Pangare: The Phenotype

Pangare (or the more informal "mealy") is a dilution allele that lightens hair around the muzzle, eyes, and underpart of a horse's body (these areas can also extend outward or upward). Do take note that using ill-fitting tack on a horse can also leave whiter areas (see first picture), but this doesn't have any to do with genetics. The Fjord, Belgian, and Haflinger breeds very commonly have pangare horses if you take a look.

It's generally easier to notice pangare on a long-haired rather than a short-haired horse. This allele on a chestnut base may also be called a "Belgian sorrel". Another term involved with pangare is "foal pangare"; this is the color some foals (which are not carrying the mealy allele) look previous to shedding their foal coat.

Here is a picture of Ben, a chestnut pangare Belgian, and below that is a picture of Cayenne, a chestnut-based foal pangare.

Ben the Belgian. And no, the whiter areas on the topside of his body are not due to the Pangare allele.

Foal pangare on Cayenne. Some of the lightest areas are caused by the sabino allele he carries (you can see the outline of his hind stocking, for example), but he still has pale areas that resemble pangare.

Which Paint?

A sometimes confusing term is "Paint". The word can both refer to a breed, and also a color white pattern.

The most common registry for Paint horses is APHA - the American Paint Horse Association. I'd imagine there are registries for pinto horses in other countries, but I'm not certain. A paint horse can have any conformation, any size, and anything else you can think of, so long as the horse has pinto markings. Which means, yes, even a pinto Mini can be registered as a Paint.

However, when someone refers to their horse's main breed (yep, horses can be registered for multiple breed associations) as a "Paint", this usually means a Quarter-Horse-type pinto, or a more modern Thoroughbred-type pinto.

The color of paint is a bit more complicated. It can go by 'paint', 'pinto', 'piebald' (black and white pinto), 'skewbald' (bay and white pinto), and also '[base color] and white' (for example, a chestnut and white).

To most people, the color terms 'paint' and 'pinto' mean the same thing. My friends at the stables say that Native Americans would call horses such as tobianos a pinto, because the spots are fairly rounded and smooth (like a toe); whereas a paint such as a frame overo would be called a paint, because it looks like the horse got splattered (for lack of a better word?) with paint.

Piebald and skewbald are slightly old fashioned terms, but at lease the meaning of each is simple. Piebalds are black and white, and skewbalds are bay and white.

Referring to a horse color by '[base color] and white' is probably the least confusing, although it is a fairly informal term.

I think the main way to reduce confusion is to completely terminate using the word "paint" for a color. Keep it to pinto or the other options, and it will probably help.

Have an awesome day, and if you found this post helpful, please +1, and don't use "paint" to refer to a color. :)

Genetic Alleles

Many times you may hear the word "allele", but not really know what it means. Fortunately, it's actually fairly easy to understand.

An allele is one of two (or sometimes more) variants of a gene, causing different traits to occur.

When there are only two possible allele options in a gene (or locus- a group of genes), it's generally easiest to think of the gene as a switch. If the switch is "off", the trait-producing allele is nonactive, and replaced by the non-trait producing allele. If the switch is "on", the trait-producing allele is either dominating or in homozygous form (sometimes both).

Sometimes there are more than two options for alleles at a specific gene, though. At this point, it's easiest to think of it as a three-(or more)-way switch.

Alleles are either homozygous or heterozygous, and recessive or dominant.

• Homozygous: The horse has two copies of this allele, and will always pass on one of the copies to its offspring.
• Heterozygous: The horse has one copy of the allele, and will pass on the allele to its offspring about 50% of the time. Sometimes you won't be able to tell by looking at the horse if he is heterozygous for a recessive allele.
• Recessive: A recessive allele is one that the horse must be homozygous for in order for the trait to show in the coat color (or phenotype). If a horse only has one copy of a recessive allele, it will not show in the phenotype.
• Dominant: Dominant alleles are really great, because if a horse has just one copy of them, you'll be able to tell. However, dominant alleles can sometimes mask a recessive allele.
• An example of this would be a Bay horse carrying one copy of the Extension allele. Because the Extension (e) allele is recessive, the dominant Bay (A-) allele would take control, and the horse would be bay.

Also, there's one awesome way to tell if an allele is dominant or recessive in genetic shorthand. As an example, genetic shorthand for a Linebacked Palomino would look like this:

E^eE^e/C^Cr/Dn^Dn

First of all, the normal-sized letters are the shorthand abbreviations for the name of the gene. The superscript ones are the abbreviations of the alleles. Now, note how the first letter of some of the alleles are capitalized, and some aren't?

If the first letter of the allele is capitalized, the allele is dominant. If the first letter is in small caps, the allele is recessive.

And, it's that easy. ;) Ask if you have any questions!

Understanding a Horse's Base Color

To understand horse color in general, you first must understand the three base colors and how they work. However, I won't touch much on the latter bit, as that is very complex and I don't want to confuse you (or myself, for that matter). So, to learn how each base color came to be, I'd suggest reading what D. P. Sponenberg's "Equine Color Genetics" has to say about it.

Anyway, to get back to the point; there are three base horse colors. There isn't any certain order, but I chose to arrange them as bay, chestnut, and black - as that is generally the order in how common each color is. Of course in some breeds, such as the Friesian and Suffolk Punch, they have been bred selectively for so long that it is rather difficult to get a chestnut Friesian, or a black Suffolk. And at least for the latter breed, if the horse is any color other than chestnut, it can't be registered anyway.

I imagine you all know what a bay, chestnut, and black horse looks like. Just in case you don't, here's a short description of each.

• Bay - A body color ranging from medium-dark brown, and oftentimes having a reddish tint to it. The points (tips of ears, mane, tail, and lower legs) are black. Sometimes a bay horse can have countershading and some people may think their horse is just a darker colored dun. Thankfully, there are more characteristics to a horse with a dun gene than just a dorsal stripe. There are also some subtypes to bay, and those are listed below.
• Sooty Bay - The sooty effect on any color simply means that the horse has a slightly darker body, with a few areas (head, flank) being the color underneath.
• Wild Bay - If you've ever seen pictures of a Przewalski's horse, then you probably have an idea what a wild bay is. A wild bay can be quite lighter than a normal bay horse, and the black on the legs doesn't always start till about the pastern, and even then it isn't always that black.
• Chestnut - This is simply a yellow-to-red-to-brown colored horse. They can have flaxen mane and tail as well, but that doesn't have anything to do with the genotype as far as we know.
• Liver chestnut - A liver chestnut may sometimes be confused for a bay, but in reality the genotype is exactly the same as a chestnut. The phenotype, however, is a lot darker. Liver chestnuts can still have flaxen mane and tail.
• Sorrel - In reality, sorrels are the same as chestnuts, but some people (and breed associations) just prefer to use different words. To get around this inconvenient issue, some horse geneticists will just use the term "red".
• Black - This is a completely black horse. When identifying a black horse though- one must be careful. Generally the easiest way to tell if a horse is really black is to search for the absence of red hairs near the eyes, flank, and pasterns. However, one also must keep in mind that some black horses will bleach out in summer (known as a summer black) while others will not (known as jet black).

Anyway, below are some charts to help you understand three common color genes in conjunction with the three base colors. The top layer is the base color, the second is the gene, and the third is the resulting phenotype. Also, for the champagne resulting colors it is not just a single word, but the word and then "champagne". For example, a gold champagne would be called a gold champagne, but not a "gold".

P.S. - If a horse has two copies of the cream gene, the affects will be different. Two copies of the cream gene on a bay or black results in a perlino, and two copies of the cream gene on a chestnut results in the lighter colored cremello.

The Basics of Equine Coat Colors

This will basically be a list with short(er) descriptions of the colors a horse's coat can be. :) Sorry this is so late, I've been horridly busy at the time. Also, a bit later on I'll see if I can do a post on the marking patterns that horses can have, such as facial markings, leg markings, pinto, spotted, roan, rabicano, and anything else that'll work. :)

• Chestnut - the basic solid brown coat/mane and tail, that can range from a reddish toned brown to a dark, dark brown, also known as a liver chestnut.
• Bay - Imagine a chestnut with black points, and you have a bay. Similar to the chestnut, the brown can range in shades and tones.
• Black - A solid, solid, jet black. Of course markings are excepted though.
• Palomino - From a dark golden to an almost cream-like coat, this color also has a lightning white mane and tail.
• Gray - Simply what it implies- a gray. ;) They can look like a cremello, but the way to tell the difference is by the skin. Grays will always have black skin, whereas cremellos will have a pink skin. Grays can also be very dark, as well as dappled (known as the "dapple grey").
• Buckskin - A brownish yellow coat color with black mane and tail, these are a favorite color of many. They can also be very light, and if they are, they are referred to as "buttermilk buckskins".
• Dun - Similar to a buckskin, but generally darker and more of a vibrant shade. There is a lot more confusing definitions to the difference between a buckskin and this, but I'm trying to keep it simple. Both for your and my sakes. :D
• Cremello - A cremello is a very unique color that you don't see around too often. They have a creamy-colored coat with pink around the nose and eyes. They can also have pink hooves.

Horsey Terms

Today we'll be going over the horses' world (or should it be the horse peoples' world?) of terms and sayings. I'll just leave it as a list, and you can read through and memorize what you can.

• Filly - a female foal
• Colt - a male foal
• Foal - a baby horse within the age range of newborn-weanling
• Weanling - a horse within the ages of about 5-6 months through 1 year
• Yearling - a horse that's 1 year old
• Adolescent - a horse that's 2 to about 4 years old
• Mare - female horse
• Gelding - a castrated (unbreedable) male horse
• Stallion - a male horse

This is just the basic list, and I'll see if I can have a more advanced one later. If you have any questions about words I've been using to talk about horses, just ask in a comment.