Harvest Haven's SWEM Genetics

Introduction

Similarly to in reality, our horses now have different genes which makes it possible to breed for specific colors or patterns in your horses. Our horses have genetics divided into three categories, base color, modifiers and patterns. You will not be able to check exactly what genetics your horse has, however there will always be visual clues to look for. To make it easier for you, this guide will explain the basis of genetics as well as a few exceptions to the basic rules. Note: In this text, any variants of brown or bay will be referred to as “brown”. 

Basics

A horse's base color determines if the horse is black, brown or chestnut (red). If you breed a horse that has a black base color together with a horse that has a brown base color, their offspring will be one of these two base colors. If you breed two horses with black base color together, their offspring will always have a black base color. If however, you breed a horse with a black base color together with a horse that has a chestnut base color, their offspring will always have a brown base color. 

Modifiers

A horse’s modifier determines it’s final coat color. Modifiers are affected by what base color a horse has. The different modifiers that your horse could have are cream, dun, pearl, champagne, flaxen and silver. A horse that has a chestnut base color and the modifier cream would be a palomino, while a horse that has a brown base color and the modifier cream would be a buckskin. 

Some special cases with modifiers: 

• A horse with the base color black and the modifier cream will look identical to a horse with the base color black and no modifier at all. 

• The modifier flaxen can only be present on a horse with the base color chestnut. 

• The modifier silver can only be present on a horse with the base color black or brown. 

• The modifier pearl can only be achieved by breeding two horses carrying the pearl gene together. 

Patterns

Patterns: A horse’s pattern determines the white markings on their body. Patterns are not affected by your horses base color or modifier. The different patterns that your horse could have are tobiano, overo, tovero, splash, rabicano, roan and leopard. A horse that carries a pattern has a chance to give their pattern gene to their offspring. 

Some special cases with patterns: 

• A horse with the pattern tobiano can be bred to a horse with the pattern overo for a chance to get an offspring with the pattern tovero. 

• Two horses with the pattern rabicano can be bred together for an offspring with the pattern rabicano; however, if a horse with the rabicano pattern is bred to a horse with a different pattern (or no pattern) they cannot produce an offspring with rabicano at all. Keep in mind that our genetics are a lot simpler than real life, meaning that a foal that has one parent carrying the rabicano pattern does NOT have a chance of carrying a hidden rabicano gene either. 

• The leopard gene is divided in two categories, we will call them leopard I and leopard II. A horse with either leopard I or leopard II can be bred with a horse that does not carry any leopard patterns and still get an offspring carrying leopard I. Two horses with leopard I can be bred together for a chance at an offspring carrying leopard II. A horse with leopard I can be bred to a horse with leopard II and get an offspring carrying leopard II.