# How Popular Are Chestnut Standardbreds?



## piglet (Oct 2, 2012)

They were bred for speed at the trot or pace. The color came along with the genes for speed, and came from the mix of horses that made the breed.

Thoroughbreds, on the otherhand, seem to have more than their share of chestnuts.


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

No good horse is a bad color. 

If someone is choosing a horse to buy or breed and color is a factor, it is all personal preference. Some love chestnuts and others hate them, but you will find those same responses for every horse color


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## peekaboo56 (Jan 23, 2014)

I didn't mean that it was bad; I love her color. Just in some breeds, the breeders, will try not create a certain color.


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

peekaboo56 said:


> I didn't mean that it was bad; I love her color. Just in some breeds, the breeders, will try not create a certain color.


It is all personal preference of the breeder if color matters. 

Excessive white is undesirable in Arabians competing in halter (breed standard) but there are large numbers of breeders who breed for pinto coloring on their purebred Arabians. The performance ring at the breed shows are much more accepting of excessive white on purebreds. 

Some breeders may even breed for a color because it is uncommon in the breed. There are always problems if you breed for color though, it should just be the color of frosting on a cake, not a main ingredient. Color breeders are notorious for putting color over conformation, breed type and temperament.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

I think it's just by chance that there are less chestnuts in Standardbreds, as they are bred for speed, not colour or looks. 

Chestnut is a recessive gene, which means both parents have to pass on a red gene for the foal to be chestnut. Genetically, bays are more likely.


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## Tracer (Sep 16, 2012)

Here in Australia, it's relatively rare to find a Chestnut Standardbred, purely because the E (black) gene is more common. There are getting to be more and more greys and even a few pintos, but Chestnuts seem to be in fairly high demand when they come up.

As an example, I was recently talking to a woman at the vets about a Standardbred I had on trial. Her first question? "Is he bay or black?" xD


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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

This is interesting because we have always had chestnut standardbreds. I never really thought of them as "rare" we never bred for color we bred for horses that would hopefully make it at the track. At one point we had two fillies (that years foal crop) were chestnuts with blazes they looked like book ends. Our old chestnut broodmare only ever had one chestnut foal (out of about five) and that foal has only ever had bay foals (about 4). 

Its more rare to find grey standardbreds the grey genes are just not super popular. Most standardbred people will breed for a horse that does its job well and is easy to handle, color is not really on the table. 

Its all about perspective I know a standardbred guy who ended up having to get a nurse mare. The nurse mare lady sent an leopard appaloosa. He laughed and laughed and thought this horse was such a strange color. He said people kept stopping on the road to look at the horses in the field, a group of 12 mostly bay mares with foals and than this white and black spotted horse.


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