101EquineColor.pdf

Equine Color 101

By Elsie Darrah

TWHBEA Color Consultant

elsietwh@hotmail.com • 913-886-6481

Every spring the pastures are full of

new Tennessee Walking Horse foals.

And, around this time every year, the

registration department begins receiv-

ing the applications for registering those

foals before they reach seven months

old. In order to ensure that your foal has

been identiied accurately on its regis-

tration papers it is important for you to

have a thorough understanding of horse

colors. Years ago, before we truly under-

stood the genetics of horse color, people

simply described what they saw. Today,

with our enhanced understanding of

horse color we are able to identify our

horses more accurately and ensure the

credibility of their registration.

We all recognize that there is a wide

variety of colors in the Tennessee Walk-

ing Horse breed. The two main groups

of horse colors are those with black

points (mane, tail, lower legs and ear

rims) and those with non-black points.

The speciic combination of point color

and body color are what determines

most horse colors. Another thing to

consider is the horse’s white markings.

Those white markings and patterns are

not the absence of color but rather white

superimposed on what would have been

the speciic body or point color. A horse’s

inal color results from the interaction

of several independent genetic processes

which can dilute, modify, restrict color

or add a white color pattern.

The Colors and Markings Guide , avail-

able from the TWHBEA web site or by

contacting the ofice, was designed to

help you to accurately describe your foal

at registration, to assist you in correct-

ing a wrong color choice made on a reg-

istration, or to add a modiier or dilu-

tion that affected the foal coat color after

the foal was registered. It is the responsi-

bility of each and every breeder and

owner to accurately identify their horses

on their registration papers by selecting

the correct color and accurately describ-

ing all markings and points (legs, mane,

tail, and head).

In the Color and Markings Guide we

included all of the colors that have been

documented to date in the Tennessee

Walking Horse breed. Genetically there

are only two color genes, red and black,

and every horse’s color uses one or both

of these two genes as the color founda-

tion. However, we designed the chart us-

ing three colors, black, bay, and chestnut

(sometimes called sorrel). We have cho-

sen to include bay in the lineup because

it simpliies the explanation of how each

of the colors are derived. The wide vari-

ety of colors that we have in the horse

world is created when those three foun-

dation colors are diluted, modiied, or

have a color pattern added.

When registering your horse, make

sure you are using the most current Ap-

plication for Registration and color bro-

chure. You can either obtain them from

the TWHBEA Website at www.twhbea.

com or by calling TWHBEA at 931-359-

1574.

AccurAtely IdentIfyIng

your Horse

Selection of the correct color for reg-

istering your foal can be done in a four

step process. On the color chart in the

Color and Markings Guide you will see

four columns with a picture of a horse

at the top. The pictures of the irst three

horses across the top represent the base

color for each of the colors described in

the column below each horse. The

fourth column describes the four white

patterns found in TWHs. We have pro-

vided a simple description for each color

and included the criteria for each possi-

ble choice. An important thing to re-

member is that, in most cases, for a

choice to be accurate for your foal one

or both parents must display that col-

or,

following step by step process will help

you as you are illing out the application

for your foal. Note that step one will ap-

ply to all foals but steps two through

four only apply to horses that meet the

criteria described in that step.

Step one: From the 16 color choices

available choose the color that most ac-

curately identiies your foal. Please read

the descriptions carefully to ensure your

foal meets the criteria for that selection.

Coat color testing for most of the color

selections is available and will help to

ensure the correct choice is made if there

is any question.

Step two: If applicable, select a color

dilution for dun OR silver. These are

rarely found in TWHs and the choice

must be validated. In order to select

from this dilution category, the foal and

at least one of the parents must meet

the criteria by expressing the selected

gene. It is possible that a parent carrying

the selected gene was incorrectly identi-

ied if registered before these dilutions

were recognized by TWHBEA. In that

case, genetic testing may be required as

proof. When registering your foal as a

dun or silver pictures are required . A

complete description of the unique di-

lution characteristics as described below

along with any white markings is man-

datory. Don’t forget to put mane/tail

color in Box 5 and if possible use Box 8

to describe Dun and Silver characteris-

tics or attach a sheet of paper with de-

scriptions.

A dun foal must have a prominent

dorsal stripe, zebra stripes around legs,

shoulder barring and cob-webbing on

face. The body coat color will be several

shades lighter than the normal coat col-

or would have been without the dun di-

lution. Color testing is now available.

The silver gene is dominant but only

expresses itself when black is present.

Variations include a silver black, silver

bay, and silver buckskin, which is often

dilution,

pattern

modifying

gene.

Using the guide as a reference, the

183

grey. The only exception

is double dilute cream

horses that have no color

for grey to modify so the

grey is hidden. The horses

color at birth will remain

on the registration certii-

cate and if the foal begins

to turn grey it will be add-

ed to the base color, ie.,

black/grey, palomino/

grey, etc. In order for a

foal to be registered grey,

at least one of the parents

must be also have turned grey . If this

step doesn’t apply then skip this step.

Color testing for grey is now available.

Step four: If applicable, choose a

white pattern; tobiano, overo, sabino or

tobiano/sabino. For this to be a valid

choice, one of the parents must be also

display the pattern . Again, it is impor-

tant to familiarize yourself with the dif-

ferent patterns and their combinations

to make sure you are making the right

selection. Correctly identifying your

horses color and faithfully reproducing

his facial, leg, and body markings helps

you, the owner, to identify this animal if

he or she is stolen or lost. If this step

doesn’t apply then do not check any of

the pattern boxes.

Many TWH horses possess several

spotting genes all working together.

These horses are in fact the most suc-

cessful producers of color. They can

produce a high percentage of spotted

foals on both spotted and solid-colored

mares with some being just tobiano or

sabino and some expressing the tobia-

no/sabino combination so care must be

taken to ensure that you make the right

selection on the registration application.

For a foal to be

a tobiano/sabi-

no one of the

parents must

be also be reg-

istered as a to-

biano/sabino

or one a tobia-

no and one a

sabino .

A maximum

white sabino,

something we

are seeing more

often, is a horse

that appears to be all white. They are the

offspring of sabino parents. Genetically

this is a horse with white superimposed

over one of the foundation colors de-

scribed earlier in this article. The horse

will usually have some spotting on the

skin under the white hair. To accurately

or in step one which may require color

testing. TWHBEA now accepts the Max-

imum White Sabino as a Pattern choice.

In Box 5 under Tobiano/Sabino, write in

Maximum White Sabino and in Box 6

put a line through NONE and write in

Maximum White Sabino. Until iPeds is

updated it will appear in the markings

box.

Don’t forget that if you choose a

white pattern, we will need a photo-

graph of the front, back and both sides

sent in with the registration applica-

tion.

equIne color genetIcs

It is important to note that any color

gene that is a dominant whether it di-

lutes, modiies or adds a white pattern

requires a parent to have that gene in

order to pass it to their offspring.

If you have any question about your

foal’s color or would like to be sure

what genetic traits your foal carries

color testing can be done by the Uni-

versity of Kentucky at a special TWH-

BEA rate using hair samples pulled at

the same time as for parentage veriica-

tion.

The section of the Colors and Mark-

ings Guide entitled “COAT COLORS

OF TWHS” provides an explanation of

equine color genetics terms used and

will help you understand the results of

any color testing you have done.

mistaken for a palomino. It lightens the

black coat to chocolate and the mane

and tail to a silver, off-white or lax color.

Red based horses may carry the gene but

must be tested to be sure. Silver gene

testing is available and may be requested

to conirm the color choice if suspected

either because it had a registered silver

parent or if neither parent displays the

gene. Remember; if this step doesn’t ap-

ply to your horse then do not check dun

or silver.

Step three: If applicable, select a col-

or modiier for roan OR grey. Selection

of both modiiers will not be accepted

unless proof is provided that both are

present. If this doesn’t apply then do not

check either box. Again it is important

to understand that color modiiers are

not a color and that they can be applied

to any of the colors in step one.

A foal born with the roan modiier

has a coat that will remain constant

throughout its entire life except it dark-

ens each winter and sheds back to roan

each spring. At least one parent must be

roan in order to make this selection.

The classic roan characteristics leaves

the head, legs, mane and tail the base

color and only the body color is modi-

ied by white hairs evenly mixed with

the dark hairs giving the horse a silvery

effect.

Grey foals can be harder to identify. A

foal is never totally grey at birth but usu-

ally has some indicators like grey eye-

lashes or begins to turn grey when they

shed their foal coat or sometimes several

years later. When they do begin to turn

grey it usually shows on head irst and is

progressive throughout their life con-

tinuing to lighten until the horse is al-

most white or white with specs of color

commonly referred to as a “lea bitten”

Helpful Hints

• Colors, dilutions, modiiers and patterns do not skip generations

• Black x chestnut can produce black, bay or chestnut.

• Chestnut x chestnut can only produce chestnut.

• Black x black can produce both black and chestnut

but can never produce a bay.

• Palominos, Buckskins and Smoky Blacks are never homozygous

and will produce color only 50% of the time.

• Dun and Silver dilutions and Roan and Grey modiiers require that

at least one parent must display the gene.

• Grey is masked on Cremello, Perlino and Smoky Cream horses

because there is no contrasting color for the grey gene to visibly modify.

• Tobiano, Overo, and Sabino patterns require that

at least one parent display the gene.

184 • V o i c e

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