This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In his article on color in Fjordhorses,Dr. Sponenberg states:
"In addition to zebra(brown dun) vs mouse (gray) vs red duns, sosme Fjord
horses also have the palomino type gene. This one is interesting in that
it barely betrays itself in most instances. The palomino (or more
precisely, the cremello) gene is abbreviated _c_ while the absence is _C_
(meaning that it is recessive) The gene is interesting in that in one dose
it lightens red to yellow, but does not affect black. In two doses it
lightens all colors to cream with blue eyes. In most zebra (brown) dun
Fjord horses the cremello gene would only cause a subtle difference in
color. These would still be zebra (brown) duns, but would be yellower
rather than a light orange tan. Since the breed has been selected to be
fairly yellow within the zebra dun group, this difference will be subtle
within Fjordhorses. On Mouse (grey) duns the cremello gene in a single dose
will barely be noticed, altho it can lighten them somewhat. On red duns it
has a pronounced effect. These have very minimal stripes, are very yellow,
and tend to have white points. These are the Fjord equivalent of palomino.
In two doses the cremello gene causes Zebra (brown) duns to be
perlino, Mouse (grey) duns to be silver smoky, and red duns to be
cremello.........................................................
The cremello gene is really a fun gene that is full of surprises. It is an
integral and historic part of the Fjordhorse breed and should be considered
as such. Due to the uniformity of the breed to be pale Zebra (brown) duns
the cremello gene usually skates on through the generations
unnoticed--until it pairs up with itself and results in a blue eyed cream
horse. These should really be expected in a very low percentage of matings,
and are part of the color heritage of the breed."
The article is at http://www.nfhr.com/newsinfo.html#Documents
scroll down to "Educational Articles of Interest to Fjord Owners" and look
for the 2 part article "Color in Fjord Horses"
Mary wrote:
> A yellow dun is a red dun with
>another dilution gene. Red duns seem to need a white
>dun parent. Also, the same white dun can produce a
>yellow dun - without going through the whitedun to red
>dun to yellow dun sequence. In other words, the same
>white dun might produce a red dun offspring, OR a
>yellow dun offspring - depending on what "comes
>through" in the pairing with another Fjord. According
>to Tor Nestas, a white dun is a dilution of brown dun,
>with what he calls some "sliding" between the colors.
>There is no 'chestnut' involved here anywhere. You
>get a white dun by 'diluting' the brown dun(which
>comes from bay) - then you get the red or yellow dun
>by further diluting the white dun, which gives a horse
>color with such a dilute 'dun factor' that, especially
>in the yellow dun, there are virtually NO dun
>markings.(They are there, it's just nearly impossible
>to see them because the shading is so subtle). Yellow
>duns look palomino - and are allowed only a few(or
>maybe now it's 'no') dark hairs in the tail. I seem
>to remember counting dark hairs at one time - maybe it
>was less than 6? Red duns look like 'reddish yellow
>duns' and, again, have no(or only a very few) dark
>hairs in the mane or tail. I understand that grey duns
>can also 'through' red dun offspring. Peg, do you
>know how this one works?
Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska, mild for January at +25F
************************************************************
Jean Ernest
Fairbanks, Alaska
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
