stallion

"We were able to screen a worldwide collection of horse DNA samples and study where modern stallions trace their roots to," Cothran said.

The image became an instant meme with people superimposing the stallion into shots from “The Shining,” “Alien 3” and any other movie where this horse’s malevolent visage actually made sense.

Up to now, researchers had believed sacrificial horses were always locally-sourced stallions.

DNA recovered from the teeth, meanwhile, yielded another surprise: The horses were as likely to be mares as stallions, suggesting the sex of the animal was less important than thought.

“Some of our partners buy in just to race, other stay on to own stallions,” Ryan said.