June/July 2026 Issue

June/July 2026 | EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN 47 It’s So Much More There has been one slightly uncanny aspect to cloning she wasn’t expecting. “It’s been a spiritual experience,” she says of an elusive quality hard to describe otherwise. “It’s crazy, I know. But there’s something else to them. They’re… older. Not just more mature in physique but older souls.” Nintendo was al- ways good on crossties, but she didn’t expect his clones to accept them at first blush. “They instantly took to the crossties. Like they’d seen them and been on them all their lives. “For sure there’s some ‘phantom memory’ they carry inside.” Phantom, or cellular, memory is an unprov- en theory that memories can be stored in tis- sues and cells outside the brain. If clones make such uncanny connections in the barn, can they settle as comfortably into their creator/ rider, too? “For sure, they connect with you more,” Char- lotte says, and the better the connection, the faster the progress seems. “I am riding a four- year-old who went from Intro to First Level in just six months. It’s as if he already knows what I am going to ask.” Cloning might also be “for the people” more than current import/export models. “I think cloning gives people who have oth- erwise given up on shopping for six- or seven- year-olds in Europe new options in riding and ownership.” Nor do you have to enter uncharted wa- ters alone. Char- lotte worked with ViaGen Pets and Equine, the world leader in equine cloning in North America, based in Whitesboro, Texas, to create a genetical- ly identical copy of each of her stallions using advanced cell and embryo tech- nologies. Fun fact: The first research in- stitution in America to clone a horse was Texas A&M University in 2005. The resulting foals shared the same DNA as the original horses, preserving those genetics for the future. At roughly $85,000 for your first clone, Charlotte sees it as more cost-efficient than embryo transplant: “Guaranteed. They keep trying until it catches.” A With Six You Get Eggroll bonus is that your first clone is $85,000, but engineer a couple more while you’re there and the price, she says, drops significantly — under $15,000 per clone. Even if you don’t enjoy mathing your math, spending $125,000 for three hors- es you’re going to feel pretty confident about sounds better than spending the same, or more, importing one unknown equine entity, plus tariffs, quar- antine and all the rest. “You can probably pay half that price [for cloning] in Ar- gentina but then you have to ship the horses, so there’s anoth- er thirty thousand or so in ex- penses.” In Argentina, equine clon- ing is considered a “mature in- dustry” that keeps the top tiers of polo energized with high- goal polo pony clones. Dressage is using clones, she posits, but riders are not always quick to talk about it. In 2025, three years after the arrival of Charlotte’s Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 64, ViaGen cloned the Westphalian gelding and two-time Olympic dressage mount Bohemian, cam- paigned by Endel Ots for Zen Elite. “There have probably been clones that have really ‘made it’ but we don’t know it, because they don’t talk about it. I’m pretty sure,” she says, “I’ve seen clones at Devon.” Pour Your Own Fountain of Youth Another benefit for the older dressage rider who, like her, fell in love with the ride they once shared on a now-aging partner is how clones rise anew like Brigadoon, bringing that once-familiar pep to their step with them. “I’m showing five-year-olds again! Can you believe it? What a great thing to do,” she says, beaming a grin and dreaming a dream of 2028 Olympic dressage squads. You can’t live in Reno without developing a taste for taking a gamble. “Since the day I came to the United States, I’ve been a risk taker. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Nor would the tens of thousands of women, dressage riders and horse lovers on TikTok, In- stagram and Facebook (@charlottejorst) who follow her and her horses, ad infinitum. When you’re doing it right, don’t change a thing. Continued from page 35 Charlotte Jorst Has a Recurring Dream Led Zhaplin at 3 years old Super Nintendo