Base Colours

part 2

COLOUR PREDICTING

Using the information from the What gives my horse its colour? page, we can “predict what colour foals are possible”, if we know the CORRECT colours of our horses and the colours they may carry.
Its important to note that using your horses pedigree as a method of identifying colours is NOT foolproof as many horses are registered as the wrong colour.

It may be helpful to read the Base colour section here.

The following assumes that the stated colours are CORRECT ie, if it says cremello - the horse really is a cremello and not a perlino or extreme sabino etc.

Lets say we put a chestnut to a cremello

We KNOW that

both horses are red based, so the foal HAS to be red.

We also know that one parent carries TWO cream genes, so HAS to pass on the cream…

So the only colour possible is Palomino.

Lets say we put a chestnut to a Perlino

Heres what we still know…

the perlino MUST give 1 cream gene, so the foal will be a cream dilute.

BUT now we have a horse that carries one or more BLACK genes instead of two horses that carry red.
So besides red, the foal could also be black based AND

one or more parent carries bay…

This means the resulting foal could be: Palomino, Buckskin or Smokey Black.

What if we put a chestnut to a palomino,

we once again KNOW

the foal will get two RED genes so will definitely be red,

But this time there is only 1 cream gene from one parent

So we know the foal will be chestnut or palomino.

WHAT IF we put a chestnut to a buckskin….

Now we know that there are red, black, bay, and single cream genes at work…

The resulting foal could be : Chestnut, bay , black, palomino, buckskin or smokey black.
(This assumes the buckskin carries red - if it is a homozygous black then chestnut and Palomino are not possible)

The easiest way to predict foal colour is to list what colours you KNOW your horses carry and any colours they MAY carry and then compare it to a list of the horse its being bred with…

FOR INSTANCE….

I have a silver dapple stallion… so straight away I KNOW ;

he carries black and silver.
I KNOW his sire is a chestnut… so I know he MUST carry the red gene given to him by his sire…
I also know he DOES NOT carry bay – if he did his colour would be silver bay. (A black horse can’t hide the bay gene)

Lets say I want to breed him with my palomino mare… I KNOW ;

she carries red and cream,
I don’t know if she carries bay, but it’s a possibility...

SO – what do I have…..

DEFINITELY possible…

2 x red genes… so a chestnut foal is possible (we need two red to make chestnut).
1 x black gene… so a black horse is possible, as it only takes one black gene to make a black horse.
1x cream gene, so palomino and smokey black are possible
1 x Silver gene, so silver dapple and silver chestnut is possible
ALSO a combination of the silver and cream – so Silver smokey black or a Silver palomino.

MAYBE possible

IF the mare carries bay:

Bay, Buckskin, silver bay or silver buckskin.

This method can be used for any colours and patterns, and while a lot of the time the list of colours you MAY get can be quite long, at least you will know what is possible and what is not.

Next >>> WHAT THE? My foal shouldn’t [can’t] be that colour!!!!

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