Skip to main content

Due to decreasing use over the years, I have decided to disable the forum functionality of the site.

Forums will still be available to view but new posts are no longer allowed.

Rabicano

Hello :) i would like to learn more about the colour of my horse. He ist a 10-year old purebred spanish stallion. I assume he is a rabicano but i find really little Information about this colour- especially when i am searching for spanish horses. I know that there is a stallion in uk, comico iv. Comico and my horse share the same bloodlines. Probably Devoto II carries this rabicano gene, but i just assume that. So , if someone knows about this colour and can tell me more about it or can tell me if my horse is really a rabicano please help me ;) and i say sorry for every gramatical mistake i made and will make - english is not my mother tongue ;) thanks :)

Third Peppermint Fri, 03/29/2013 - 15:15

Ahh what's his name?

Comico IV and Comico VI are two brothers that have a strange appearance that looks like your horse. One of Comico VI's daughters actually tested as having the grey gene despite her dam being a definite flaxen chestnut. We think these horses might actually carry some weird form of grey that has a unique expression and generally takes a long time to show up. Not rabicano, but about 1000 times more interesting.

Here's an old thread with some links that may or may not be broken: http://colorgenetics.info/equine/conten…

Edit: It looks like at least one of the Comicos has tested as heterozygous grey as well.

Tiago92 Fri, 03/29/2013 - 15:21

In reply to by Daylene Alford

Thanks for your answer and the link ;) his name is Esclavo XXVIII but i call him Tiago - i dont want to call my horse a Slave :D

Tiago92 Fri, 03/29/2013 - 15:39

In case he tests gray, that would not mean that he will grey out or? Because i have pictures from ihm when he was younger and he is greying very very slowly...i cant imagine that he will ever grey out completely. It just interests me, i understand so little about that topic ;)

Tiago92 Fri, 03/29/2013 - 15:43

BTW he darkens a bit in the winter and lightens in the summer. Is this just a normal appearance or could that depend as well on this colour?

Third Peppermint Fri, 03/29/2013 - 15:55

The darkening in winter and lightening in summer is pretty normal as far as I can tell. As far as him greying out completely... that's a mystery. I don't think there is enough information yet about whatever sort of grey he has to say for sure. You should definitely take lots of pictures over time to see how he changes! Pictures of Comico IV from when he was 15 years old still showed his base color so I'm not sure that these guys can actually grey out completely to white during a normal life span.

Thanks for sharing your boy, he's gorgeous AND unique.

Threnody Fri, 03/29/2013 - 21:12

Here is a post by Lesli Kathman on this odd form of graying. She also shares some examples of the spanish descended Mangalarga Marchador breed who also have this suppressed gray color. http://equinetapestry.com/2011/12/13/an…

This suggests a genetic component since certain bloodlines carry it. These horse never seem to fully gray out. I was in email contact with Comico IV's owners and they told me that both of them are confirmed and tested as heterozygous gray.

Here is Comico IV the older brother: http://media-cache-ec6.pinterest.com/55…

And here is Comico VI the younger brother: http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/55…

It's a bit confusing to tell the difference between these two since they look so similar.

I am very excited that someone who owns one of these suppressed gray horses found this forum. He is very handsome. I'm fairly certain all of us here would be very interested if you got your horse tested for gray :) What's his pedigree?

Tiago92 Sat, 03/30/2013 - 03:23

Thank you so much for your answers! :) I am really excited that I finally learn something about this colour and that there are more horses! :) its so interesting! i think i am going to test ihm and of course keep you informed ;) when i type in google "comico IV " i see two horses. The dark one from gazaro.uk and another one. I contacted the photographer and it seems that this horse lives in the USA, somewhere near florida. The branding shows that he is definitely related to my horse and also to the other comico IV , who shares exactly the same name. I add some photos from the Internet.
I am going to add the pedigree of my horse for you later ;)

Threnody Sat, 03/30/2013 - 08:17

He has Devoto II on both sides. This keeps confirming he is a source for this suppressed gray. Thank you so much for sharing this. :)

I wish Devoto II could be tested since I suspect he is likely homozygous gray given his pedigree. He himself actually looks gray but sires and passes on this suppressed gray color. I'm curious to see if the suppression gets overridden in the presence of 2 gray genes. If Tiago tests heterozygous gray it could give some insight.

We also don't have enough information on how the suppression is inherited. The Comico brothers have yet to sire a normal looking gray out of non-gray mares. Any obvious gray offspring they have had were out of obvious gray mares. I wonder if the suppression is linked to their gray and always inherits together. The numbers are also far too small to draw any conclusions.

Tiago92 Sun, 03/31/2013 - 07:03

For what do i have to Test him? Just grey? And is it possible that he also carries a perlino gene? The shining of his coat is enourmous and i dont think that it only comes from a healthy lifestyle ;) he sometimes really seem to sparkle :D maybe its just because of his different colours but maybe the perlino theory is possible as well!? :)

rabbitsfizz Sun, 03/31/2013 - 13:54

I think you mean Pearl? Perlino is a double Cream on Bay.....
Your horse is intriguing and I look forward to seeing more pictures.
I am not sure the "glistening" has anything to do with Pearl, btw, but it is always worth testing as the more info we have the more "suspects" we can eliminate.

Threnody Sun, 03/31/2013 - 22:30

Wow! You can really see his dapples in those images. It's interesting that many of these horses seem to gray on the hindquarters last. This is awesome. XD (pardon the genetics geek-out, I find your horse, and other suppressed grays, incredibly interesting)

You can send hair samples to a horse gene testing lab. A highly rated lab is UC Davis. You can test for Gray and Pearl if you would like from them. I have heard from some breeders that their pearl carriers tend to have more sheen to their coats. I have never seen a pearl carrier in person, but if you suspect he may have it, there is no harm in testing. I would be curious to see if he does have pearl.

http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/hor…
http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/hor…

You will need to collect mane or tail hairs with the root bulbs attached. They have details on what is needed on the website and where to send the hair samples. I hope this helps!

Tiago92 Wed, 04/03/2013 - 12:37

I think I will collect his hair on Friday and then send it to the gen-labor.Cant say how long it will take (I am sending it from Germany to the US) but as soon as I got the results,I will inform you about it ;)

tjuri Wed, 04/03/2013 - 14:05

Hi Tiago,

having sent samples of my horse to UCDavis from Germany before - there is an import permit you have to download from the website when you have ordered your test online. Make sure you check the expiration date on it and read and follow up on the descriptions given exactly as they say. It will save you a returned sample, time and money... ~x( Good luck and I am looking forward to hearing from you about the results! You surely have a nice Spanish boy! :love

Tiago92 Wed, 06/26/2013 - 15:25

Hey :) I still did not test him, sorry. But I am going to soon! :) Btw. he is also showing a very small form of brindling, I´ll try to make photos of it the following days.

Tiago92 Thu, 06/27/2013 - 08:32

I found a Pony yesterday on the internet, with exactly the same colour as my horse and the Comicos. But it has the colour, because it is over 30 - in the past it was just bay. Is it possible, that these horses (the Comicos and mine) "just" have a genetic mutatíon, that let their coat getting older (greyer) even if they are young? Because this old horse has the same colour, because of its age...he probably will got lighter by the time, but I don´t think - even if he is going to live very long- that he will ever grey out completely. What do you think? Maybe just an early aging process... Here the picture I´ve found...

Third Peppermint Sat, 06/29/2013 - 19:54

Thats reallly cool, he does look to have the same thing going on as your horse and the Comicos. Do you know what kind of pony he is? It doesn't look like he could live long enough to grey out completely at the rate he's going. Super cool!

tjuri Mon, 07/29/2013 - 07:12

There is certainly a genetic component, might be a mutation or an additive in this line.

May I add that there are also Mangalarga Marchador lines, a Saddlebred and Connemaras once posted on this board - all of them showing the same kind of greying and all of them go back to Spanish bloodlines to some extent.

I can't find the posts though... ;(

blanka Sun, 11/24/2013 - 12:55

Hey and greetings from Finland. I found this site when I was searching information about colors, rabicano and gene tests. I was totally surprised, when I noticed that the coloring of my pony is very similar with these shown here.

I have a gelding, 12 yrs old. Her mother is from Estonia and registred as a estonian horse. My horse is born in Finland and his father is unknow. Her mother was pregnant when taking her to Finland. This is the mother

http://www.sukuposti.net/hevoset/torma/…

The original color of my horse is dark and red bay. He had a little white star on his forehead and a little white spot on his nose. About six years ago he began to turn white. Here are couple of pictures of the way he looks now. White hair everywhere most of them in the head, neck, tail, hair. Also in legs.

I think I shoud do a gene test, what color you recommend to test?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

swinghorse Sun, 11/24/2013 - 13:49

I think you will find the unusual sheen is part of the PRE breed. Many of the old lines of pure Carthusian horses seem to have a sheen similar to the Akhal-tekes, its just not as noticeable typically because most that carry this type of sheen seem to be grey. We have a mare named Sonaja that is one of the best mares in the country and she has a sheen in the pasture, year round, no grooming required. Its almost blinding. 

 

Daylene Alford Mon, 11/25/2013 - 06:38

The only thing we could recommend testing for is gray.  With the Comicos this appears to be a modified gray that doesn't gray out completely.  It would be very interesting to see if your horse tests positive for gray as she does indeed look very similar physically.