Base Colors
Extension & Agouti
Extension (E) and Agouti (A) determine your horse’s base color. Consider this the first building block of determining your horse’s color.
Dilutes & Modifiers
Grey
Grey (G) causes your horse’s coat to change to grey over time. The type of grey is determined by your horse’s base coat.
Cream & Pearl
Cream (Cr) and Pearl (prl) dilute your horse’s coat to various beautiful colors like palomino or pearl. The type of coat your horse has is determined by its base color.
Mushroom
Mushroom (Mu) dilutes only red based coats, chestnut and bay, in its homozygous form (MuMu).
Champagne
Champagne (Ch) dilutes all base coats and produces several coat colors like amber champagne and classic champagne.
Dun
Dun (D) dilutes base coat color and adds primitive markings while non-dun (nd1) only displays primitive markings.
Flaxen & Silver
Flaxen (f) and Silver (Z) change mane and tail color on specific base coats with flaxen only displayed in the homozygous recessive form (ff).
Pangare
Pangare (Pa) adds lighter points to your horse’s underside and legs on red-based horses only.
White Marking Genes
Overo
Frame Overo (Fr) adds the overo marking to your horse. In its homozygous form (FrFr), it is lethal.
Leopard
Leopard is a complex marking gene that is currently not fully understood. Helix, however, has found three leopard genes, Lp, Patn1, and Patn2.
Manchado
Manchado (ma) is a white spotting gene that adds manchado markings to your horse. It is only visible in its homozygous recessive form (mama).
Splash White
Splash White (SW) adds the splash marking to your horse. Looks like they’ve been dipped in paint!
Lethal Genes & Other Markings
Markings
Horses have non-gene-linked markings for their face, body, and legs. These are possible to be passed down by sire and dam, but can also end up completely different.
Somatic Mutations
Ooops! Sometimes a whoops happens and horses may end up with a somatic mutation. These are random and non-breedable.
Breeding in Color
It is possible to breed any color into any breed. With a bit of time, effort, and planning you too can produce Cremello Leopard Friesians!
Marking Variations
Not all horses are the same. Many display different variations of several white genes.