Estonian University of Life Sciences embryologist Elina Tsopp injected stem cells taken from Wodan adipose into the egg cells on Friday, from which she extracted the pre-existing DNA. However, that one-day cloning procedure was preceded by a considerable amount of prior work outside the lab.

"It takes a lot of egg cells, the entire stem cell culture is complicated and expensive. You need a whole lot of carriers to carry these clonal embryos, then carry the foal and raise the foal. It requires a lot of horses, and a very large team of vets, it's not easy," Tsopp said.

Both the egg cells and the carriers will come from Tartu's Luunja Stables, which has a primary interest in breeding Olympic-quality horses. According to Tsopp, cloning is necessary, above all, to preserve endangered horse breeds. In Estonia, the breeds most in need of assistance are the Estonian Native,  the Tori horse and the Estonian Draft.

"This is a very big step for the university and for science. It is important that the embryo is there. From that point, we can move on to transplants and pregnancy monitoring and hopefully next year we will see some foals," Tsopp said.

Asked whether this means the cloning of humans is now a step closer, Tsopp reassured ERR that that is not the case.

"I have been asked that same question before, whether I clone humans. But no, I don't intend to and I'm not allowed to," Tsopp said.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!