Weekly Horse Color
Today I'll be doing the color on BLUE ROAN!
Blue roan is a dominant color, meaning: pretend you breed a blue roan to a chestnut, the foal would most likely be a heterozygous blue roan caring a chestnut gene (thus heterozygous, meaning it carries a dominant gene and a recessive gene, but shows the dominant gene). Also, you cannot produce a blue roan from two horses of different color. A blue roan has to have a blue roan parent, or at least a parent with a blue roan gene.
But, blue roan can be dangerous! Yes, a color can actually kill the horse it is coloring. Well, it's not really the color, it's more the genes that make up the color. Homozygous (meaning the animal carries two dominant genes, passing no other trait but the ones it carries to its foals) roans may have the lethal white gene, where the genes are fatal to the embryo, killing the foal in early conception or when it is newly out of the womb. True, homozygous white horses produce this lethal gene in other whites, true roans, and white overo pintos. Breeding a horse with the lethal white gene to another is bad, don't do it, because the result is a dead foal. Breeding a lethal roan to a horse without the gene won't kill the foal, but it will pass the gene onto the offspring.
Blue roans, whites, and white overos are rare because of this case because lots of them die before growing into an adult horse. Be careful when breeding roans.
~Izzy~
Blue roan is a dominant color, meaning: pretend you breed a blue roan to a chestnut, the foal would most likely be a heterozygous blue roan caring a chestnut gene (thus heterozygous, meaning it carries a dominant gene and a recessive gene, but shows the dominant gene). Also, you cannot produce a blue roan from two horses of different color. A blue roan has to have a blue roan parent, or at least a parent with a blue roan gene.
But, blue roan can be dangerous! Yes, a color can actually kill the horse it is coloring. Well, it's not really the color, it's more the genes that make up the color. Homozygous (meaning the animal carries two dominant genes, passing no other trait but the ones it carries to its foals) roans may have the lethal white gene, where the genes are fatal to the embryo, killing the foal in early conception or when it is newly out of the womb. True, homozygous white horses produce this lethal gene in other whites, true roans, and white overo pintos. Breeding a horse with the lethal white gene to another is bad, don't do it, because the result is a dead foal. Breeding a lethal roan to a horse without the gene won't kill the foal, but it will pass the gene onto the offspring.
Blue roans, whites, and white overos are rare because of this case because lots of them die before growing into an adult horse. Be careful when breeding roans.
~Izzy~
Wow! I didn't know some of this stuff! Sounds like you've done a lot of research! ;)
ReplyDelete-Brooklyne
Yes, I have done a brilliant amount of research, starting at age 7 1/2 :D
DeleteWOW!!! I didn't know any of this! This is so cool!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah! It's new for me, too. I've known about the lethal white gene, but I didn't know they were in roans until further research.
DeleteHi Izzy!!!
ReplyDeleteI discovered your blog first from Brooklyne's blog, and then again from Lilly's - so here I am!! ^^
Your struggle with cancer cannot be an easy one; I promise I will pray for you. You're such a brave girl!! <3
So it seems you love horses? I'm a horse lover myself.
I really enjoyed this post!! Have you ever heard of the American White/Albino horse before? We used to live only about an hour away from the ranch that raised them. Sadly, I think they're all extinct. I've searched extensively for true American Whites, but I can't find any that are still living. They are the only true white horses I know of that can carry and deliver foals without the huge amount of risk the lethal white gene poses. I'm afraid no one cared enough about them to share them with the world. :/
Anyway, just thought I'd stop by and drop a note in!! ^^
~ Lily Cat (boots) | lilycatscountrygirlconfessions.blogspot.com
Hi, Lily Cat!
DeleteCool! I'll have to check out your blog.
Thank you so much <3
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I've heard of "albino" horses, but technically "albinos" are really true whites, so yes, the true American White I've never heard of. It is so sad that people don't bother to share these horses to the world! It's so cool that the American Whites didn't produce lethal white genes. That's a horse you want to have LOL! Have you heard of American Cream Draft Horses? They're rare, too. People are trying to keep the breed going, because they're so beautiful and uncommon.
Whites are so rare now. Maybe when I grow up, I'll create a group to re-create American White/Albino horses :D And you could join me!
~Izzy~
Wow, that's really interesting!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it interesting!
DeleteHorse colors are so confusing! Lol. I didn't know that blue roans can have the lethal white gene. I met a lethal white foal one time. The poor thing died within a day or two. It was so sad. But the parents were pintos. Blue roans are so beautiful though. You need to give me a lesson in horse gene colors. That's one of the things that I am clueless at! ��
ReplyDeleteYes, they can be! I didn't know either for awhile. That is so sad, like you said. The parents were probably lethal white overos, like I said in the post. Blue roans are gorgeous; and there are ways of keeping the horses who wind up with the color alive, because their lethal gene is dominated by a dominant gene (I think....) Anyway, I reckon you'll be able to learn many horse-gene-lessons in future horse posts. I hope you enjoy my blog!
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