Immune loci, characterized by features reflecting their role in defense reactions and consequently related to evolutionary mechanisms, including polymorphisms or association with disease are suitable candidates for comparative analysis. Interleukin-12 and related cytokines are key molecules regulating natural and specific immune responses. In this study, we analyzed four horse IL12-related genes: IL23p19, IL12Rbeta2, IL12p40, and IL12p35. Genomic nucleotide sequence of the horse IL23 p19 sub-unit encoding gene was determined. The horse IL23p19 gene consists of four exons; its total mRNA length is 1004 bp, with a coding region of 579 bp. The predicted amino acid sequence of the horse IL23p19 sub-unit showed 88.0% sequence identity with the human sequence. A partial genomic sequence highly homologous to human IL12Rbeta2 suggesting existence of this gene in the horse was retrieved. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in all four genes analyzed. PCR-RFLP genotyping was developed for selected SNPs. Inter-breed differences in allele and genotype frequencies were observed in IL12p35 SNP 242. The results showed that horse IL12-related genes are comparable to their counterparts in other mammalian species in terms of their structure and their genetic variation.