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Zephyrra — Horse Color Genetics - Explained

Published: 2011-11-21 01:32:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 23296; Favourites: 506; Downloads: 723
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Description I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT!!!!!!!

I FINALLY MADE A CHART ON HORSE COAT COLOR GENETICS! I was putting it off for THREE WHOLE MONTHS and I finally buckled down and did it! It took a little cross-referencing to double-check that I was right, but most of this was originally off the top of my head. (No, seriously. I am the genetics wizard of all my friends.) Pearl was tough to get down though, and so was brindle, but I got it finally! But let me tell you… I never want to see this grayscale for a very long time.

Lines by the amazing ~jiphorse - [link]
(I got lazy. Lines are much easier said than done.)

Below is a quick rundown of each gene and its effect. It’s basically just explaining all the pictures on the bottom.

Red Factor (E) – Determines presence of black pigment (eumelanin) in the hair. Dominant denotes black, recessive denotes chestnut.

Agouti (A) – Determines restriction of any black pigment present. Dominant denotes bay, recessive denotes black. Does not affect chestnuts.

Gray (G) – Determines whether the horse will gray out with age. Dominant denotes gray, recessive denotes solid coloring.

Cream Dilution (Cr) – If present, will dilute coat color to a lighter shade. When present heterozygously, chestnut becomes palomino, black becomes smoky black, and bay becomes buckskin. When present homozygously, chestnut becomes cremello, black becomes smoky cream, and bay becomes perlino.

Champagne (Ch) – Will dilute coat color and add a golden sheen to the coat. Chestnut becomes gold champagne (not to be confused with palomino), black becomes classic champagne, and bay becomes amber champagne.

Pearl (Prl) – Works with the cream gene to dilute the coat. When present heterozygously along with a cream gene, will provide a “pseudo-cream” that appears to be a double cream dilution. When present homozygously, will turn chestnut an apricot color, but leaves bay and black alone.

Dun (D) – Dilutes the coat somewhat and add some or all “dun factors” or “primitive markings” (dorsal stripe, transverse stripe, darker points, zebra striping on legs, spiderwebbing on face, mottling, face masking, and frosting of mane and/or tail).

Silver (Z) – dilutes black hair and turns the mane and tail a silvery color. Does not affect chestnuts.

Roan (Rn) – causes speckling throughout the body (mostly excluding the head and legs) that does not increase with age.

Frame Overo (O) – causes patches of white that are irregular around the edges and that run horizontally. Usually one or two feet are white and the face is white. One or two blue eyes result. Horse appears as if the base color “frames” the white. It’s lethal when found homozygously.

Sabino (Sb) – creates splotches and speckling of white all over the body. Irregular stockings and bald faces are very common. Is sometimes accompanied by rabicano effects.

Splash White (Spl) – makes the horse appear as if it has been splashed with white from the bottom up. The legs and belly are usually white, although some horses are completely white except for small amounts of colored hair.

Tobiano (T) – causes regularly edged splotches of white on the body that cross the topline and appear to run vertically. The head is solid with normal markings, and all four legs are usually white.

Dominant White (W) – a very rare gene that causes pink skin, blue eyes, and pure white hair all over the body. Like frame overo, it is lethal when found homozygously.

Spotted (Lp) – causes spotting of the coat. Does not only apply to leopard pattern. Can result in any of the standard Appaloosa patterns.


Some more helpful websites include: [link] [link]

To see an in-depth explanation of the colors, see `majnouna ’s very helpful chart: [link]
Related content
Comments: 173

Kukulein In reply to ??? [2012-12-18 12:42:18 +0000 UTC]

So, now I tried it myself. This helped a lot (I hope, haha.)

Ee Aa nRn nSb
Does that work? Would this be a Red Roan Sabino?

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Zephyrra In reply to Kukulein [2012-12-18 22:30:53 +0000 UTC]

That's perfectly fine! And yeah, it would!

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Kukulein In reply to ??? [2012-12-18 12:36:57 +0000 UTC]

THANK YOU, oh my god, you're endlessly patient!
It's so nice of you to take time and explain this topic to us..

So, the person who will get the foal just doesn't want the Splash gene, so that's out. Everything else is okay with her.
I'd really love to design a unique and cute foal.. The dad is a Buckskin Roan, the mom is a silver grullo sabino splash (blue eyes).

So.. I'd like to give the foal none of the parent's colors, but a new one. And lovely markings :3 Does that even work?
It would be extremely nice if you could give me tips on the base color of the foal... (:
I won't bother you after that, I promise :3

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Zephyrra In reply to Kukulein [2012-12-18 22:32:18 +0000 UTC]

Haha, no biggie. Share the wealth, if you've got it, right?

Yep, the geno you sent me works perfectly, and sabino can create some pretty interesting markings, so that should work nicely, just look up some pictures for ideas if you get stumped.

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Kukulein In reply to Zephyrra [2012-12-18 22:36:46 +0000 UTC]

Oh boy, I'm so glad it actually worked out! THANK you, really!
You're one of the sweet and kind persons the world needs more of :3
You sure helped a lot of desperate people out there, so be proud (: <3

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Zephyrra In reply to Kukulein [2012-12-18 22:50:05 +0000 UTC]

Awwwh, it's no problem. I'm glad you think so!

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bubbIies [2012-12-03 00:29:37 +0000 UTC]

Awesome, thank you! Er, what would a silver black tobiano be? :3

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Zephyrra In reply to bubbIies [2012-12-03 00:31:09 +0000 UTC]

Not a problem, glad it's helpful! That would be the following:

- either Ee or EE
- aa
- nT or TT
- nZ or ZZ

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bubbIies In reply to Zephyrra [2012-12-03 00:33:59 +0000 UTC]

OK, thanks again!

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Zephyrra In reply to bubbIies [2012-12-03 00:50:59 +0000 UTC]

Not a problem!

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KarmaArt666 [2012-11-25 22:22:26 +0000 UTC]

What would foals geno be if the parents are EE/aa and EE/Aa/nT be?

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Zephyrra In reply to KarmaArt666 [2012-11-25 22:45:29 +0000 UTC]

Definitely EE, and either aa or Aa, and either no tobiano gene at all or nT.

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KarmaArt666 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-11-25 22:48:58 +0000 UTC]

Okay thank you!

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KarmaArt666 In reply to ??? [2012-11-14 00:25:58 +0000 UTC]

What would a silver flea-bitten grullo overo paint genotype be???

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Zephyrra In reply to KarmaArt666 [2012-11-14 01:33:08 +0000 UTC]

Okay, I'll list the genes, you pick whichever:

Ee or EE
aa
Dd or DD
Gg or GG
nZ or ZZ
nO

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KarmaArt666 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-11-14 01:42:38 +0000 UTC]

thank you so much!

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TheCrowDiaries In reply to ??? [2012-10-20 01:22:39 +0000 UTC]

My love for this can't even be described.

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Zephyrra In reply to TheCrowDiaries [2012-10-20 01:54:05 +0000 UTC]

Awwh, I'm so glad you like it!

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Fun4All328 [2012-10-09 22:09:10 +0000 UTC]

thank you for this I get so confused...

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Zephyrra In reply to Fun4All328 [2012-10-10 00:47:23 +0000 UTC]

Not a problem, glad you find it helpful!

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Fun4All328 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-10-10 00:55:08 +0000 UTC]

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Redbell9 [2012-09-26 17:57:03 +0000 UTC]

Btw what causes the flaxen mane and tail? Is there a specific gene?

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Zephyrra In reply to Redbell9 [2012-09-26 19:12:02 +0000 UTC]

Yes, there is, it's a recessive gene denoted ff. A horse needs to have ff, not Ff or FF, to be flaxen chestnut, and it only shows up on chestnuts.

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Redbell9 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-09-26 21:17:34 +0000 UTC]

Ok, thank you

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Redbell9 In reply to ??? [2012-09-23 19:52:01 +0000 UTC]

You just made my life easier This is extremely detailed and helpful ^.^ Just one thing, the chart on the bottom, are the genetic "letters" in the order you're supposed to write them as?

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Zephyrra In reply to Redbell9 [2012-09-23 21:54:05 +0000 UTC]

I'm so glad it helped! There really is no order, but the red factor (E or e) should go before Agouti (A or a) and then the rest of the genes that may be present should follow, it doesn't matter the order.

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Redbell9 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-09-23 22:15:37 +0000 UTC]

Ah ok, thank you so much ^.^

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Zephyrra In reply to Redbell9 [2012-09-23 22:20:56 +0000 UTC]

Any time!

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Somnium--Ranch [2012-09-14 01:06:12 +0000 UTC]

This is very helpful! Thank you!

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Zephyrra In reply to Somnium--Ranch [2012-09-14 01:07:01 +0000 UTC]

No problem, glad it helped!

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Somnium--Ranch In reply to Zephyrra [2012-09-14 01:08:15 +0000 UTC]

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crazykate1 [2012-08-02 18:38:49 +0000 UTC]

What would the genotype for piebald be?

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Zephyrra In reply to crazykate1 [2012-08-02 18:39:23 +0000 UTC]

Depends on what paint pattern it is.

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crazykate1 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-08-02 18:40:35 +0000 UTC]

[link] XD

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Zephyrra In reply to crazykate1 [2012-08-02 18:41:32 +0000 UTC]

He's tobiano, so he could be either Ee or EE, aa, and either Tt or TT.

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crazykate1 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-08-02 18:42:54 +0000 UTC]

Would it still just be called piebald? XD

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Zephyrra In reply to crazykate1 [2012-08-02 18:47:49 +0000 UTC]

Meh, it's kind of an outdated term, usually it's just black tobiano. It's more specific.

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crazykate1 In reply to Zephyrra [2012-08-02 18:49:23 +0000 UTC]

ahh gotcha

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RhinestoneRidge [2012-07-02 19:29:06 +0000 UTC]

Can you do genes for Ramblin' Miamis Diamonds?

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Zephyrra In reply to RhinestoneRidge [2012-07-02 19:56:29 +0000 UTC]

Sure! Do you have a link to her reference?

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RhinestoneRidge In reply to Zephyrra [2012-07-02 19:59:18 +0000 UTC]

Just on my gallery

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Zephyrra In reply to RhinestoneRidge [2012-07-02 20:03:37 +0000 UTC]

Alright, I'll try and find it.

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horseXwolfX In reply to ??? [2012-05-03 01:14:03 +0000 UTC]

thanks so so so so much

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Zephyrra In reply to horseXwolfX [2012-05-03 01:56:08 +0000 UTC]

Not a problem, so glad you found it useful!

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horseXwolfX In reply to Zephyrra [2012-05-03 02:00:25 +0000 UTC]

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Dappled-RoseStables In reply to ??? [2012-04-13 18:56:40 +0000 UTC]

EXTREMELY helpful.
Thanks for adding!!!

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Zephyrra In reply to Dappled-RoseStables [2012-04-16 01:38:08 +0000 UTC]

Not a problem, so glad you found it helpful!

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canileb In reply to ??? [2012-03-07 12:49:31 +0000 UTC]

Good morning! I really wanted information about intersections between Tobiano Paint Horse, Overo and Tovero. The possible colors of crosses between
Tobiano Sorrel x Tobiano Sorrel = ?
Tobiano Sorrel of x Solid Black = ?
Tobiano Sorrel of x Gray = ?
Tobiano chestnut x Tobiano Sorrel = ?
Tobiano Sorrel x Solid Chestnut = ?

Is there a computer program to make the crossings and possible stains?
Hugs

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Zephyrra In reply to canileb [2012-03-07 19:59:49 +0000 UTC]

Hi! Those depend on the geneotypes of the parents, but you can punch the colors and genes into this calculator: [link] and it'll give you all of the possible combinations.

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canileb In reply to Zephyrra [2012-03-07 23:54:05 +0000 UTC]

Thank you love the site! Now we have the possibilities! Now I wonder coloring matter of eyes ...

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