This term refers to a considerably lighter shade of the body color on the muzzle, underbelly, the inner part of the upper hind legs, and so on. It can be quite variable in amount. It is most commonly seen on draft and pony breeds, and on almost all mules and donkeys. (The effect may have an entirely different genetic cause in donkeys and mules, though. Nobody really knows yet.) It is very common in Haflingers and Belgians, and similar breeds. In the past it was suggested that it was caused by a single dominant gene. However, we now have photos of pangare-marked horses from parents that had none, and horses with no pangare from parents which were both so marked. This rules out a simple, single gene, either dominant or recessive. In this respect it is similar to flaxen. Some have suggested that it may simply be one end of the lighter-to-darker "shade" spectrum, but some horses are fairly dark shades of their color yet still show pangare shading. At this time there has been no research into the genetic mechanism of this coloring, yet.
Sooty, occasionally called Smutty, or Countershading, Coloring
This term refers to a layer of black or other dark hairs which appears to be "overlaid" on the base color, typically over the center line of the back, the hips, the shoulders and sometimes other parts of body, and may include the mane and tail. It can be highly variable from just a dusting of black hairs over the wither area, to an extreme amount nearly covering the entire horse. Some horses show a dorsal stripe and no other sootiness - it is thought to be a different variation of the same thing, but nobody really knows yet if they have the same cause or are entirely different. It has also been hotly debated whether or not sootiness actually adds black hairs to a red-based color, i.e. chestnut or palomino. The hairs appear to be black, but the argument goes that since a red-based horse is "ee", which blocks production of black pigment leaving only red, then there could be no black hairs made, and therefore they must be very dark red that just looks black. Others feel that the sooty gene may cancel out the black-pigment-blocking effect of "ee" and allow the sooty hairs to be, in fact, black. The presence of black-looking sooty hairs on a palomino would suggest that this may be the case, since if they were some shade of red they would be diluted to yellow by the Cream gene, which does not dilute black pigment when heterozygous. Until the actual sooty gene is found and studied, we simply do not know exactly how it works or how it is inherited. It does seem to be readily passed on so is likely dominant to some degree at least.
Flaxen
It has been believed until this past year that flaxen is a simple recessive gene. However, since two flaxen chestnuts do not always produce a flaxen foal, this cannot be the case.
At the time of this writing, the mechanism by which flaxen is inherited is unknown.
Flaxen only affects red pigment in manes and tails."
More to come on other color genes, ex: silver dapple, grey, and roaning...
--- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "rivervalleyph" <rivervalleyph@...> wrote:
>
> "A gene may also be epistatic, meaning that it is dominant over a gene at another locus. The epistatic gene hides the effects of genes at other loci. For ex: the dominant white gene (W) is epistatic to all other color genes. No matter what color gene the horse is carrying (bay, black, palomino, etc..), the horse will be white if he has the dominant white allele (W). This is true even though the dominat white allele is only at the W locus, and the other genes are at their respective loci (bay as the A locus, black at the B locus, etc..), The genes that are hidden by the epistaic gene at another locus are known as hypostatic. So, bay, black, palomino, etc., are hypostatic to dominant white, and white is epistatic to bay, black, etc.
>
> When one trait is controlled by many different genes, it is referred to as a quantitative trait. Due to complex genetic control (the action of many genes), a quantitative trait often varies in degree between individuals. The phenotypes for a quantitative trait can usually be measured. Height, for example, is controlled by many different genes, varies in degree between individuals, and is measured in hands. (other ex: also include fertility, speed, and growth rate.) Unlike quantitative traits, qualitative traits are controlled by one, or just a few, genes. They are either expressed, or they are not seen at all. The somewhat rare, nonfading black coat color is a qualitative trait; a horse is either jet black or he is not."
>
> More to come about cerain genes, ex: mealy, flaxen, ect.
>
> --- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "rivervalleyph" <rivervalleyph@> wrote:
> >
> > "Each gene occupies a fixed position, or locus, on a chromosome. Since two similar chromosomes form a pair, there is also a pair of genes for each trait carried by the horse, with one gene located on each chromosome at the same position, or locus. There can be more than one form of the gene for a specific trait. For ex: in the horse, there are four forms of the gene at the A locus. Each of these forms is known as an allele. These alleles are A+ (for a coat pattern like that of the Przewalski's horse), A(for a bay coat pattern), a/t (for seal brown), and a(for black or liver). Although there are four alleles for this locus, the horse can only carry two. For instance, the horse could carry A and a, or a/t and a/t. If the two alleles are identical (such as a/t a/t), they are in the homozygous condition (homo-same, zygous-egg). If they are different (such as A a), the condition is heterozygous (hetero-different).
> >
> > Sometimes, one allele at a certain locus will hide the presence of another allele at the same locus. For ex: if a horse carries the alleles G and g, where G is grey and g is nongrey, the grey allele will hide the nongrey allele, and the horse will turn grey as he ages. In other words, grey (G) is dominant over nongrey(g, and nongrey is recessive to grey. A simple dominant allele on one chromosome of a pair will cover up a simple recessive allele on the corresponding chromosome. Therefore, the homozygous dominant horse (the horse that carries two dominant alleles) appears the same as the heterozygous horse (the horse that carries one dominant and one recessive). A homozygous dominant horse (GG) would be grey, as would a heterozygous horse (Gg). A nongrey horse would be a homozygous recessive (gg). A recessive allele reveals its presence only when there is no dominant allele to mask it. For this reason, some grey horses only produce grey offspring.
> > GG x gg = Gg (all grey offspring)"
> >
> > more to come....
> >
> > --- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "rivervalleyph" <rivervalleyph@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I know this is NOT the direct answer you are looking for, but it is the prelude to it, so please read cautiosly and take the time to understand each part, so that you can gain the best knowledge of this topic that I can help with. I will start with some basics here and move on and upward. If you can learn to understand genetics, then you may just learn why you don't need to buy a replacement mare verses why you might want to. I will brake this up to help you all better digest this information. In equine reproductive classes, schools and research, this is what you are taught:
> > >
> > >
> > > "The genetic inheritance carried by the chromosomes is divided into basic units known as genes. Although the exact number is not yet known, there are believed to be thousands of genes located on each chromosome. Each gene is responsible for determining one or more characteristics, or traits.
> > > An individual's total genetic makeup is known as his genotype. This is what he carries in each cell, and what he can pass on to his offspring. The geneotype cannot be completely judged from the horses outward appearance. The visable and measurable characteristics of an individual are known as his phenotype. The difference between the two can be illustrated with coat color. For example, two grey horses which phenotypically appear the same may have different genotypes, i.e., Gg and GG, where G stands for grey and g represents non grey. Although the enviroment cannot alter the horses genetic makeup (genotype), it may influence his outward appearance (phenotype), and determine how closely he approximates his genetic potential. For ex: a horse may have the genotype to reach a height of 16 hands, but due to poor early nutrition, only attains 15-2 hands at maturity, In this case, his phenotype (15-2) is not the same as his genotype(16 hands) due to environmental conditions (poor nutrition)."
> > >
> > > More to come...
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "castlerockjacobs" <castlerockjacobs@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Let me rephrase...if I am to get a replacement, how would I know how to answer all those questions I stated before for predicting the get of a certain stallion? Or is there no system? then should you ask the breeder what their goals are for the current generation? And those with stallions...what kind of goals do you have for the mares you breed to, especially outside ones? With most of us stuck inside with the weather I must admit I expected more of a discussion, especially from those known for breeding. Like the long timers on this site asking why we do not discuss genetics more often....then the answer is to just get a replacement? We still need to understand genetics if we are getting a replacement. Or do we only look at fully trained 5 yr. olds?
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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