The genetics of blue eyes in a QH?

So I've seen many mention in threads about blue eyes that it's the splash, frame etc gene that causes them. My question is though, does that explain the blue eyes on a full QH mare? I owned a sorrel mare a few years ago who, as far as I can tell had no paints in her pedigree, who had minimal white and two blue eyes. I thought quarter horses technically shouldn't have the splash, frame or overo genes right?

I can't post links on a phone but her name is Playgirls Got Blues and her entire pedigree is on allbreedpedigree.com if you'd like to check it out.
Posted via Mobile Device

Your horse has white. Hence your horse has some sort of white pattern which is more then likely what caused her blue eyes. Whether it be splash, frame, or something else.


QH can and do have pinto and appaloosa genes. The only gene they don't have is tobiano.

My vote, with two blue eyes, would be that she carries the Splash gene.

Paint genes can 'hide' for several generations, she could have a great-grand parent that was a minimal Overo/Splash and it trickled down through the generations.

Not true. A Paint is nothing more then a Quarter Horse with spots they decided they didn't want to register as Quarter Horses all those years ago. So every tobiano Paint has QH ancestory, and even tobiano can hide in a minimal sense. I am not sure how it applies to Appaloosa though, I've never seen a tobiano Appaloosa. To find tobiano ALONE is fairly rare, but my Paint filly has tobiano and both her parents had tobiano and her entire pedigree is QH racing lines so one of them was carrying tobiano to make it down to the Paint genes.

However yes, blue eyes are most definitively associated with splash, and splash can be fairly easy to hide. Another member on here has a black mare with two blue eyes and almost no white - just a leg marking and a face marking. She is most definitely hiding splash.

Macabre you didn't understand my post. Tobiano is they only lingo gene not found in quarter horses. Splash, frame, sabino, LP, etc., are naturally occuring in AQHA horses. Tobiano is not.

Then how do we have Paint horses with tobiano?

Tobiano has never been in AQHA horses. Well maybe back when the registry first started there were carriers, but it is not possible today.

Tobiano does not hide like Frame, splash or LP.

APHA was not started because of cropout quarter horses. A tobiano horse will never be eligible for AQHA papers the way that splash or frame APHA horses are (basically cropouts). Tobiano, as far as I know, was and has been around for a very long time and is found in many, many other breeds. It is not found in AQHA horses though. Tobiano may hide on one horse, but you can bet it wont hide for long if the horse reproduces.

Do you have you horse on allbreed? I would like to see the pedigree if possible.

Technically, any horse with any white facial or leg marking carries a pinto gene. Tobiano alone doesn't put white on the face, so therefore any horse with white on their face carries overo. Overo is the pattern that causes blue eyes, and although it isn't fully understood which type of overo causes it, most people assume it's splash.

Pretty much every breed out there carries overo minimally. The odd Friesian with a small white star proves that even they carry it. If you look you can find pictures of solid horses of almost any breed with blue eyes.


Here are the photos of my mare's ancestors: Clouds Mystique W Missouri Fox Trotter

Nobody looks like a classic splash. Most horses are solid, and the few horses that have body white look sabino. But splash is there somewhere in a lot of those horses, because it gave her her blue eyes... (BTW - excuse the random warmbloods... somebody screwed up)

Tobiano and frame don't typically hide as well as splash and sabino.

Agree'd. Loki and Red's sire is a Tobiano Sabino, possibly even with a dab of Splash (I can't be 100% sure on this, however). He looks almost 100% Tobiano, except his markings are slightly jagged, he has a star and half stripe/snip, and he has a band going around all his markings (caused by Sabino).

Splash is a little devil of a gene. It hides....hides...hides...then BOOM! Surprise blue eyes or strange markings! Same goes for Sabino, I know of a Sabino colt with nothing more then some light Sabino roaning, I believe a star, and a slightly unusual sock.

Ok thanks guys! I always wondered how try popped up!

NdAppy, once again I'm checking hf from my phone and cannot post a direct link to her pedigree but I know it's on allbreedpedigree.com and her name is Playgirls Got Blues.
Posted via Mobile Device