This news item is about: A Cornell veterinary immunologist and a mare from his research herd are at the center of what may turn out to be the most important breakthrough for horses since the advent of the horseshoe some 2,000 years ago. The completed map of the horse genome has already enabled advances in equine medicine, from the study of simple genetic traits to complex multi-gene conditions and the genetic regulation of development and healing. In addition, the horse genome holds the potential to shed light on human genetics and disease. A paper published in this week’s edition of the journal Science—written by the international Horse Genome Project team that includes Dr. Doug Antczak, Dorothy Havemeyer McConville Professor of Equine Medicine at the Baker Institute for Animal Health—provides a high quality draft of the approximately 2.7-billion DNA base pair sequence, as well as comparative analysis and population genetics of the horse.