I decided to clip my yearling mini filly and she clipped out grey. She is chestnut colored otherwise with a flaxen mane and tail. Her mother is a grey and her father is a bay with a possible grey sire. Does this mean she is a silver bay and has gotten the silver gene?
Depending on if the grey parent is G/g or G/G will determine whether the foal greys or not. With G/G, the foal will 100% of the time grey. At G/g, you have a 50-50 shot at greying out.
to me, the foal does not look like itl grey like the dam. Silver bay? Possibly. Easiest way to know is to test the foal for the silver gene. Posted via Mobile Device
With one grey parent, it can be hard to judge if a horse if "flaxen chestnut going grey" or silver bay. They can mimic each other to a certain extent - it is not uncommon for greys to go darker on the extremities especially before they start to lighten up. I do think in this case silver is a definite possibility, based on the later pictures, but that grey shouldn't be ruled out yet. She is, after all, only a yearling.
Clipped horses, as stated earlier, don't show true colour, so a clipped coat should never be used as an indicator of this.
Unless the gray parent carried the silver gene she's likely not silver bay.
however because she has dark points on her legs ( she looks wild bay to me with the "broken" patches in her black markings ) with the light mane and tail rather than black it's likely she is silver bay. From my understanding of the gene Mini's and Shetlands are carriers and most likely breed to express the silver gene.
either way with one gray parent depending on whether that parent was dominant for the gray gene ( GG ) or recessive ( Gg ) as the gray gene is what's called a "dominant gene" meaning it takes only the one copy to express. If the parent is dominant your filly WILL gray out so it won't matter if she's a Silver carrier or not. If the parent is recessive you have a 50-50% chance of a gray mare in adulthood.
I recommend getting them genetically tested for both Gray and Silver genes in case you plan to breed her.
as a side note it does not matter if a grandparent is a specific color. if the parent does not carry that gene then the foal will not inherit it. For example ::
Gen. 1 pair || Chestnut Grandsire x Gray on Chestnut Granddam ( tested dominant GG )
100% Chestnut Foal that WILL gray out
Gen. 2 || Chestnut + Gray ( ee/aa/Gg ) x Bay ( E_/A_ )
50% chance Black
50% chance Chestnut
50% chance Gray on any result
50% chance bay
lets say THIS foal ended up Bay with no gray
Gen. 3 || Bay ( E_/A_ ) x Bay ( E_/A_ ) - depending on if one or both is DOMINANT for black or bay ( EE or AA ) the foal could result as
Chestnut ( ee )
liver chestnut ( ee/Aa or ee/AA )
Black ( Ee or EE )
Bay ( Aa or AA )
however because neither of the above parents carries Gray the foal cannot inherit the gray gene. The gene has to be in the immediate parent in order to pass on. This is good knowledge to know if you plan on breeding in the future because it will help you decide what to pair your filly up to ( for example if she IS a bay/silver bay and you pair her to a buckskin, cremello or perlino you could end up with a buckskin or silver buckskin from the breeding ).
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