Totally puzzled

[Tjigra]

The horse in question isn't mine, I met her here in the Forums.


This pretty palomino filly looks pretty ordinary, right? Until you check her parents. Both her parents are chestnut.
So how can two chestnuts make a palomino? Does double pearl on chestnut look like that? That is the only answer I can come up with, but I don't think it's the right one.

[Caramelapple3]

The horse in question isn't mine, I met her here in the Forums.


This pretty palomino filly looks pretty ordinary, right? Until you check her parents. Both her parents are chestnut.
So how can two chestnuts make a palomino? Does double pearl on chestnut look like that? That is the only answer I can come up with, but I don't think it's the right one.

I don't think I can explain how it happens very well, but I do know that two chestnut horses can sometimes produce a palomino in real life. I'm not very good at horse color genes, so I can't really explain, but it is possible and it does happen. Maybe someone else can better explain. (Also, it turns out that filly you found is Princess, one of my Turkmenes )

[Silverine]

The horse in question isn't mine, I met her here in the Forums.


This pretty palomino filly looks pretty ordinary, right? Until you check her parents. Both her parents are chestnut.
So how can two chestnuts make a palomino? Does double pearl on chestnut look like that? That is the only answer I can come up with, but I don't think it's the right one.

I would watch the stallion. As he's still younger than 10 he may be a glitch. I haven't seen a glitch that didn't at least have an off-color mane or tail, but it's possible. Otherwise the foal herself might be a glitch, though as far as I know the glitches will only pop up in the AC.

This is actually not true. True palomino is caused by a cream gene on a chestnut base. By definition if a horse is chestnut it does not have a cream gene. As it does not have it, it can not pass it on to its foal. Therefore two chestnut horses are incapable of producing a palomino foal. You may be thinking of how two palominos when bred together can produce chestnut (or cremello) foals as well as palominos, but it doesn't work both ways.

What is possible is hidden pearl genes. If both parents have a hidden pearl they can produce an apricot foal, which may be mistaken for either palomino or cremello but is genetically distinct.

Any idea what might be going on with this one?

[Tjigra]

I don't think I can explain how it happens very well, but I do know that two chestnut horses can sometimes produce a palomino in real life. I'm not very good at horse color genes, so I can't really explain, but it is possible and it does happen. Maybe someone else can better explain. (Also, it turns out that filly you found is Princess, one of my Turkmenes )

Yes, I was reading farm logs and happened across your Turkmene log. You had them all out there with pictures, and I immediately noticed a palomino where only a chestnut should be possible (or apricot, if both parents carried a hidden pearl).
In real life this can only happen when at least one of the horses have their colour mistaken for something else. As Silverine wrote, a palomino is a chestnut (no black, e/e) with a single cream, whereas chestnut is "no black, no cream". So if the parents don't have the cream by definition (if they had, they wouldn't be chestnut), they can't pass it onto the foal. If the foal doesn't get the cream, it is not palomino by definition. I suppose, what can happen in real life is the foal turns out to be a light flaxen chestnut and gets mistaken for a palomino. Flaxen is recessive and can hide in parents, unlike cream.

[Caramelapple3]

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Well, I learned something new today. You guys do know a lot. I will keep an eye on the stallion... He may be the second glitch horse I have come across. (I have another Turkmene, a mare, that was black when I got her. Main and tail were black too. And now she looks like what I would describe as a bay varnish)

[Silverine]

In case you didn't see it, the sire was a glitch. He turned into a smoky brown.

[Tjigra]

In case you didn't see it, the sire was a glitch. He turned into a smoky brown.

Thanks for notifying me. That's really strange how he changed his whole appearance completely, socks and all, and there wasn't even slightest note of something wrong with him except the filly, not even his mane.

[Honeybunny#2]

The horse in question isn't mine, I met her here in the Forums.


This pretty palomino filly looks pretty ordinary, right? Until you check her parents. Both her parents are chestnut.
So how can two chestnuts make a palomino? Does double pearl on chestnut look like that? That is the only answer I can come up with, but I don't think it's the right one.

Ok just a little color info that I have gathered off HWO... IRL yes a palomino can come from two chestnuts... even though chestnut is dominate and chestnut+chestnut=chestnut (sorrel) IF either sire or dam carry the cream gene... It is even more common with a flaxen pair. However a seal bay can carry the cream gene and since both sire and dam are basically seal (mealy chestnut on the dam) it is very likely that she will darken over time probably becoming a smokey palomino. She shows the cream but since it is likely recessive then she most likely will not produce palomino unless bred to a palomino stallion or a stallion with a heavy carry (doth parents cream/palomino) of the cream/palomino color genes. Now as to HWO... I believe it may have been a glitch... however I have owned a couple seals that started as a very dark chestnut (almost Liver) with mealy traits on belly and legs (the filly's dam is "mealy") who change to a bay later in life... some horses also change color dramatically IRL and in HWO as they age... (here is a example: http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/1967883 look at her pictures) IRL I have had a chestnut go roan as she aged... "greys" go from white to strongly dappled grey... "liver" to bay... buckskin to dark bay... all of it is in the mystery of Genes...

[Honeybunny#2]

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Well, I learned something new today. You guys do know a lot. I will keep an eye on the stallion... He may be the second glitch horse I have come across. (I have another Turkmene, a mare, that was black when I got her. Main and tail were black too. And now she looks like what I would describe as a bay varnish)

I wouldn't say he was a glitch... it is possible but I notice in his pictures he is slowly getting darker... and morphing into a seal brown... these color changes IRL take much more time... but I think this could be a example of how good HWO gene codes are, by following the real marvel of horses that change color dramatically late in life... I have owned IRL four seal browns that started in sorrel and changed to seal brown at 15-20... also he was a mealy liver chestnut... so since liver and brown are very closely related... it is super possible that he is not a glitch... I'm not sure only because I don't know the depth of HWO's color gene codes.

[Caramelapple3]

Well, I learned something new today. You guys do know a lot. I will keep an eye on the stallion... He may be the second glitch horse I have come across. (I have another Turkmene, a mare, that was black when I got her. Main and tail were black too. And now she looks like what I would describe as a bay varnish)

I wouldn't say he was a glitch... it is possible but I notice in his pictures he is slowly getting darker... and morphing into a seal brown... these color changes IRL take much more time... but I think this could be a example of how good HWO gene codes are, by following the real marvel of horses that change color dramatically late in life... I have owned IRL four seal browns that started in sorrel and changed to seal brown at 15-20... also he was a mealy liver chestnut... so since liver and brown are very closely related... it is super possible that he is not a glitch... I'm not sure only because I don't know the depth of HWO's color gene codes.

The reason why I think he's a glitch is because he was the same color that he is now at 4.04 years old and then he turned chestnut, which was his color when I bought him, and then at ten years old, he turned back to the color he was at 4 years.