Flaxen (f)
Flaxen (Top) is a homozygous recessive gene that only displays on chestnut base horses. This means only chestnut based horses with “ff” genes will display a flaxen mane and tail. This includes colors like palomino, golden champagne, and other colors associated with a chestnut base. Black and bay based horses cannot display flaxen.
Silver (Z)
Silver (Bottom) is a gene that lightens the mane and tail on bay and black coats, this includes colors such as buckskin and smoky cream. Unlike flaxen, horses only need one silver gene in order for silver to become visible. Chestnut based horses cannot display silver.
Homozygous Silver and Black
In Horse Fable, bay and most black bases will only have their mane and tail lightened to silver whether they are heterozygous (Zz) or homozygous (ZZ). For black horses specifically, homozygous (ZZ) silver will further dilute the coat to a chocolate-like color. This unique combination is called Silver Dapple.
Note: Silver Dapple horses are distinct from Dappled horses. Pay attention to the positioning and spelling of “Dapple” in both; a Silver Dapple horse is a black horse with ZZ silver, while a Dappled Silver Black horse is a dappled black horse with Zz silver. This means that a Dappled Silver Dapple would be a black horse with both dapples and ZZ silver!
