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Ok, random Q...

Hey What The April 12, 2010 February 22, 2011

Forums

If a horse appears to be white with no tell tale signs or indications of a base colour - if you were to test it for colour would the results come back as chestnut/black etc etc or would it come back as 'white' ie sabino or suchlike with no known true base colour. I presume even if it is totally white it will come back as genetically black, chestnut etc but am curious if this is the case.

accphotography Mon, 04/12/2010 - 19:19

As of right now ALL white horses have a base color (any base color). Until extension mutates or another allele of extension is found, all horses will have a base color of red or black.

horsegen Mon, 04/12/2010 - 20:32

Even if a horse is totally white, without a speck of color anywhere, the genes that code for all those base colors are still there, can be tested for, and can be passed on! So the test results will tell you what's "under" all that white. In fact, if the horse is, say, dominant white (which most labs don't test for), your results won't even tell you that your white horse is white! They'll just tell you that it's, say...palomino. :D

RiddleMeThis Mon, 04/12/2010 - 22:45

[quote="horsegen"](which most labs don't test for)[/quote]
Most labs...horsegen are you aware of any labs that WILL test for Dominant White or that are going to be testing for Dominant White in the future?

horsegen Mon, 04/12/2010 - 23:04

No, I haven't heard of a single one. I don't think we are planning to...it's not a very profitable test to run, because there are SO many different mutations that cause it, so to test for it, we would have to run a dozen different tests on the same horse. That doesn't make it profitable for a lab, given that most people wouldn't pay that much extra to test for it. Plus, the market is fairly small, so even to put the money and time into implementing it wouldn't really pay off. When I said most labs, I meant that the only ones testing for it are the ones doing the research on it. ;)

accphotography Mon, 04/12/2010 - 23:08

Well I do think it would be easier all around if they offered the mutations separately since they are line specific (no point testing a Puchilingui daughter for W1, for instance). The biggest problem with that though is that I am certain there are still many more undiscovered mutations of it and we'd be back in the sabino boat saying "just because it's negative doesn't mean it's negative" kind of thing.

Danni Tue, 04/13/2010 - 01:18

[quote="horsegen"]No, I haven't heard of a single one. I don't think we are planning to...it's not a very profitable test to run, because there are SO many different mutations that cause it, so to test for it, we would have to run a dozen different tests on the same horse. That doesn't make it profitable for a lab, given that most people wouldn't pay that much extra to test for it. Plus, the market is fairly small, so even to put the money and time into implementing it wouldn't really pay off. When I said most labs, I meant that the only ones testing for it are the ones doing the research on it. ;)[/quote]

I reckon quite a few of the Gypsy Horse mob would test for it, if they did a combined cost for all the DW's say. So many of the Gypsy owners like to test for everything they can. For a minority breed, I think they claim a not bad percentage of the colour tests done :lol:

horsegen Tue, 04/13/2010 - 17:58

Yes, it's just that doing a combined test for all the DW mutations would not be profitable. It would cost more to test a horse for all the mutations than we would be able to charge. Likewise, offering the tests singly and allowing horse owners to pick and choose isn't cost-effective either, because each test costs money and time to implement, and so few horses would be tested for each mutation that we wouldn't really end up making any money on any one test.

Danni Tue, 04/13/2010 - 18:38

What was that SNP testing?? I wonder if that might make it more possible in the future?

accphotography Tue, 04/13/2010 - 19:42

Hmmm... that's interesting Danni. Although I think they would still "have to develop the test"...?