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Splash Test results are in!

Songcatcher January 23, 2012 January 23, 2012

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:bounce The results are in! I would like to say first of all that I am very pleased with the service from VGL. They were very prompt. I would have loved to test them all, but starting with half the herd. First, is McSperitts Rowdy Night Image, who is my main herd stallion. He is lab tested LWO positive and negative for Cream. BUT he also has "something" else. He has produced at least three solid or near solid Whites, and NOT lethal. He has considerable white roaning on one foot, and very minimal roaning throughout his coat. He has a partial blue eye that you really have to look quite closely to see. [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Image/McSperittsRow…] [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Image/IMG1348_00_03…] RESULTS! Splashed White SW-1 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-1 mutation. Splashed White SW-2 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-2 mutation. Splashed White SW-3 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-3 mutation. So, no Splash for Image. Next is Ross Neck Feathers Little Noah, who is very obviously Splash with two blue eyes. He is homozygous for Tobiano and negative for LWO. He also has considerable roaning in his Black areas. [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Noah/Noahpasturelef…] [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Noah/Noahface-1-2.j…] RESULTS! Splashed White SW-1 Result: N/SW1 - Horse has one copy of the SW-1 mutation. Splashed White SW-2 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-2 mutation. Splashed White SW-3 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-3 mutation. Bear Farms Nu Genes, is lab tested heterozygous for Tobiano and negative for LWO and Cream. Although she doesn't have any markings that I would point to and say, "that is Splash", she comes from a line of horses that very obviously carry Splash and she has produced a filly (by Image) who has one blue eye (not testing the filly this time). [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Nu%20Genes/IMG2578_…] [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Nu%20Genes/IMG2579_…] RESULTS! Splashed White SW-1 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-1 mutation. Splashed White SW-2 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-2 mutation. Splashed White SW-3 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-3 mutation. No Splash for Nu Genes. Therefore, her filly sired by Image cannot be Splash either and no need to test. Bear Farms Scholars Bright Side (Tiny) is negative for LWO, Cream, and Tobiano. Her dam was solid White except for one brown ear and her sire was solid Black, except for one white foot. Not sure about the parents eyes, but Tiny has one blue eye. She has been bred to Image for 2012. [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Bright%20Side/IMG_6…] [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Bright%20Side/IMG_6…] RESULTS! Splashed White SW-1 Result: N/SW1 - Horse has one copy of the SW-1 mutation. Splashed White SW-2 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-2 mutation. Splashed White SW-3 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-3 mutation. So, minimally expressed heterozygous Splash. White Diamonds Angel Eyes is LWO negative, has a roaned star, and one blue eye. [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Angel%20Eyes/IMG_79…] [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Angel%20Eyes/IMG_70…] RESULTS! Splashed White SW-1 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-1 mutation. Splashed White SW-2 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-2 mutation. Splashed White SW-3 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-3 mutation. So, no Splash for Angel Eyes. Therefore, her blue eye MUST come from some form of Sabino as she is also tested negative for Frame. This is one of the most informative results I received. And last, but not least is Songcatchers Hello Mary Lou. She is heterozygous Tobiano, Negative for LWO, and very obviously Splash with two blue eyes. Her sire is the B/W stallion running with the foal in my avatar. [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Hello%20Mary%20Lou/…] [IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Hello%20Mary%20Lou/…] RESULTS! Splashed White SW-1 Result: N/SW1 - Horse has one copy of the SW-1 mutation. Splashed White SW-2 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-2 mutation. Splashed White SW-3 Result: N/N - No copies of SW-3 mutation. Summary: Of the six horses I tested (which I felt was a pretty good representation of my herd) three were heterozygous for Splash and three were negative for any form of Splash. The three carriers all carried SW1. None carried SW2 or SW3. I would say that my biggest surprise was probably Angel Eyes, who is negative for LWO and Splash, yet has a blue eye.

Daylene Alford Mon, 01/23/2012 - 19:48

[quote]So, no Splash for Angel Eyes. Therefore, her blue eye MUST come from some form of Sabino as she is also tested negative for Frame. [/quote]

This might not necessarily be true. It is still possible there are forms of splash that are not covered in the test, or it could be caused by something else even something in utero. Given what we know about other kit gene mutations and the lack of blue eyes I'm not quite ready to chalk blue eyes up to sabino.

Very exciting test results!

Threnody Mon, 01/23/2012 - 22:22

I'm hoping there will be research on blue eyed horses testing negative for the 3 splash genes and LWO. Considering there are 3 identified splash genes when we suspected only 1 there are so many other possibilities.

Threnody Tue, 01/24/2012 - 00:05

Sorry for the double post but I just realized that since Nu and Image tested negative that their foal with the one blue eye is negative too. So that's 2 minis with a blue eye without any of the 3 testable splash mutations. I'm wondering if minis might have their own mutation like the 2 found in the stock horses.

EDIT: NVM foal could still be LWO from Image :P

Songcatcher Tue, 01/24/2012 - 05:51

[quote=Threnody]Sorry for the double post but I just realized that since Nu and Image tested negative that their foal with the one blue eye is negative too. So that's 2 minis with a blue eye without any of the 3 testable splash mutations. I'm wondering if minis might have their own mutation like the 2 found in the stock horses.

EDIT: NVM foal could still be LWO from Image :P[/quote]
Yes, the filly from Image and Nu Genes is positive for LWO.

rabbitsfizz Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:24

All this actually tells me is that the have not found all the Splash genes yet.
I can't get excited about this test- it's helpful, I guess because it means they have found something. But Sab1 was no use at all- the other Sabino genes have not been found, have they??
So, testing neg for the three Splash genes found does not mean a horse does not have Splash, anymore than testing neg for Sab1 means a horse does not have Sabino.
I can't see me bothering to test.
Sorry, Freeland, did not mean to rant, and I know you are excited, but I would not be.

Threnody Tue, 01/24/2012 - 20:12

Gene testing for color in general is a losing race since new things are always mutating. So splash and sabino and dominant white will probably never be 100% conclusive. I have a whole folder of newly mutated dominant whites with no gene test for their particular mutations.

So far SW1 seems to be a very common source of splash for many of the horses tested. I personally see the splash test as more useful than the SB1 test especially since it seems to be in more than just a handful of breeds.

Songcatcher Tue, 01/24/2012 - 21:18

Jane, you know I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and your knowledge of horses and color genetics. However, I'm going to have to see a lot more results before I'm ready to throw this test out as worthless. I have not yet seen ANY examples of horses that tested SW2 or SW3. I'm sure they will be coming, but I haven't seen them yet. So far for me, my only real surprise was Angel Eyes.

From the results I have seen so far (and those are very few), all those who tested positive for SW1 have at least one blue eye and face white (either lop sided or very bottom heavy). I'm very anxious to see how SW2 and SW3 compare.

Threnody Tue, 01/24/2012 - 21:56

^ I am too! The description said SW2 and SW3 are only in certain QH and Paint lines, so they're likely more limited to American stock horses and mixed breed horses derived from those lines. I wish we knew which lines though and if possible founders were identified because they sound like much more recent mutations.

Pacific Pintos Wed, 01/25/2012 - 10:51

I am looking forward to seeing the published report on SW. I would especially like to see photos of the all the sw types which I assume would be included in the study.

Photos were requested as part of the UCD research, so those that participated had to send in photos of their horses.

I am wondering how many of you that have requested the SW test did click on the photo attachment link and added the photo of the horse you were testing?

I have sent in 10 tests to start and did attach digital photos to all the tests.

Miniatures have so many horses with multiple genes that it would seem likely that there could be brown eyed splashes where another gene hides the blue eyes. When you see partial blues that is some gene trying to block out the blue eyes.

Pacific Pintos Wed, 01/25/2012 - 18:46

Perfect! Now we will just have to sit on our hands until the results are posted!

Thanks for sharing. :grin:

NZ Appaloosas Fri, 01/27/2012 - 19:40

I don't think Rabbit's saying the test is useless, more that we can't rule out splashed white on these horses (or any horse that tests NN for SW-1,-2,-3) because there are, very likely, more mutations than can be kept up with, like DW. Having negative tests for the 3 ***found*** splashed white mutations does not mean the horse isn't a splashed white.

Diane