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Unfamiliar with flaxen

My 2010 QH filly shed out this spring with a very pale, silvery mane. As a weanling, she was cherry red, including her mane and tail. Is what I'm seeing considered flaxen? What causes flaxen in chestnuts? As a weanling (ignore the tail; her tail is red and white...what you're seeing is dirtiness): [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/GAPaintluvr/MamieLopeLeftProfile…] Current photo, taken yesterday: [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/GAPaintluvr/MamieStandAtTrailer6…]

Threnody Mon, 06/13/2011 - 09:23

Here is the pedigree research on Flaxen and Chestnut(AKA Non-flaxen) in Morgans.
http://www.thesokolows.com/colorresearc…

The strange pattern they found from a family of red-based Morgans was that Flaxen + Flaxen = Flaxen foals 100% of the time. BUT Chestnut + Chestnut = Chestnut foals 100% of the time. If Flaxen was recessive 2 chestnut parents could carry the trait and have flaxen offspring at most 25% of the time, but this never happens.

Flaxen + Chestnut = both Flaxen and Chestnut offspring. So it appears that a Flaxen parent must be present to have a Flaxen foal. At the same time a Chestnut parent must be present to have a Chestnut foal. The lines for both flaxen and chestnut never break or skip generations in the red based families. This being said the Flaxen and Non-Flaxen traits can be hidden on black and bay based horses.

This inheritance doesn't follow Mendelian genetics and it is assumed polygenic. The funny thing is that you can predict Flaxen inheritance with this information despite the mode of inheritance being unknown.

shaydedbleu Mon, 06/13/2011 - 12:08

So am I understanding correctly that either her sire or dam MUST be a carrier of flaxen in order for her to have it? You said it's often hidden on black or bay-based horses--this filly's sire is a buckskin (from two buckskins) and her dam is a black-based grey from a buckskin sire and gray (unknown base) dam. Is there a way to know which one carries it?

Thanks for the info!! :)

RiddleMeThis Mon, 06/13/2011 - 13:07

I'd be very interested in seeing photos of the horses used for the research. I wonder if it's a case of not being flaxen "enough" for them to call it flaxen. And for some of the "chestnut" are really flaxens that have "darkened".

Maigray Mon, 06/13/2011 - 18:05

As well as the difficulty in determining if something is "flaxen" enough, I have seen numerous examples of horses who "lost" flaxen as they aged. In our gallery, the stallion Rushan is a great example. I've often wondered if there wasn't an incomplete dominant, or incomplete recessive inheritance.

According to his owner, Rushan diplayed flaxen until he was 3 years old. He is 2 in this photo.
http://equine.colorgenetics.info/galler…

As a mature stallion, in his teens:
http://equine.colorgenetics.info/galler…

TheSwingHorse Mon, 06/13/2011 - 19:21

^ Ditto. We had a QH mare who was flaxen until she was 2 or so. Then was the same as her body... I dunno if I have photos anywhere..

lillith Tue, 06/14/2011 - 06:21

I would tend to feel that the 'flaxen until 2 or so' horses were late in loosing their baby blondes rather then flaxens who lost it. Just a guess though.

Threnody Tue, 06/14/2011 - 10:20

That's one of the flaws they note about the research was age of the animal. The fact that there is such a consistent pattern (at least from what was recorded) is both interesting and incredibly frustrating because last I heard genetic testing to start isolating a mutation was proposed but they were denied because of these results.

If you see an eyeball in the tab for the horse in the link and click it, they have pictures of the animal linked to a Flickr account