# Leopard Genes?



## Eclipse295 (Nov 30, 2010)

Okay, My Roan Appaloosa Mare(Varnish/Frosted, what ever you want to call her) Is most likely bred(we know she is preggo, but don't know the stud) to a Dun Quarter Horse Stud, who I am 99% sure is Homozygous Dun looking at his past foals, I am not sure if he is a Silver or Agouti carrier, but anyway.

I was trying to figure out if Appaloosa patterns(Leopard Genes) are random occurrences or if they are passed down from parents to foal. 

The reason I question this is I have seen people breed Leopard pattern studs to solid mares and get blanket patterns, or seen people breed Solid studs who carry the Leopard gene and get Blankets, Leopards, and Snowflakes. 


Like since she is a varnish roan(with what seems to be like a few stockings and a blaze) is the foal going to most likely be a Varnish pattern or could it also be another pattern such as leopard, blanket, snowflake, etc?

Pics of the Mare:















(Yes, I know she really needed a bath that day it had been raining nearly non-stop and she had been in the pasture and we had a quick ride when I first got her)


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Eclipse295 said:


> Okay, My Roan Appaloosa Mare(Varnish/Frosted, what ever you want to call her) Is most likely bred(we know she is preggo, but don't know the stud) to a Dun Quarter Horse Stud, who I am 99% sure is Homozygous Dun looking at his past foals, I am not sure if he is a Silver or Agouti carrier, but anyway.


First off, you can't tell if a horse is homozygous for dun by looking at their offspring. Well you theoretically could, but it would require them to have over a hundred get, without a none dun at all. 

Considering you use the term "dun" and not red dun or grullo, I am going to assume that he is a bay dun. If his base colour is different, feel free to correct me. If he is bay dun, he has at least one black gene, and at least one agouti gene. He may or may not carry red. Without testing, I would assume he is hetero for dun, black and agouti. I would also assume he is not silver, since silver is fairly uncommon in QHs and is in specific lines of the breed.



Eclipse295 said:


> I was trying to figure out if Appaloosa patterns(Leopard Genes) are random occurrences or if they are passed down from parents to foal.
> 
> The reason I question this is I have seen people breed Leopard pattern studs to solid mares and get blanket patterns, or seen people breed Solid studs who carry the Leopard gene and get Blankets, Leopards, and Snowflakes.
> 
> ...


Colour patterns are always inherited from the parents of the foal. Always. As for the intricacies of LP and PATN inheritance, well that is not my thing and I have no way to explain it so you will understand, as I barely get it myself. Someone else will surely be along that can.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Your mare looks to have a blanket. Does she?


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## Eclipse295 (Nov 30, 2010)

Like I said, or maybe I didn't type it bought thought it. 

I Have no CLUE about any horse genes or anything to do with breeding we didn't plan to breed her. With the timeline she is due she was bred within the month or the month before we adopted her.

I am pretty sure she has a blanket.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

I am far from an expert in Appy genetics, but I do know that one potential sign of zygosity is the presence or absence of spots in a blanket. She doesn't have any; that _may_ indicate she is homozygous, meaning that you should, theoretically, at least get something with Lp traits like mottled skin or roaning. With any luck you'll get another blanket.


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## Eclipse295 (Nov 30, 2010)

Zygosity? Definition please?


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Homozygous versus heterozygous. Whether they have two copies of the same gene or two different alleles (types). If they are homozygous, they will always pass the same gene on, regardless of the other parent...meaning that if she is homozygous "leopard," she'll always have a leopard foal with some kind of Appy characteristics or color. If she is heterozygous, when bred to a non-Appaloosa stallion, only half her foals will have Appy traits.


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## GhostwindAppaloosa (Jun 3, 2011)

without having foal pix of her and knowing what both her parents were... its hard to say waht she is. My best guess on her is that she is a snocap. Which means that she is homozygous for the LP gene. This means that when bred with a solid colored horse she will produced a foal with spots. This can be anything from a tiny spotted blanket... to a full leopard.


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

Your mare is blanketed - evident because there is no varnish on the hip bone point, but I can't tell for sure from the pictures if she is a snowcap. If she is a snowcap, you will have a colored foal - could be any pattern except a homozygous fewspot or snowcap. If she is not a snowcap, it gets more complicated, but you still have a substantial chance of color. The foal may or may not be dun, and could be both colored and dun.

Sooo...if your mare is homozygous you will have a colored non dun foal or a colored dun foal. If your mare is not a snowcap you will have either a colored dun, colored non dun, solid dun, or solid non dun foal.

Then there are the base coat issues Chiilaa mentioned.

Are we having fun yet?...:rofl:


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## Eclipse295 (Nov 30, 2010)

Faceman said:


> Are we having fun yet?...:rofl:


Yeah, Lots of fun. Why do Appaloosa's have to be so darn confusing...

I was attempting to figure out what these patterns all where and what the differences were.:shock: OMG.


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

I love her color patteren


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## Eclipse295 (Nov 30, 2010)

Country Woman said:


> I love her color patteren


Thanks! I just wish she was easier to keep clean.


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