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.

Chestnut with sooty mane

fancythat January 21, 2011 February 22, 2011

Forums

My chestnut stallion has a "grey" mane which I presume is called sooty, what is the difference between sooty and flaxen genes and what does it mean for his offspring,if anything. I had never seen a grey mane on a chestnut before only flaxen.he is a lightish coloured chestnut too,compared to one of my mares who is dark liver with a light mane and she also gets creamy coloured dapples under her belly and dark dapples on her legs. I have another mare here who is a dark liver but with a almost black mane and tail. Does the sooty gene affect the colour of his offspring ,is he likely to pass it on. His sire is a saddlebred called Catalyst (USA) who has the blondest mane and tail I have ever seen on a chestnut.We just have the one foal from him at this stage and she is a yearling ,she is a bay and she has about 5 inches of mane down near her wither that is flaxen chestnut in colour right to the roots.People tell me this is normal and lots of bays have chestnut in there manes (weird I have never seen it before). Here is a pic of his mane.

Maigray Fri, 01/21/2011 - 18:09

Sooty and flaxen are coat "modifiers." We do not yet know how they are inherited or what causes them. In many cases, there does seem to be a genetic element, but it is not completely understood. Sooty adds darker hairs to the coat. It usually acts as a countershading agent, but can take many forms. Flaxen dilutes the points of the horse.

You can read our little blurb on them here: http://www.equine-color.info/node/21" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and see examples in their respective galleries: http://www.equine-color.info/gallery/v/…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

fancythat Fri, 01/21/2011 - 21:54

That is what I had read but I thought it odd that my stallion was a light chestnut with no dark hairs in his coat but the weird grey mane and my flaxen mare is a dark liver with lots of dark hairs in her coat and dark splotches and spots too.

Dilutes Sat, 01/22/2011 - 01:54

[quote="accphotography"]IMO a gray mane is nearly always the result of sooty overlying flaxen.[/quote]

Agree.

colorfan Sun, 03/06/2011 - 06:57

just going by the picture you posted, it looks very similar to my mini silver. It can be hard to say exactly what the color is from a pic, yours does look a smidge grayer rather than silver. Just throwing it out there.