A Study in Dilution: the Dun Gene

[BlackOak2]

Yeah, I really had to zoom in on her foal pic to pick it out.

My issue with this boy is that the closer I look at his legs, the more I wonder if his stripes are actually stripes or if they're caused by the extreme sooty that runs in his lines. Here's the close-up:


Not saying he can't have it, just that he's being really cryptic about it. XD

If he were a real horse, I'd say that the faint lines could just be the way his hair is growing. In another game, I might say that the faint lines could be render lines or art lines that weren't properly faded.
For this game, I'm fairly certain that we're seeing a bare expression of zebra stripes. That along with the body mask definitely makes me say dun.

I tried to make these images the same so you can see them 'in unison'. This is from a red dun from my herd. If you look closely (obviously... how can you not from close ups... ) your boy's faint stripes happen right where the dun zebra stripes happen.




They are perhaps just a little more clear on the back legs in the shadow down the back of the thigh. Plus, even though your guy is bay, he shares the same body mask contrast going down his legs as my red boy.
Now that I see these pictures side-by-side (so to speak) I'm also seeing the ankle color-shift. If his dun expression was just a tad brighter, we'd probably also see zebra stripes on his ankles too, but they're barely visible even on my guy.

[Raikit]

I'm convinced that whatever it is, it's his mother trying to vex me. I'm trying to breed dun out of my Andalusians, but so far haven't made ANY headway. I went ahead and picked up a grey Arab from the AC to see if he'll throw dun with a non-dun. I'm guessing he will, with the way my luck is going. -_-

What about this one? She's still young so her markings won't have shown up yet, but I don't see any of the light ankles that my others have had so I'm hoping she's dun free.

[BlackOak2]

...

This is a little late and I should have also added these to the last post. But maybe it'll solidify your thoughts a bit more.

Here versus a red horse that doesn't have dun:
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/1217575




This horse does have pangare, but you can see there is no 'sudden' shift in color down the legs, or indications of 'lines' on his legs.

Plus I know how you mean by breeding out. That pangare is still giving me headaches.

As for the little brown filly you just posted, yes, dun free. I haven't seen any brown with dun that dark, there is always some sort of 'silvering' or 'graying' of the body, a body mask, differently colored from the head. She's uniform throughout.

[Raikit]

This is the darkest brown dun I've had so far:

[BlackOak2]

This is the darkest brown dun I've had so far:

Some of the darker ones I've had:







(this one seen best as a 1 year old)


Each one with the body mask, a 'silvering', or 'graying' of the body compared; different from metallic and somewhat hidden when the horse gets trained. What's nice is that the dun generally expresses with some other sign.

It won't work on heavy dilutions, but if you look at the base of the ear and you can define it easily, it may be an indication of dun. The ears do tend to brighten up when dun is involved.

Of course... I could always be wrong.

[Pearl]

Since you seem to be the resident dun expert, I thought I'd ask: do you think this filly has dun?

°º° Wild Redemption


Her sire has a fairly light expression of dun, and she appears to me to be showing the face mask as she's getting older, but I wasn't sure if that was just me seeing things or not.

[BlackOak2]

Since you seem to be the resident dun expert, I thought I'd ask: do you think this filly has dun?



Her sire has a fairly light expression of dun, and she appears to me to be showing the face mask as she's getting older, but I wasn't sure if that was just me seeing things or not.

I know I'm late replying.
To answer your question (and I've been away for awhile, so please take this with a little grain of salt):

Although there does seem to be a gentle expression of a face mask, I see no real hints of dun. I suspect this is pangare from the dam and not dun. Both of these traits can show a similar facial mask when very gently expressed. I don't immediately see any passage of the pangare onto her son, Wild Magic.