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SheWolff — Coat color quiz - Answers

Published: 2009-04-16 16:47:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 8588; Favourites: 92; Downloads: 0
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Description Sorry for being a bit late with the answers to the equine coat color quiz, I haven't been feeling my best.

The quiz can be found here.



I will just give a brief overview, and not go into too much detail. Please keep in mind, I'm no expert, equine color genetics is just a big interest of mine. As science keeps moving forward, I know there may be details here about certain genetics that are highly debatable.

So, let's start, shall we?


In the chart, you can see that the true answers are highlighted in green with a (T) after the name of the color, while the false answers are written in red with an (F) behind it.


Problem 1

(From left to right on chart.)
Offspring one: Chestnut/Sorrel - true. If the parents are heterozygous to black (Ee), they may produce a chestnut (ee).

Offspring two: Dark Bay (black + agouti) - true. While the black dam passes on the black base to it's offspring, the bay sire may pass on an agouti gene (A_), together with his black base color, making the offspring a bay.
Two black horses may produce a chestnut, if none of them are homozygous blacks (EE). An example of this is when Friesians (a breed well known for its black color) in rare cases have produced chestnut colored, purebred offspring.

Offspring three: Gray/Grey (any color(s) + the gray gene) - false. The offspring needs at least one of its parents to be gray, as the gray gene doesn't "hide" in a horse, but is dominant over other color genes. If a horse has the gene for graying (G), it visibly shows. A horse with the gray gene, can be born with any color, but grays out and becomes almost completely white (or a fleabitten gray) sooner or later. There are horses who keeps the color they are born with until they're around 3 - 5 years of age, before graying, but most commonly a gray horse has started graying out as a weanling (around 6 - 12 months old).
If any of the parents in this example were gray, but very late to gray out, then this gray offspring could be true.


Problem 2

(From left to right on chart.)
Offspring one: Silver Bay Sabino (black + agouti + silver + sabino) - true. I added this one as a bit of a trick question. Sorry.
You can tell this is a silver bay by the pale mane and tail with dark roots, and the darker, chocolate colored legs (a flaxen chestnut could be confused with a silver bay, but the chestnut's legs would be the same shade as the body). As the silver gene (Z) only affects black pigment, a red horse - in this case the chestnut sabino stallion - may carry the silver gene, but by looking at the horse, you can't tell it does. To confirm if a red based individual has the silver gene, it needs to leave a black based offspring that inherits the silver (by breeding the red horse to a black based non-silver). Another option would be DNA testing.
This offspring example also has a minimum form of sabino, that shows by the uneven edges of the leg markings, and the way the white on the jaw extends towards the chin.
If the chestnut sabino pictured here as a sire is a regular chestnut, then a silver offspring would of course be false.

Offspring two: Palomino (chestnut + 1 creme gene) - true. It's likely to get a palomino from this combination; the red base from the sire, and the creme gene from the dam. This palomino also has a chance of carrying the silver gene, if his sire carries it.

Offspring three: Grullo/Grulla/Black Dun/Blue Dun Sabino (black + dun + sabino) - true. A grullo sabino would be possible, but rare. It gets the black base and dun factor from the dam, and the sabino from the sire. This example could even be a Smoky Grullo Sabino (black + dun + 1 creme gene + sabino), as creme in a single dose mostly don't have much of an effect on black pigment, and so, could be overlooked. A DNA test for the creme gene would give a definite answer.




I truly hope you had fun with this. I'm very happy so many of you actually saw what colors I had in mind here, so I'm guessing my coloring skills can't be *too* crappy then.


If you want another coat color challenge, I have another one that's nearly ready for uploading.
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Comments: 14

xXScarletRavenXx [2012-07-06 13:58:14 +0000 UTC]

Woot!, I haven't forgot my genetics! Got both right!

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VelocityRanch [2011-05-09 02:32:09 +0000 UTC]

Wee I got them all right <3
lol I must be really bored

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DarkAngelLoveNight [2010-09-17 17:26:06 +0000 UTC]

I have a question.. When mare is rose gray and stallion is Gulastra Plume Amber Champagne sabino what coat colour will be the foal?

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jacij [2010-07-19 11:07:22 +0000 UTC]

I'm a bit confused, how do you get both the dun and the black gene from the dam? I thought you'd only get one or the other. * I will have to look this up further- interested to know how that works*

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cowgirl101-09 [2009-04-17 00:14:23 +0000 UTC]

Only two wrong...the gray and the silver sabino ones..lol this is neat

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SynBrittany [2009-04-16 21:11:13 +0000 UTC]

I only got two wrong. Thats pretty good for just learning about them

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TarriedSea [2009-04-16 20:41:34 +0000 UTC]

This is all very fascinating! I used to never care about the genetics, but now I see it's actually rather important!

Since I'm not very experienced in the correct alleles needed for a certain color, and the offspring, etc, I was wondering (for my own personal characters) if I told you two (realistic) horse colors, could you tell me which colors they could produce? Or if it's easier, which ones they could not? Thank you so much!

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Silvermare [2009-04-16 19:33:01 +0000 UTC]

I'm a late comer! I totally missed the quiz portion and only got the answers. However, I am a totally obsessed horse nerd. I'm definitely looking forward to future quizzes.

This is an excellent chart. The horses are gorgeous and their color depictions are dead on accurate. I hope you can find the time to do many more of these.

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CopperdragonArt [2009-04-16 19:13:28 +0000 UTC]

Argh, and there I was sitting at my desk in frustration because I couldn't figure out which one of the last three could possibly be false.

Thanks for creating this, it was a wonderful challenge.

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casca-x [2009-04-16 19:05:22 +0000 UTC]

Got 'em all right except for the last one- 'cause I thought it was a smoky black, not a grullo.

I would love to see another one! I wonder if people will do better this time around.

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Shade703 [2009-04-16 18:14:50 +0000 UTC]

Wow, actually did rather well on this! Only one I didn't get was the Grullo. I'd love to see another one!

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SomersetRaven [2009-04-16 18:12:28 +0000 UTC]

I definitely suggest you do more of these cuz it's helping people with colour genetics

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Pliochippus [2009-04-16 17:07:30 +0000 UTC]

woo I actually done ok lol.... you've sorta said that I could very possibly be right about the grey if the parents were late to grey out... but I said that if they didnt have a grey gene it wouldnt be possible And I totally missed the Sabino on the first horse of problem 2 lol... but I did get it right. This was good fun, and educational too

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Ashzoi [2009-04-16 16:54:43 +0000 UTC]

I still feel horse dumb XD

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