What color can I expect when breeding my mare to "CB"? CB is "homozygous" agouti and black. Homozygous means he will give one copy of his gene to the foal regardless of the mares' contribution.
What is the Agouti gene? Agouti is the gene responsible for "turning" the legs, mane and tail black. You see the agouti gene present on bay, buckskin, grullo, and dun horses. You cannot see the agouti gene when its on a black horse, because the whole horse is black.
What is the Black gene? What about a Red horse? The coat color of all horses is built on one of two possible base pigments: red or black. The Extension gene controls the production of this base pigment (red or black). All of the coat colors we see today, from white to black, sorrel to gray, every single one of them begins with one of these two possible base pigments (red or black). All horses will have the genetics for black or red pigment, regardless of their physical appearance. There are a number of dilutions, patterns, and modifiers which a horse can carry that affect the base pigment of a horse.
Horses that are bay, black, grullo, buckskin, black/blue roan, etc. are black pigmented horses that carry at least one copy of the Black Factor (E) allele. The black (E) allele of the Extension gene is dominant and causes a black pigmented base both in the heterozygous (Ee) and homozygous (EE) state. A homozygous black (EE) horse means that it carries two copies of the black allele (EE). A homozygous black horse will always produce black based foals regardless of it’s mate.
Horses that are chestnut or sorrel, palomino, red dun, red roan, etc. are red pigmented horses and must carry two copies of the Red Factor (e) allele The red (e) allele of the Extension gene is recessive and will only cause red pigmentation when the horse carries two copies of this allele; this is referred to as Homozygous red (ee). Therefore, a red based foal results when both parent have passed on a copy of the red (e) allele. This is why when a red mare is bred to our Cremello stallion, he will always turn the foals color to palomino, he will put in a cream gene each time, and the mare will put in the red gene each time resulting in palomino.
Can "CB" produce a palomino or a red foal? No, he can't have a red foal or a palomino. This is because he is homozygous for Black, meaning the foals will always be BAY or BUCKSKIN when you breed a bay or a red mare to him.
What if my mare carries a cream gene, what if she herself is a buckskin or a palomino? If you breed a mare with a cream gene, such as a palomino or buckskin, your chances of having a buckskin go up, but you also have a chance of producing a "double dilute" in the form of a "perlino". A perlino is a desirable genetic dilution that will ALWAYS produce buckskins when bred to red mares. For this trait, they are sought after in the breeding herd.
What if my mare is a paint or an appaloosa? What color will I have then? The "paint" pattern and appaloosa pattern are solely on the mare to produce. If she has the coloration, or is bred to have it(as in a solid bred or breeding stock) they can still produce it. The base coat, color of the coat before the white is added, is what you go on for basing your color outcome. You have typically a 50% chance of the coloration being passed on.
What if my mare is a dun, roan, or grey? Grey, dun, and roan are all homozygous recessive genes. One parent MUST possess the gene to pass it on(meaning one of your horses' parents must have that color to pass it to your mare) so, with that being said, you have a 50% chance of your mare passing it to her foal. Grey is a gene where each hair is grey intertwined with the base coat. Roan is a gene with white hairs intertwined into the coat, ontop of the base color. The dun is imposed onto the base coat as well, with dun markings ranging from primitive striped legs and down the back.
There are also several questions answered on the following websites:
Genetic Specifics ~ What about all this "Five Panel Testing" going on? AQHA has partnered with University of California - Davis to provide genetic testing for stallions(or mares) with the 5 known genetic diseases that affect quarter horses(and paints and some other breeds, but we won't go there and confuse you just yet)
So, What are these diseases? I've added a link for specifics if you would like to dig deeper than my description.
Lets go with the first one, the only one that "CB" is a carrier for, its called
GBED, which stands for "Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency" Syndrome. If you have a carrier, as he is, they show no signs, and have no symptoms or issues to deal with at all. But, the problem arises when you breed two carriers together. Not all the time, but sometimes when tow carriers are bred together it makes it difficult to conceive, which is a good thing, as if the foal is brought to term it unfortunately does not have the proper genes to process glucose, or sugar, and they won't live. You can read more about GBED by clicking HERE. So, test your mare(or we can test for you in a few days after arrival) if you are considering breeding to "CB". Now, lets go into the others that he DOES NOT carry: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herda is also a genetic recessive disease in that you have to have two carriers bred together to have an affected foal. Herda mainly affects the Poco Bueno line, and is linked to line/in breeding that was seen many years ago. Affected horses are missing a link that "glues" the skin together and the skin of the affected horse is loose and tears easily. These horses are usually euthanized and not capable of leading a pain free life with the condition. Think of it like having skin draped over the body with nothing for it to hold onto. It moves around and slides and can rip and tear. You can read more about Herda HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------- HYPP aka Hyper Kalemic Periodic Paralysis - this is found typically with horses that decend from the AQHA stallion "Impressive". It is a disease that even a single carrier can exhibit symptoms and some go along without any issues. If the horse has a line that goes to Impressive that is tested NN, it means they do not and can not carry even one copy of the disease. If they go to a line that is NH, that means they can or might carry a copy and be a NH horse themselves. CB has no impressive in his pedigree to worry about HYPP at all. You can click HERE to learn more about HYPP ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MH - also known as "Malignant Hyperthermia" information can be seen HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------- PSSM - "Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy" is similar in nature to HYPP, where a carrier can and usually will show signs of the disease, you can read about it HERE