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Kholran β Equine Colours- Base Colours
Published: 2009-01-27 08:05:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 14637; Favourites: 208; Downloads: 336
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Part OneThis image illustrates the three "Base" colours that all other colours act upon. Yes, I am aware that Bay is not a true base, but when considering the dilutions, it makes sense to call it a base. So I am.
Part Two: The Cream Gene [link]
Part Three: The Champagne Gene [link]
Part Four: The Dun Gene [link]
Part Five: The Silver Gene [link]
Part Six: White Patterns [link]
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Comments: 29
Hello,
that's huge
I have a questions which horse colors would be reasonable for european horses during Middle Ages (xiii century foe example) or in ancient times (roman or greek horses).
I understand is tricky...
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Oh gosh that is a tough question! I don't claim to be any kind of genetic historian, but I would imagine many of the modern colours also existed in history. Certainly the base colours, chestnut, bay and black, and probably brown as well. Greys, palominos, and what looks like silver appear in art from the period. Dun is found on some of the oldest existing horse breeds (Przewalskis) so probably would also exist on domesticated horses. Pinto and appaloosa patterns appeared fairly early on. There are cave paintings showing horses with the mealy/pangare modifier, and the 'bloody shoulder' markings that appear on some flea-bitten greys date back far enough to be in stories hundreds of years old. Hopefully that's a decent start for you!
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May I link this on another site as well as your charts to help set color standard?Β
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As long as proper credit and a link back is provided, yes absolutely!
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Brown and White are also base colors, thought they aren't diluted.
Also, I'd like to add that with all base colors, they are marked with a CC in the genetic code, showing that they aren't diluted in any way. Β CC controls dilution.
So a chestnut would be ee CC, a black being EE (Ee) CC, and a Bay being EE(Ee) AA(Aa) CC.
The Bay has both the EE and AA as it has black hairs (which is what the EE controls). Β AA is the agouti gene, which means all the black is restricted to the points (legs, muzzle, ears, mane, and tail). Β However, it still contains the CC and can be diluted, making it a Base color.
Just figured I'd add that in case anyone wanted further explanation on the subject. ^^
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CC only references Cream, not any other dilute, and generally is only used on testing, because notation like CC (no cream), CCr (heterozygous cream), and CrCr (homozygous cream) are way way too easy to confuse. UC Davis uses N instead of C which helps (N/N no cream, N/Cr heterozygous cream and Cr/Cr homozygous cream). I'm not a fan of using CC to denote "no cream", so I never write it that way.
Technically there are only two true Base colours, black and red, as is stated on the reference. Bay is not a true base, it's just easier to consider it one for all the other colour references. ALL other colours, including Brown (EE or Ee plus the agouti type At/At) and dominant white (W1 through W11) act on either ee or EE/Ee bases and are not bases themselves.
The fun thing about Agouti is how many offshoots there are. There's A (normal agouti, causes a black horse to be bay), A+ (wild bay- black on the legs is most concentrated on the joints and not on the cannon bones) and At (brown- seal brown/black and tan). Some day I'll have to add a page just for Brown, since Brown + the various other dilutes and modifiers can yield some really interesting results. However it still stands that neither brown nor bay is a true base, just a modified Black.
I'm not sure if that clears anything up or just makes it even more complicated. I was purposely trying to keep these refs simplified lol
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Ahh, okay. Β
I've really only been studying horse genetics because our Horse Bowl team has been trying to figure it out. XD Β Our coach is keeping it simple, but I already understand everything she's been teaching, so I was looking for some more indepth info.
In Horse Bowl we have the 5 basic coat colors, though in genetics I understand how only two (or three) are considered basic.
She hadn't taught us about the different offshoots of Agouti, however, so thanks for the extra information!
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That's really cool your coach is teaching you about colours! There are a lot of great resources out there to teach yourself too. Colour genetics are so interesting, and there are some amazing combinations out there
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There certainly is! Β I actually found a great resource to get some more info from, and that's been really helpful.
Once again, thanks
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I love your charts, and how you give a bit of info on each color!
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Thank you! I'm glad you like them
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Keep up the great charts!
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I hope to add a couple more of them eventually. Just gotta find the time!
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Sooooo helpful for a newbie like me trying to nail down the various colors. I'm going to go ahead and fave the whole series! Thank you so much for providing this 
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You're welcome! I'm just glad people can use it
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Photoshop Elements, a Wacom tablet, and a steady hand lol
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I think I am going to fav all these, its good info ^^
So according to this, Black is dominant, and chestnut is recesive.
SO, that means that the parents of a chestnut have to be at least het for it.
But when these colors are "diluted" they're just codominant traits.
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Correct. Two chestnuts bred together will never have black-based offspring. A homozygous black will never have a red-based foal, even if bred to a chestnut.
All the other genes affect the base to give us the wide range of colours we see. Most of the modifiers and dilutions are single-gene dominant, meaning that the horse looks exactly the same whether it's homozygous or heterozygous. Cream is really the only dilution that has a visible difference between one copy of the gene, and two.
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Thanks ^^
It helps to already understand genetics. It's to the point where I don't understand unless the words, heterozygous, homozygous, recessive, or codominant are used.
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Hey. This deviation is perfect for submitting to my group . Wanna join and submit it? It really needs members.
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great color base. I'm probey going to use it for colors. I'll credit you when it's up for the colors
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I am using your equine color study to post in my fotolog and blog, to show to my brazilian friends oK?!
I add there your adress here in this site and all the credits...
the links are:
[link]
[link]
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Thanks for letting me know and for crediting
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This is an excellent series in that it provides just enough genetics information for those with a budding interest to learn a bit, while giving artists a very well drawn and easy-to-use quick reference guide. Thanks!
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You're welcome 
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