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POSSIBLE COLOR GENOTYPES
BLACK & BLACK-to-GREY
Possible Color Genotypes/Black & Black-to-Grey
Possible Color Genotypes/Bay & Bay-to-Grey
Possible Color Genotypes/Chestnut & Chestnut-to-Grey
Glossary of Terms Conclusion Return to HOME
BLACK:
ggaaEe -- There is no dominant silvering allele (G) needed to produce grey, no dominant Agouti allele (A) needed to produce bay, and only one dominant extension allele (E) needed to produce black. This horse is NOT homozygous black. It can produce only blackor chestnut unless influenced by the contributions of the other parent. For this horse to have offspring that is bay, the dominant Agouti allele (A) must be contributed by the other parent in conjunction with either its own dominant extension allele (E) or one from the other parent. A dominant silvering allele (G) contributed by the other parent would produce grey offspring.
ggaaEE -- There is no dominant silvering allele (G) needed to produce grey, no dominant Agouti allele (A) needed to produce bay, and two dominant extension alleles (E) needed to produce black. This horse is homozygous black. This horse CANNOT have achestnut offspring because it can only and ALWAYS will contribute a dominant E allele to its offspring. For this horse to have offspring that is bay, the other parent must contribute a dominant Agouti allele (A). To have offspring that is grey, the other parent must contribute the dominant silvering allele (G).
Black foal coats do not appear black once they dry off right after birth. The coat color is usually described as being "mousy"--another way of describing it is that it looks sort of "cloudy"--either greyish or brownish, but the mane and tail are definitely black. At about two months of age, as the foal coat begins to shed out (starting around the muzzle and moving back along neck and body), the new hair starts to grow in. So, a black horse has a foal coat that looks greyish/brownish in color.
MonaLisas Majesty-3 weeks old/mousy grey
MonaLisas Majesty-4 months old
Sir Ravenn Mone-1 week old (mousy brown)
Sir Ravenn Mone-1 year old
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Note for Registration Purposes: If a foal might be black or black-bay, register the foal as black--photos of a black-bay sent to the registry later will allow the color to be corrected later at no cost to you. Sometimes it is very difficult to determine the difference between these two colors before the six month deadline for the least expensive registration fee because of how long it sometimes takes for the foal coat to completely shed out and be replaced by the usual coat color. However, with the tests available to determine coat color, you can have it done for a minimal expense.
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BLACK-to-GREY:
GgaaEe or GgaaEE -- There is one dominant silvering allele (G) needed to produce grey, no dominant Agouti allele (A) needed to produce bay, and one or two dominant extension alleles (E) needed to produce black. The base foal coat will be definitely black, but the horse will turn grey as it ages. This horse's offspring will have a 50/50 chance of being grey based upon THIS parent's contribution.
GGaaEe or GGaaEE -- There are two dominant silvering alleles (G) needed to produce grey, no dominant Agouti allele (A) needed to produce bay, and one or two dominant extension alleles (E) needed to produce black. The base foal coat will be definitely black, but the horse will turn grey as it ages. This horse's offspring will always be grey because it will always contribute the dominant silvering allele (G). This horse is considered to be homozygous grey since it has two dominant G alleles.
Depending upon different genes at other loci (not discussed here), the mane and tail may change to grey before the body or remain mostly black.
A black-to-grey foal with a black base color will be a strong, definitely black color when dry after birth, and there will not be any tinge of the greyish/brownish or mousy/cloudy color to it. As the foal matures, white hairs will gradually replace the black hairs. Usually the head will get grey faster than the body, especially around eyes--sometimes a foal is born with what looks like rings resembling the "mask" of a raccoon. When a grey's coat changes to a winter coat or sheds out for a summer coat, the color may appear to be lighter or darker--this may happen every year, even when older. Often the horse will go through a dappled phase, and/or a roan-like phase, and/or perhaps a flea-bitten phase, until possibly turning completely "white". Many greys always keep some colored hair and appear as flea-bitten. (The dappled phase does not stay, unfortunately, and horse's color change will move on to another phase.)
Fyrekrakur-3 weeks old
Fyrekrakur--2 years old
Fyrekrakur-about 7 years old
Lightnings Lilly--about 3 weeks?
Lightnings Lilly-1 year old
Lightnings Lilly-3 years old
Lightnings Lilly-6 years old
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Special Note: This is a good place to mention why this color is called grey and NOT called white. The black skin is visible through the white hair when a grey horse gets sweaty or wet, making the horse LOOK grey. A white horse has white hair with PINK skin instead of black skin and never LOOKS grey.
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Possible Color Genotypes/Black & Black-to-Grey
Possible Color Genotypes/Bay & Bay-to-Grey
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