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TWHBEA Color Registrations
Helping people to
select the correct foal color been my greatest desire for many years. My
next greatest desire is to be able to promote the implementation of a program to
bring some creditability and accuracy to the registry on identification of the
proper colors stated on foal applications. I would like to see the TWHBEA
become more knowledgeable about color and be able to provide basic color genetic
guidance to the members and general public. With support of the TWHBEA
members, changes can be made a little at a time.
I met with the new Executive Director, Mr. Hulsey, and Mike Cooke, the Peds
Programmer on 24 June 2003 when I was in Tennessee. Mike is the TWHBEA
Website designer and for the Peds Program both online and the CD.
He was very interested in my suggestions on iPeds and the Peds CD. Mr.
Hulsey explained that the TWHBEA is not a color registry but a breed
registry. My response was that with every breed registry is a requirement
to identify the horse on their registration papers and that correct color and
markings were required to be able to match the papers to the horse. It
saddens me that correct color identification is not important to TWHBEA
leadership.
I have been elected as the TWHBEA Director from Kansas, but I invite all TWH
people to voice their concerns especially about the registry and any suggestions
to make it better. During the meeting with Mike and Mr. Hulsey to meet
with Mike about Peds and I provided a list of things to discuss on how to
improve Peds and make it a useful tool and reference for the TWHBEA membership.
I firmly believe that
understanding horse color enables us to identify horses accurately. Accurate
identification of a horse's color is the key ingredient in understanding the
genetic basis of color. We all recognize that in the Tennessee
Walking Horse breed there is a wide variety of colors. The two main groups
of horse colors are those with black points (mane, tail, lower legs and ear
rims) and those with non-black points. The specific combination of point
color and body color are what determines most horse color names.
Another thing to consider is that white in markings and patterns are not the
absence of all color but rather is white superimposed on what would have been
the specific body or point color.
A horse's final color
results from the interaction of several independent process which can dilute,
modify or restrict color. I realize that my efforts to simplify the
explanations I may not fully explain the technical terms, but because I suffered
from lack of understanding the in-depth genetic language, I believe more people
are like me and will appreciate if I leave out the technical and put it in
everyday simple terms.
Here is my feeble
attempt to describe the actual colors documented in the TWH Breed.
Terms explained:
1.
Genes - Horses have eleven pairs of genes with the upper case
letter being dominant and the lower case letter being recessive.
A horse receives one gene from each pair of genes from each parent and that
determines the base color, color pattern of modification of color for the
resulting foal.
2. Dominant genes - Always
physically expressed on the horse and requires that at least one parent
express that gene in order to pass it on. (WYSIWYG - What You See Is
What You Get).
3.
Recessive genes - Can be hidden and requires both parents
contribute a copy of the gene for it to be expressed.
4. Homozygous -
means that a foal has received one copy of the same gene (AA, EE, aa, ee) from
each parent. They in turn will always pass one copy of the gene to each of
their offspring.
5. Heterozygous -
means that a foal has received one dominant copy or one recessive copy of a gene
from one parent and the opposite from the other parent, i.e., Aa or Ee
which means that foal can pass either the -A- or the -a- and
either the -E- or the -e- its offspring.
6. Description of genes
affecting colors and deemed important for this discussion are:
·
The Agouti
(bay) gene (AA, Aa, aa) is one of the most important factors in the determination of horse
color because it regulates the distribution of the black pigment. The effects of
the Agouti (A) gene are therefore only visually obvious in the presence of the
Black (E) allele. The dominant Agouti allele -- A -- restricts the distribution
of black pigment in hair to a points pattern (so any black that shows up on the
horse will be found mostly on the legs, mane, tail and ear rims). The Agouti
color distribution is found on horses that are bay or a dilution of bay
(buckskin, perlino, amber champagne, zebra dun, etc.).
The
recessive allele -- a --causes the distribution of black pigment over the entire
body of the horse and, when homozygous in the presence of the black gene (E),
produces a uniformly black horse. A horse that has one Agouti gene (Aa)
can pass either the --A-- or the --a-- to it's foals but not both, so depending
on what the mate of the breeding carries, the foal can be aa, Aa or AA.
A horse with no Agouti gene --aa-- will always pass an --a-- to every foal.
Regardless of what color it is bred to, any horse who is homozygous for the
Agouti gene i.e., has a double Agouti AA allele -- will NEVER produce a
solid black or smoky black foal or smoky cream. In fact, a horse who is
homozygous for Agouti (AA) will always produce foals either with the black
restricted to the points (bay, buckskin, perlino or amber champagne) or with no
black at all (i.e., a chestnut, palomino or cremello foal is possible if both
parents carry a red "e" gene) who also carries an Agouti gene.
A horse who is homozygous for
the Agouti gene will ALWAYS pass one Agouti gene to every single foal that the
horse produces.
- The dominant E gene (EE or Ee)
- EE means the horse is homozygous for black and Ee means the
horse is heterozygous for black and also has a red gene.
- Recessive red (e) gene
means that with 1 gene (e) the horse is heterozygous for red and with
2 genes (ee) the horse is homozygous for red.
- The dominant cream (C) gene (CCcr) is
necessary in the dominant form acts to dilute the red pigment to yellow in
the heterozygous form (CCcr) and to cream in the homozygous form
(Ccr Ccr ).
- The dominant dun (D)
gene is also a dilution gene which causes the primitive markings which are
the dorsal stripe on the back and zebra stripes around the lower legs and
can include striping across the withers.
- The dominant grey (G)
gene causes a pattern of mixed white hairs which progress with age until the
older horse is almost white.
- The dominant roan (Rr)
gene causes a pattern of mixed white hairs, but is not progressive with age
which means the color with remain the same from birth to death.
- The dominant pangare (PP or Pp)
produces lighter colored areas around the muzzle, eyes, flanks, and the
insides of the legs. This gene alters the black coat color to seal brown.
7. Base
Coat Colors in TWHs - The color from which all other TWH colors are created
by dilution or modification:
- Bay - The body is some shade of red and the points
(mane, tail and lower legs) are black.
- Black - The body is black as well as the points and
some will fade when exposed to the sun.
- Brown- The body is black with brown around muzzle,
eyes, flanks and elbows.
- Chestnut - The body is dark red with the points the
same color and sometimes the mane and tail are lighter even to flaxen.
- White - The body is white with pink skin but the eyes
are dark. This is not to be confused with a maximum sabino or a
cremello. There will be no dark spots on the skin or hair.
8. Cream Gene -
Dilutes the base color of a foal.
9.
Single Cream Dilute Colors (1 cream gene) - Buckskin, Smoky Black and
Palomino
- Bay + 1 cream gene = Buckskin
- Black + 1 cream gene = Smoky Black
- Chestnut/Sorrel + 1 cream gene = Palomino
- Amber Champagne + 1 cream gene = Amber Cream Champagne
- Classic Champagne + 1 cream gene = Classic Cream
Champagne
- Gold Champagne + 1 cream gene = Gold Cream Champagne
Single dilute colors are
born that color and the only changes will be the shade of the coat color which
will be usually determined when they shed off the foal coat but definitely when
they shed off as a yearling. Palominos sometimes develop a richer golden
color on their 2nd year. Single dilute horses must have at lease one
parent (single or double dilute) who contributes a cream gene. DON'T
BELIEVE IT WHEN SOMEONE EXPLAINS THAT A PALOMINO OR BUCKSKIN WAS BORN BLACK, BAY
OR CHESTNUT AND THEN LIGHTENED TO PALOMINO OR BUCKSKIN LATER.
Such a happening has never been documented in equine color genetics history.
10. Double
Cream Dilute Colors (2 cream genes) - Perlino, Smoky Cream and Cremello
- Buckskin + 1 cream gene = Perlino
- Smoky Black + 1 cream gene = Smoky Cream
- Palomino + 1 gene = Cremello.
Double dilute colors are
smoky cream, perlino and cremello. Double dilute colors will ALWAYS
have blue eyes and pink skin and will be born that color and remain that color
throughout their lives. Double dilute horses receive a cream gene from
each parent which means that both parents must be either a single dilute (
buckskin, palomino, smoky black, cream champagne) or a double dilute (perlino,
cremello or smoky cream) in order to contributes a cream gene to the foal.
11.
Champagne Gene is a dominant dilution gene but is not related to the
cream gene. It is a separate gene that dilutes the base colors of a foal
but has no cream gene. All champagne foals regardless of color are born
with pink skin and blue eyes which change to hazel or amber or in the cream
champagne to green/gray with flecks around the edge of the eye. All champagnes
are born dark as their base color and then lighten to the champagne dilution
when they shed the foal coat. All champagnes have pink skin with freckling on
the skin around the eyes, on the nose, under the tail and on the udder of mares
and sheath of stallions and geldings. Champagne is a dominant gene and
does not skip generations so foals must always have a champagne parent.
12. Champagne
Gene Colors -
- Amber Champagne
(diluted from bay),
- Classic Champagne
(diluted from black),
- Gold Champagne
(diluted from chestnut)
- Sable Champagne
(diluted from Seal Brown)
13. Cream Champagne Colors -
- Amber Cream Champagne
(diluted from bay plus one cream gene),
- Classic Cream Champagne
(diluted from black plus one cream gene),
- Gold Cream Champagne (diluted from chestnut plus one cream gene)
- Sable Cream Champagne
(diluted from seal brown plus one cream gene)
14. Cream Champagnes were
previously called "Ivory Champagne" but because they are champagnes
further diluted by breeding to a cream dilute or double dilute it seems more
appropriate to refer to them as cream champagnes which more accurately describes
their genetic color. They can appear to be a cremello, perlino or smoky
cream, however they will have only one cream gene. Testing for the
cream gene by UC Davis will verify they are champagne rather than double
dilutes. They are born with blue eyes but the color of the eyes will
change to green/gray/amber and is distinctive from the blue eyed double dilute.
Cream champagnes are born the body color with pink skin and that remains the
same for life and only the eyes change colors.
15.
Dun (D, Dominant) is a dominant dilution gene separate from the cream gene or
champagne gene and always has a dorsal stripe down the spine, transverse
stripe across the withers and stripes around the legs. Dun horses have rarely been documented in the Tennessee Walking
Horse. It can be imposed on any base color, single or double dilutes or
champagne colors. ALL Dun horses must have at least one dun
parent and cannot skip generations. This gene is
rarely found in Tennessee Walking Horse breed,
Although rarely seen in TWHs we will describe the common dun colors:
- Grulla (black base coat) has a solid slate blue body color with black points
including the head and the primitive markings with the dorsal stripe and
zebra stripes on the legs. This color is due to the effect of the
dominant dun dilution gene on black or smoky black base colors.
- Red Dun (red base coat) has a yellowish-red body color with red to flaxen
points and primitive markings with the dorsal stripe down the spine and
zebra stripes on the legs. This color is due to the effect of the dominant
dun dilution gene on sorrel or chestnut base colors.
- Zebra Dun (bay base coat) has a yellow body with black points and
primitive markings with the dorsal stripe down the spine and zebra stripes
on the legs. This color is due to the effect of the dominant dun dilution
gene on the buckskin color.
16. Silver Gene
(Z, dominant) Dominant dilution gene dilutes & ocassionally dapples
black based coat color & dilutes mane & tail color. It dilutes the black
points on bay giving the impression of a chestnut with a flaxen or near white
mane and tail, but when color tested will have a black gene and an agouti gene.
It has no effect on chestnut (Red) and remains hidden until bred to a
horse that carries a black gene to contribute to the foal who can express the
silver gene. ALL Silver Gene horses
must have a parent carrying the Silver gene even if not seen as in a red base.
There is no specific test for the silver gene
but there are several Tennessee Walkers who have been tested to determine
their base color (one looks chestnut w/flax mane and tail and tested as
homozygous for black which means it is a bay silver. The gene could be hidden in
any red based horse and only be expressed when a foal with a black gene
expresses it. Until the silver gene has a test to identify its presence,
testing suspected silver gene carriers for the red/black factors will be the
only method available.
17. Roan is a color
modifier not a color
and it is a dominant gene. It requires a base color with Roan being
the color modifier, i.e., black roan, chestnut roan, buckskin roan, etc.
Roan horses remain the same color their entire lives with the exception of their
winter coat usually is dark like the points and doesn't display the roaning
until they shed off each spring. Roan horses must always have a roan
parent. Any base color can be modified by the roan except for grey
which is a color modifier also. Roan is always expressed or the horse
doesn't have the gene and therefore can't pass it on to it's foals.
Three most common roan
colors are:
- Blue Roan (black roan) is a black horse with the black points (head,
mane, tail and legs) remaining black and with the body color evenly roaned
out giving the blue appearance.
- Red Roan (bay roan) is a bay horse with the black points (head,
mane, tail and legs) remaining black and with the body color evenly roaned
out giving the red appearance.
- Strawberry Roan
(Chestnut or sorrel roan) is a chestnut horse with the red or flax mane and tail and the head and legs
remaining chestnut and with the body color evenly roaned out giving the
horse a pink appearance.
19.
Gray is a color modifier and a dominant gene which mixes white hairs on a
base coat color. It is a progressive modifier that gradually causes a coat to
get lighter until it is almost white or has the "flea bitten"
appearance with small spots of the original base coat color. Registrations
should state the base color at birth and add the grey, i.e.., black grey, bay
grey, chestnut grey, etc., so the records are correct and breeders will
know what the base coat was before graying out. A horse that is grey must
have a grey parent and is always expressed or the horse didn't get a grey gene
and can't pass it on to it's foals. Foals are never born grey and so the
color change should modify by adding grey and not change the base color.
20. Color Patterns are
tobiano, sabino, overo & Tovero (combination of 2 or more patterns). TWHBEA currently puts the color pattern in the
markings instead of in the color pattern category and the pedigrees don't have
the color pattern with the base color of the horse. making it difficult to
research the color pattern inheritance.
·
Base color
is the birth color and always the non-white coat color
on a horse regardless of how little there is and white is a given regardless of
how much white there is. Philip Sponenberg, in his book "Equine Color
Genetics", states that "White is superimposed on and covers up areas
genetically destined to be specific colors....It is important that white be
understood to be superimposed over some color that would otherwise have been
present"
·
Identification
of all color patterns must be preceded by the base color not covered by white.
Correct color of tobiano or overo to use, i.e., bay tobiano, bay sabino, bay
overo, or bay Tovero, etc. Dilution genes and/or Color modifiers of
roan or grey may also be present and modify the base color, i.e., black roan
tobiano/grey or chestnut tobiano/sabino or buckskin/grey. There are
many color pattern and color modifying combinations possible but it is important
to always identify the base color (birth color) and then add the modifying color
or pattern.
21. Color Patterns
found in the Tennessee Walking Horse are:
- Tobiano is a dominant gene
and normally has spotting patterns with smooth edges with the head being
dark and having normal face markings and rarely have blue eyes. The
white crosses the top line and it can be boldly expressed or it can be
minimally expressed with a few white hairs in the mane or tail and high
white stockings that are above the hocks on the back legs and above the
knees on the front legs. Tobianos that have small dark spots called
"paw prints" within the white spots are most times homozygous for
the tobiano pattern. A tobiano must have at least one tobiano
parent.
- Sabino is a dominant gene and very common in
TWHs.
They can have white from the ground up with excessive white on face, legs,
belly, sides and neck. The white is irregular and edges appear fuzzy. They
can be solid or roan. Sabino is a dominant gene and cannot skip
generations. Sabinos can be easily identified by the bald
face with white under the chin, jaw and with the white face extending around
one or both eyes. Blue eyes are also common. Sabinos with
stockings that don't extend all the way up to the body will usually
have an inverted "V" where the white stops on the front side of
the back legs and on the back side of the front legs. Another sign of
sabino is white on the knees that looks like it was splashed on in a
irregular pattern. Some Sabinos will only display the bald face
with white on the jaws and under the chin with little or no body spots.
The key marker on a sabino is the bald face and head markings.
- Overo is now considered a dominant gene
and has white on the belly, sides, neck and face without crossing the top
line. They usually have dark legs with regular socks and stockings.
The head is sometime completely white except for the top of the head and
ears. The overo pattern is a dominant gene and cannot skip
generations.
- Tovero is a combination of tobiano and overo or
sabino and will present a combination of color patterns from the tobiano,
overo and sabino patterns. It is most distinctive in the amount of
white on the head which has excessive white except for the tip of the head
and ears. Tobiano does not express itself with excessive white on the
head.
This is what we
need from TWHBEA to aid in correct foal color identification:
1. Add the specific
champagne colors, Amber, Classic, Gold, Amber Cream, Classic Cream and Gold
Cream to the choices for champagne foal registrations. The choice of
Champagne alone should be removed because the specific colors are very distinct
and are all documented. Allow refinement of color with cream gene to
be included in the markings section.
2.
Add Silver as a color modifier choice for foal registrations. The
choice of Silver as a modifier will allow it to be added to any base color but
proof of the existence won't be easy since there is no test for the gene.
Current information doesn't provide an accurate color description of the foal.
Criteria for selecting these colors will need to be documented including the
unique eye color and the effect of the dilution on the various base coat colors
and testing for red/black factors mandatory. .
3.
Add Smoky Black and Smoky Cream dilution colors to the choices for foal
registrations.
When breeding double dilutes to black, it will always dilute black to smoky
black with 1 cream gene and because they aren't really black and smoky black
isn't given as a choice, they are currently being registered as whichever color
they more closely resemble when foal application is being prepared. They
are being registered as black, bay, chestnut or brown because there is no other
option although none of the colors are correct and are genetically impossible if
one parent is a double dilute (cremello, perlino or smoky cream).
4. Remove choices of
colors that are genetically incorrect specifically roan, grey roan, white roan, chestnut sorrel
and yellow because they are not valid colors. Roan and grey are color
modifiers and should be selected as a modification of a foal birth color.
5. Colors choice
suggestions to select are:
- Amber Champagne
- Amber Cream Champagne
- Bay
- Black
- Brown
- Buckskin
- Chestnut
- Classic Champagne
- Classic Cream Champagne
- Cremello
- Gold Champagne
- Gold Cream Champagne
- Palomino
- Perlino
- Smoky Black
- Smoky Cream
- Sorrel
- White
6. Color
modifying choices should be:
- Dun
- Grey
- Roan
- Silver
7. Color pattern
choices should be:
- Overo
- Sabino
- Tobiano
- Tobiano/Sabino
- Tovero
8. Create a
“TWHBEA Color Genetics 101” booklet to be published as a handy reference for
the TWHBEA Staff and for breeders and owners to use that is very basic and easy
to understand. It would include a sample worksheet check list for breeders
to use to determine foal colors and to assist TWHBEA to ensure the color choice
was correct.
9. Create a Foal
Registration worksheet to be a supplemental page with the foal
registration applications to be completed and submitted with foal registration
to TWHBEA. The worksheet would include the color of skin, eyes, mane and
tail as well as the hair coat color at birth and at 3 months and after shedding
foal coat. Changes of color are done free for up to the 1st birthday.
10. Establish controls
in the Peds computer program to reject color choices that don't meet basic
genetic criteria for color inheritance for the foal applicant.
11. Create a TWHBEA
form letter with a checklist for discrepancies found and a checklist for
requesting additional documentation. Allow space for additional unlisted
circumstances.
12. Review all rejected
foal registrations that have color discrepancies by comparing to color genetics
criteria to be established by TWHBEA to determine possible solutions to why the
foal color doesn't meet color inheritance requirements and how to resolve the
issue.
13. Prepare form letter
explaining discrepancy and request clarification and photos of foal and/or of
parent(s) in question.
14. Establish a
tracking system to identify types of discrepancies found and source of
submissions. Excessive discrepancies would be reviewed for additional
actions to be determined by a committee established for that purpose.
15. If the
excessive discrepancies are of a nature that impacts on the integrity of the
registry, a Special Investigator for the Enforcement Committee would initiate a
surprise herd check where the breeder/owner would be required to produce all
registration papers and a complete herd check would be made matching papers to
horses and upon completion, a report identifying discrepancies would be
presented to the Executive Board with recommendations of action to be taken
against individual(s) and if necessary that registrations be cancelled on horses
found to have fraudulent registrations or irresolvable errors.
Elsie's suggested
Improvements for the TWHBEA Lineage CD:
- Search
by color (done)
- Printable color search report to include sire
and dam reg# (Print Landscape)
- Search for both color and pattern
- Printable color pattern search report to
include sire and dam reg# (Print Landscape)
- Input
missing colors for past years 1935 to 1972 (In progress)
- Allow
for partial name searches (See Notes Below)
- Printable Search for horses by state
(Reg#, Name, foal date, color)
- Printable Search for horses by owner
(Reg#, Name, foal
date, color)
- Build
pedigree for projected foals (done)
- Printable pedigree for projected foals
- Put color pattern (Overo, Tobiano &
Sabino) in pattern box on Horse Detail Information instead of in
markings box
- Show color patterns (Overo OV, Sabino SA &
Tobiano TO) with colors on pedigrees (BLACK/TO, BAY/SA or CHESTNUT/OV)
- Provide ability to save search to a Word
Document or Excel Spreadsheet.
- Include printable Reports for all searches.
- Format production record & color statistics
reports to print landscape so reg# is included and color of sire & dam.
- Allow navigation and going back to previous
screen.
- Make Print setup option adjustable for
formatting to individual printers
- Provide semi-annual upgrades to Lineage CD
periodically to stay current with iPeds. online
Elsie’s suggested
Improvements for the TWHBEA iPeds Online:
- Input
missing colors for past years 1935 to 1972 (In progress)
- Allow
for partial name searches (See Notes Below)
- Show color patterns (Overo OV, Sabino SA &
Tobiano TO) with colors on pedigrees (BLACK/TO, BAY/SA or CHESTNUT/OV)
- Provide ability to save search to a Word
Document or Excel Spreadsheet.
- Include online printable Reports.
- Add foal colors to production records.
You CAN do a partial
name search in Lineage.
There are two
ways to search using partial names in Lineage.
1.
Type the percent (%)
symbol at each end of the partial name search, i.e.,
%pride midnight% and
it will search for those exact words in a name but only in that order and always
together anywhere in the name.
2.
Type the percent (%)
symbol at each end of each word in the partial name search, i.e.,
%pride%midnight%
and it will
search for those words together in that order but also with words in between
anywhere in the name.
When searching the
Internet with keywords. If you put in Tennessee Walking Horse in the
search field, it will bring up every website that mentions any of those words in
its meta tag: i.e.,....walking your dog, maps of Tennessee, etc.. If you
put "Tennessee Walking Horse" in parenthesis, the search engines will
only return sites that specifically refer to "Tennessee Walking
Horse". MSN search brings up
approx 12,000 listing. If you
put %Tennessee Walking Horse% MSN
search brings up approx 58,300 listings with any of the words.
I know there are things
that I have missed and probably errors too. I invite anyone to email me
with ideas and suggestions on getting the TWHBEA on the road to helping members
to provide accurate information when registering a foal. Change won't
happen overnight but if we work together with a common goal, it will happen.
Elsie
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