There are certain horse registries where only certain colors are allowed. Most registries have colors that are not neccesarily 'illegal', but just aren't present in a purebred. Using this information, you can have a clue as to the breed of the horse, and also to recognize a non-purebred when you see one. This could also be useful in being angry at model horse makers for using colors that are 'illegal' in certain breeds.
Let's begin with Arabians. Most Arabs are recognizable, yet the colors allowed are very limited. The coat colors allowed are:
Base colors (red, black, bay, brown)
Gray
Roan/Rabicano (it appears the AHA identifies rabicano as roan, although true roan is not apparent in the breed)
Sabino (Although not SB1, as yet unidentified)
Dominant White (careful when identifying, this can be confused for other forms of pinto)
Colors NOT allowed:
Cream (that includes palomino and buckskin)
Dun
Champagne
Appaloosa
Tobiano
Frame Overo
Splashed White
Roan
Silver
Here is a stallion that appears to be pure Arab, but his coat gives him away. The owner states that he is 7/8 pure Arabian, which is about as good as it gets in terms of color and breeding.
Most of the dominant white coats actually look more sabino compared to several of the other dominant white mutations, so they are a little more recognizable than other pinto patterns.
Quarter Horses:
The AQHA is very forgiving, and are annoyingly un-meticulous about the registry colors. There aren't really any rules. They can come in every color under the sun, but AQHA doesn't allow loud pinto patterns. Cropout-producers would be allowed, which honestly isn't fair because purebred Quarter horses could carry something like sabino and produce a loud sabino foal that couldn't be registered.
Thoroughbred:
The Jockey Club is a little unusual in that there are no genetics taken into account. Palomino is allowed, yet buckskin or any double dilutes aren't mentioned. The Jockey Club seems a bit indifferent to actual color. If another color is present, they wouldn't care about the color; rather that the foal would not be purebred.
Colors allowed:
All base colors
Palomino (am I the only one who wants to know why there aren't more of these?!?)
Gray
White (this may be double-dilute, or dominant white. Quite a few white patterning mutations are found in Thoroughbreds)
Colors Not Allowed (or simply not present)
Dun
Champagne
Rabicano
Pinto (including, I believe, SB1, meaning unusual markings wouldn't exist)
Appaloosa
They also mention roan, but it is listed with gray almost as though the process of graying could count as roan. Whether roan is actually apparent in Thoroughbreds I am unsure.
Mustangs:
Because Mustangs are allowed to just breed as they want, almost every color is allowed. Again, whether the actual gene is available is the question. I don't think any genetic studies have been done on Mustangs, other than assuming their color genes are the same because they originated from the other horses. The BLM is not really concerned about the genetics, because most people do not buy their Mustangs for breeding purposes. There aren't any rules either, so I am going to have to guess as to which colors are 'available'. Also some areas of the BLM have more color variation than others. The only color I think isn't present at all is champagne, which I believe is a domestic mutation.
Tenessee Walking Horse:
The TWHBEA is relatively loose, and Tenessee Walkers generally come in a rainbow of colors, which can make for very interesting breeding options.
The colors allowed:
All base colors
Cream
Champagne
Tobiano
Sabino
Roan\
Dun
Silver
Grey
'White' (it states in the rules that white is rare; I'm going to guess that they are referring to some form of dominant white)
"Overo"
There are several things I was surprised about; I have never heard of a dun TW, but upon Googling it, there are some, but not many.
Another possibly confusing term is 'overo'. I've seen many tobianos...
And some sabinos....
But did not know that 'overo' was a possibility. The question: which one? Sabino has already been listed, so it has to be either splash, or frame.
This one looks frame, and it turns out there are quite a few of them. I can't find anything on splashed white.
To wrap all that up, the only color 'out' is appaloosa, and even then there is a registry for spotted gaited horses, a 'Walkaloosa'.
There might be a second post in the future, talking a little more about several registries with unusual color rules.
No comments:
Post a Comment