# A horse with one blue eye, no paint lineage?



## JerichoRyder (Feb 8, 2018)

I have a registered Appendix Quarter horse who has one blue wall eye and one brown eye. He's a deep red chestnut and only one white marking (a star). His bloodlines are easy to follow and from what I can tell, he has NO paint in him whatsoever... So I'm wondering how he was born with such a beautiful blue eye? Any ideas? Could it be a random genetic mutation?


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I know a QH mare who is bay dun (I think). She's got a blaze and just a little white, and one blue eyes, one brown. I'd be curious too, though I didn't think blue eyes or heterochromia were linked to one specific breed. Are they?


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## JerichoRyder (Feb 8, 2018)

I'm not sure! I've just always known that paints and light colored skin horses like paints, and horses with cream genes are the one's known to have blue eyes. There was one single palomino (his dam's sire). I wonder if that may be it?


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Just because horses with excessive color were culled from the QH registry the color came from somewhere. Your horse has the genes for it eventhough the white is minimally expressed.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Those culled horses are the foundation for the Paint registry.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

The splash gene would be the most likely culprit. Common to see a random blue eye by white markings, and minimal expression can occur in similar cases.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I don't think you can use the 'Paint' as a breed bloodline when restricting something like one blue eye. 
We had a foal that had one blue eye but she had no 'Paint' bloodlines, however she was what we call a skewbald in the UK - also known as a coloured horse. 
One blue eye is more common in horses in the UK that have got some coloured horse ancestry.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I realize that but was saying the genes for white and as part and parcel of that - blue eyes are a part of the QH breed. Those with more than was fashionable at the time were culled out but that's the proof the genes are there to begin with. Only those with modest color or minimal were kept but that did not cull out the genes only the horses that expressed it loudly. Blue eyes won't disqualify from registering QH either so my guess would be minimal expression of a white gene that can cause blue eyes.


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