What colour should a..... end up?

[WelshJumper]

My mare is in foal its due in July.
But what colour will the foal be?

The Dam is golden dun

grand Dam golden dun
grand Sire chestnut


Sire chestnut

grand Dam chestnut
grand Sire chestnut


So im working on eather a chestnut or dun

What would be more likley? I want a dun, LOL!

[chev]

Is it actually a dun or is it buckskin? Lots of 'golden duns' are not dun at all, but buckskins... does your mare have any dun factor markings? Are her points a faded colour or are they really black?

We'd need to know the colour of the dam's parents to make any serious suggestions, but if she is (as I think she may be) a buckskin, she has at least one E (black) allele, at least one A (bay) gene, and one Cr (cream) gene.

Sire is ee - so he can only pass e on.

Based on that, you could get black, bay, chestnut, buckskin, palomino or smoky black.

[WelshJumper]

She is a "reall" Dun with black points, zebra marks, ell stripe etc.. Her dam was also the same colour as her, and her sire was chestnut with flaxen.

[KarinUS]

dark stripe down her back?

[horse__obsessed]

I think chestnut, because I read somewhere chestnut is the most dominant colour. Doesnt explain her dam though. Chestnut is my guess, but Im no expert. Id prefer a dun as well though. lol

[WelshJumper]

Yes she has pure black points, zebra marks and ell stripe

The mares DAM is also dun with pure black points etc..

[chev]

Hmm. Zebra markings and dorsal stripe are usually dun factor markings; but duns don't have absolutely black points - buckskins do.

What kind of eel stripe is it? Any pics? Is it dark and thick and blurry or very sharply defined?

If she is true dun (unlikely if her points are that black) then foal will be chestnut, black, bay, red dun, bay dun or black dun.

Sooty (the modifier which also causes dark bay) can make some buckskins look a lot like they have dorsal stripes.

Chestnut isn't 'dominant' at all. Chestnut is caused by having two recessive forms of the extension gene. Try this thread for a more detailed explanation :)

Black, bay and chestnut genetics (http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47380)

[Luv 2 Trot]

horse__obsessed I think chestnut, because I read somewhere chestnut is the most dominant colour

I dont want to sound mean or anything, but my mare was bred to a chestnut (she is bay/brown) and her filly is a dark bay. Im not sure if chestnut is dominant afterall? But who know, mares never tell us anything about their little babies! :p

[stevielee]

Sorry to hijack the thread but what colour would a foal be if the Dam is a skewbald and the sire is a chestnut?

[danielle:>]

Hijacking this thread, sorry. But while we are on the subject of golden dun/buckskin, can someone tell me what colour my share pony, Jester is? I was 100% sure he was golden dun, but after reading this thread, out of interest I would like to know his "actual" colour. He is highland, if that will affect anything. Here's a picture of me and him. He does have a dorsal/eel stripe, although you can't see it in this pic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/horseymadgirl/Jester241205025.jpg Thanks!

[mogadoga]

Isnt that buckskin? Sorry just my opinion- im not too clever lol!

[KarinUS]

How dark and defined is his dorsal stripe?

[jo84]

answering stevielee; when you say skewbald what colour do you mean? bay or chestnut or even dun? if you took the white patches away what colour is the horse?

answering danielle:> ; as hes a highland and most of them are true duns i'd say he was dun. look on this website http://www.somis.dundee.ac.uk/~amdouglas/

look under highland pony and then click on highland colours.

jo

[happy highlande]

Danielle - in HiPo terms he is def. dun - there are lots of different varieties of dun - he is yellow dun - and very nice too!!!

[Mareish]

I also think Chestnut must be a dominant colour as Lily came out Chestnut and White from a dark bay and white stallion and a grey connemara mare with black points and dorsal stripe (but with occasional chestnut flecks noticable down her legs), now how'd that happen ??

[jo84]

chestnut is not dominant is is a resessive gene a chesnut horse is seen as (ee).

mareish - lily came out chestnut tobiano for the reason that his sire has a bay gene thats dominant and shown in his colour, and a chestnut gene but as its resessive its a hidden gene.

her dam is grey and grey is dominant, (one parent must be grey to get a grey), but again she has a chestnut gene thats hidden.

both parents gave lily there chestnut gene as its hit or miss which one they give (they don't always give there dominant gene), and there you go chestnut. shes tobiano as the sire gave his tobiano gene too.

so sire; (bay, hidden chestnut, tobiano) Beto
dam is; (grey, hidden chestnut) ge
making lily; (chestnut tobiano) eeto

[chev]

Danielle - he looks like bay with dun to me. The dark mask on his face is typical of dun colouring and very common in Highlands. :)

stevielee - that scenario would give a few possibilities. The stallion will only ever pass on chestnut (he only has chestnut to pass on). The skewbald could pass on a few depending on what genes she has. If you mean chestnut and white, she'll pass chestnut on too, so the foal will definitely have a chestnut base. If she has one tobiano gene, the foal will have a 50% chance of being coloured (so chestnut and white) - if she has two, it'll definitely be chestnut and white.

If however you mean bay and white by skewbald, that means that she definitely carries at least one black gene, at least one bay gene, at least on tobiano gene, and possibly a chestnut gene. So possibilities then include a black foal, a bay foal, a chestnut foal, black & white, bay & white and chestnut & white - all depending on how many copies of what genes the mare has. For example; if she's EE (homozygous for black) AA (homozygous for bay) Tt (heterozygous for tobiano) the foal could only ever be bay or bay and white. If she's Ee (heterozygous for black) AA (homozygous for bay) TT (homozygous for tobiano) foal could only be bay and white or chestnut and white.

Chestnut can appear to be a 'dominant' colour *because* it isn't. A horse must have two copies of e (red or chestnut) to be chestnut, whereas it only needs one copy of E (black) to be black. Bay is dominant, so will make a black bay - but it only acts on black pigment, so a chestnut can carry bay without it being visible (there is no black hair on a chestnut to be affected).

Explanation of the genetics of bay, black and chestnut here (http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47380)

[Mareish]

Thanks Jo84 - makes sense now :)