Are Haflingers dominant for colour ?

dragonfarmgirl

dragonfarmgirl

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Oct 26, 2008
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All this talk of foals has got me thinking that I might, in 5 yrs, breed from my haffy mare so I have something new coming on as she starts to slow down.
The question is, if I bred her with something else e.g arab, what could the colours be ?
I seem to remember someone saying that Haffies don't have the palomino gene so is there a gene for chestnut with flaxen and is it dominant ?
What would happen if I crossed her with chestnut, bay, grey or black.
What about something with tobiano homozygous like pintabian ?
Thanks x
 
Haffies only come in flaxen chestnut. Chestnut (and flaxen, it is theorised) is reccessive meaning a horse must have two non-black genes to be chestnut. It's relatively easy to select for chestnut alone since they cannot have 'hidden' genes so if you breed two chestnuts together they will only ever give you chestnut foals. Originally Haffies did come in other colours but those other colours have been bred out over the generations.

So; if you put a Haffie to another chestnut, they will always throw chestnut foals.

But any other colour on a Haffie opens up a world of colour possibilities; all depending on teh genetics of the non-Haffie parent. So if you put, say, a horse that's homozygous for black and for tobiano on your flaxen chestnut Haffie you'd be guaranteed a black tobiano foal. Use a bay and you might get bay. Use a grey and whatever colour foal is it'll go grey.

Bear in mind though that chestnut *can* hide under other colours, because it is recessive. So you could put, say, bay tobiano on your Haffie and still get a chestnut foal if the bay is heterozygous for black, bay and tobiano.
 
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Wow ! Thanks Chev. I am in awe of the way you can keep all those genes and alleles in your head without them dribbling out of your ears (which is what happens with me:D)
We must all drive you nuts with our 'what ifs'.
I like the thought of either a chestnut or brown tobiano so at least I know what to look for on the internet when I'm bored now.
Could I be allowed just one more 'what if' ? is there any way I could get a dun or a buckskin ?
Also, is there any 'gentle, idiot proof' way to learn about horse genetics ? I did a biology degree so should be able to remember basics BUT I work with babies so have 17 years of sleep deprivation to contend with !!:D
 
Duns are not that common in the UK; most of the native breeds don't carry dun (Highlands and Shetlands both carry dun but in most of the other breeds it's a case of misidentified buckskin).

Cream is present in more and it's the cream dilute you'd be looking for to get a buckskin.

Because the Haffie has no colour genes as such you'd need to find them in whatever you put her to. To guarantee a buckskin foal you'd need to use a perlino that's homozygous for black, bay and cream. They're not that common! Using horses heterozygous for black bay and cream still leaves you with a chance of bay, black or chestnut foals too.

Breeding for pattern is much easier as long as you don't mind what the base colour is. There are plenty of homozygous tobiano stallions out there and they would guarantee a coloured foal.

If you're set on a dun foal you'd need to look at breeds that carry dun. The same rules apply - heterozygous gives you a 50/50 chance of dun, homozygous guarantees a dun foal.

Hope that helps...
 
Ive seen a nice perlino (colour tested) quarter horse stallion advertised before.....could be an interesting cross!

Here he is
CHEX480.jpg
 
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It really bothers me how Halfingers can show an obvious buckskin looking coat but doesnt verify as that because of the "creamy" gene. I will forever fight that lol, they can be buckskin!
 
Grim said:
It really bothers me how Halfingers can show an obvious buckskin looking coat but doesnt verify as that because of the "creamy" gene. I will forever fight that lol, they can be buckskin!
Click to expand...
I’m confused, you’re saying you are arguing that a genetically non-buckskin actually is buckskin because it looks the same colour coat? Do the ones you’re talking about have the dark mane/tail of a buckskin?
 
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