Why an Albuquerque startup is using DNA to detect muscle disease in horses

Paul Szauter recognizes that the federal government spends almost nothing on equine research compared to human or cattle genetic testing. 

“And why should they?” Szauter questioned. “Because that’s your tax dollars (and) it looks like they’re subsidizing the sport of kings — it doesn’t look good.” 

But that niche would become the foundation of Szauter’s company, EquiSeq. 

Albuquerque-based EquiSeq is a biotech company developing DNA tests for inherited muscle diseases, like muscle integrity myopathy, in horses. Szauter said the overall goal is to improve long-term horse health.

After founding the company in 2015, Chief Scientific Officer Szauter said the company finally received its first and second U.S. patents in 2025, more than five years after it filed applications. 

Szauter said both patents cover genetic tests for damaging variants across six genes — all of which are predictive of muscle disease — which allows EquiSeq to own the rights of several testing methods. 

“We’d like to get more licenses and get patents issued,” Szauter, a geneticist, said. “Because then people see this is actually happening.”

Getting started

When EquiSeq got its start, Szauter said his small team began by researching equine genetic testing. They quickly found that while there aren’t many laboratory horses, there were Facebook forums of concerned owners whose horses had health issues. 

“We got on there and said, ‘Can we get samples from you people?’” Szauter recalled. “Of course, we got flooded, because these people have been asking for years, ‘Can anybody help us? Can anybody do anything?’ There were a lot of people willing to share DNA samples and information about their horses.”

Szauter said EquiSeq also completed multiple startup accelerator programs. One of the most recent through the Arrowhead Center’s Scale Up New Mexico program in 2023 allowed the company to gain real-world experience in pitching its product. 

“You think it’s going to be nice when you go out there and try to talk private investors out of their money, but it’s not,” Szauter said. “(The accelerator program) comes at you the same way they do at a regular pitch, and that’s really helpful in reorienting your thinking.”

Looking back on the first 10 years of progress, Szauter said EquiSeq still faced several “predictable crises” that every startup encounters, like outsiders doubting their success. 

Szauter understands that many startups fail — an experience he’s familiar with himself — but he remains confident that EquiSeq is here to stay. 

The company now sells DNA panel tests, which can identify six damaging variants, for $299 on its website. And EquiSeq has raised $994,000 for its work since its founding, according to PitchBook, a financial data platform.

“You just get used to people walking up to you and saying, ‘You’re dead. There’s nothing here,’” Szauter said. “I’ve seen people fold companies that might’ve had something going for them because they just can’t take that.”

‘The forever horse’

Because equine research isn’t heavily sought after or funded, Szauter said it reduces competition from other companies and academia. More than that, a societal shift to the “forever horse,” where owners now see them as life-long pets, has allowed EquiSeq to become an industry leader. 

“A hundred years ago, if you had a horse and it couldn’t do what you bought it for, you made it into chili or you sold it to an idiot,” Szauter said. “But now, they keep them forever. They say, ‘This is my horse, and I’m going to do what I need to do for it. If it stops being rideable and has expensive vet bills, I’m just going to take care of it forever.’”

The convergence of these created a solid foundation for EquiSeq to build on by combining a unique market with a new perspective.

Madison R. Sanders, who sits on EquiSeq’s board of directors, said she’s been involved with horses her entire life. She’s grown up riding, showing and managing horses, as well as working closely with owners, trainers and veterinarians.

“That experience gives me an understanding of both the emotional and operational sides of horse ownership, which is critical when evaluating tools like EquiSeq,” Sanders said. “I always think about how something fits into real barn life, daily care routines and long-term horse management.”

After joining the company in 2025, Sanders said she wants to better bridge EquiSeq’s scientific and technological innovation with the needs of the equine industry.

Sanders noted that many owners and veterinarians don’t realize that there are more affordable, faster and noninvasive alternatives to traditional muscle biopsies — another reason she sees EquiSeq becoming a “trusted global standard” for equine muscle disease testing in the coming years. 

“At its core, EquiSeq is about improving horse health and providing answers — and ideally, it becomes something breeders, owners, and equine professionals rely on as part of best practice,” Sanders said. “Doing the best we can for our horses should always be the goal.”

Looking at the next decade

Jeremy Edwards, a University of New Mexico chemistry and chemical biology professor, has been with EquiSeq since the company’s founding. He remembers discussions with Szauter focused on how the two would develop the company’s sequencing technology through various markets, skills and techniques. 

“We thought about dogs, but horses represented a unique opportunity because it’s a really interesting genetic population (since) horses don’t get to choose when to breed,” Edwards said. “Pretty much all horse breeding is controlled by humans.”

On top of his data interpretation duties, Edwards is currently researching how to integrate an “artificial intelligence agent” into EquiSeq’s work. Compared to engines like ChatGPT, which sources information from across the web, an AI agent can be trained on specific data relevant to the company’s mission, he said. 

“The models we have, you wouldn’t be able to ask (them) questions like, ‘How long should I boil an egg?’” Edwards joked. “(Ours are) highly specialized models for being able to analyze and interpret specific types of genetic data. The power of these new AI tools really speeds up the research.”

Edwards doesn’t know where EquiSeq will go in the future, but he’s enjoyed watching the company utilize modern tools in addressing questions on horse genetics over the years.

“If you would have told me that we could be doing this, what we’re doing now, a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Edwards said. “I had no idea that the field of data science would grow so fast and be so powerful so soon.”

Now with two U.S. patents under its belt, Szauter said EquiSeq is finally able to kick the doubts potential investors or interested owners might’ve had about the company.

“People see that we were scientifically validated, and that’s important for them,” Szauter said. “This is real, we have the patents.” 

Hannah García covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach her at hgarcia@abqjournal.com.