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The silver or silver dapple (Z) gene is a dilution gene that affects the black base coat color and is associated with Multiple Congenital Ocular Abnormalities. It will typically dilute a black mane and tail to a silvery gray or flaxen color , and a black body to a chocolaty brown, sometimes with dapples. [ 1 ]
Silver or silver dapple: Caused by a dilution gene that only acts upon black hair pigment, it lightens black body hair to a chocolate brown and the mane and tail to silver in most cases. The gene may be carried but will not be visible on horses with a red base coat. Silver horses have informally been called Chocolate, Flaxen, or Taffy.
Horses with a gray gene can be born any color and their hair coat will lighten and change with age. Most wild equids are dun, as were many horses and asses before domestication of the horse . Some were non-dun with primitive markings , and non-dun 1 is one of the oldest coat color mutations, and has been found in remains from 42,700 years ago ...
The silver or silver dapple gene acts only on black hair. On a black base coat, it lightens the body to a brown color and the mane/tail to a cream or silver shade; on a bay base coat, it lightens the mane and tail to cream or silver. It does not affect chestnut (red) coloring. A genetic test exists for the silver gene. [6]
In spite of its name, the silver dapple gene has nothing to do with graying. It is a dilution gene that acts only on a black coat, diluting the coat to a dark brown and the mane to a flaxen shade. Horses that express the silver dapple gene (and do not have the gray gene) are born that color and it will not lighten.
Two possible palomino mimics. The horse in front is most likely a chestnut with flaxen. The horse in the background looks like a liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, but coloring could possibly be due to the silver dapple gene. Some color registries may accept both shades as "palomino".
Rocky Mountain Horses stand between 14 and 16 hands (56 and 64 inches, 142 and 163 cm) high. Any solid color is accepted by the registry, but a dark brown color called "chocolate" with a pale, "flaxen" mane and tail is preferred. [1] This coloration is the result of the relatively rare silver dapple gene acting on a black base coat.
Dun gene describes another common dilution gene in horses; Champagne gene, describes a different dilution gene in horses that also creates cream coloring, pale skin with mottling and light-colored eyes. Pearl gene, also called the "Barlink factor", is a recessive gene. One copy of the allele has no effect on the coat color of black, bay or ...