Metallic coat color...

[SandyMM]

In several threads I have seen references to metallic coat colors. We have a buckskin stallion with amost unusual metallic sheen to his summer coat...

I'd be interested in the genetics of this particular color... he also has a _lot_ of black over the shoulders, neck, and face plus huge dapples. In the winter he llightens up, but in the summer his base color is a metallic polished bronze color... His three offspring so far all have a lighter buckskin - crossed with a bay, chestnut, and gray (don't know base coat color).

Also interesting is that he has produced 71% buckskin (out of 7 offspring) from 3 bays, a gray (base coat?), and a buckskin.

[Polly Aulton]

I was told at one time that it was created by a mix of various colored hairs as well as some "hollow" hairs. I can't remember whether they said the hollow hairs collect or reflect the light. Having CRS is really the pits. LOL
As for your boy producing 70% buckskin you've heightened the possibility of getting that color by breeding him to horses with expressed agouti. That said the percentage of your fella passing the cream gene is higher than most. It's usually guaranteed to be passed 50% of the time.
Then there is the dun factor.... Your boy also sounds like he does have some or maybe sooty?
Guess you could say there are a lot of things that would contribute to your stallion producing a high rate of buckskin.
I think I've got this right. I'm sure someone will correct me if I don't.
Polly

[SandyMM]

Well - I'm thinking that any breeding he did would have a 50% chance of passing a creme gene. I think it's also interesting that he has 71% fillies - 80% of those are buckskin. I need a good summer picture, but he was out on 'vacation' last summer so I didn't get a chance to get a good picture.

These color genetics are curious... :question

[Terry Wallace]

On iridescence (metallic sheen) in horses coats (from Horse Color Explained, a breeder's perspective, Jeanette Gower)...

Many palominos carry an almost luminous metallic sheen known as iridesence. The finer the coat, the more likely it is that iridescence will be evident. This is often seen in chestnuts and buckskins, seldom in duns. Iridesence is under nutritional, hormonal and genetic control. The Akhal-Teke is almost exclusively iridescent.
A good-coated buckskin will glisten gold or metsallic silver in sunlight, whilst a bay will glisten copper or orange.


I was fortunate to see the Akhal-Tekes that sold maybe 20 years ago through a sale at CSU in Fort Collins. They have the most beautiful hair coats I have ever seen. They glitter like gold, I have never seen anything like it...it was sure beautiful. Another strange thing about the Akhal-Teke horses is that their eyes reflect light as pink color. Most horses reflect light as a yellow or green color.

[Beth Worden]

Oooohhh Terry Tell me about the AT's. My father said in the old country (Bella Rus) they rode them and they were like greyhounds, BUT he said they were nasty, everyone he ever handled. Did not like people at all. He said once you got on 'em they rode like the hammers of he$$, but the trick was to get on them. Tell me more.

[stella]

Favorito, and his son Clasico, also had this iridecense of the coat color, Fav in the lighter portions of his brown, which very heavy permanent dappling...passed it fairly often too....as well as blue-black non-fading mane and tail. They also were far more filly producers, about the same %.
I believe, from a Colombian magazine article I have about Cometa, that this metallic sheen is coming from Cometa, who was also a major Filly producer, and you will see that most of the female lines of the top stallions go back to him.
Probably your stud goes back to him, too.(Cometa was a dappled palomino)

[SandyMM]

No Cometa closer than 5-6 generations back... but he is listed in there a number of times 8-12 generations back.

[Polly Aulton]

Hurculeo had that iridescence as well. I don't recall Cometa in his pedigree but it's been a while since I looked at it. He was not a filly producer while I had him. :smile: He also had the dun and smut genes so he could produce all sorts of colors. A little dun, a little creme, some smut thrown in.... :lol:
Polly

[motorgypsy]

Two of our duns are very metallic - Magnifico de Besilu and his grandmother, Vanidosa (linda). Our buckskin is not metallic but then she's so light in color and her color is very strange - shot through with white hairs all over her body except her points. Her mom was a light palomino and her dad, a dapple bay.

This one shows how metallic he is. We don't have any of her that show her metallic summer coat. I do think it has to do with a hollow hair shaft. She's brown pointed and extremely pale so could be both buckskin and bay dun.

By the way - he wasn't wet, nor did he have showsheen on. He's even more metallic in the summer. You can see from his neck he already has some winter coat.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/motorgypsy/CRW_1693.jpg

[Terry Wallace]

Beth...the Akhal Tekes were being sold off of a farm owned by two Russian brothers in Colorado. This was a few months after the Chernyobl disaster, when many of the Akhal Tekes and raindeer had been irradiated by fall-out, and either died or had to be destroyed. This herd that sold in Fort Collins, at CSU veterinary college, had mostly been born and raised in the USA, and was one of the only herds left.

I was incredibly excited to go see these horses sell. I took some photos and we stayed for the entire sale.

The cowboy buyers in Colorado did not like the Akhal Teke horses. The horses were quite tall, but..they were as narrow and light built as a horse can get. I mean you could not have put your hand (flat) between their front legs, and they were somewhat slab-sided as narrow, deep heart-girth horses tend to be. As a result...they barely brought any money at all. I believe the high selling mare (a gorgeous palomino) went for $3500...that was the HIGH selling horse....I watched in disbelief as stallion after stalllion went through the sale at $500, $600, maybe $800 tops. Here was one of the rarest horses in the world...selling for just above killer prices.

It was truly a sad day for the sellers. I have some photos I took with a 35mm camera back then...I'll take a look..

I'm glad the Nez Perce Indian tribe (years later) decided to bring Akhal Teke blood into their Appaloosa herds to intermix the running blood and height of the Akhal Teke horse, and try to bring their Appaloosas closer to what they had been in the beginning.."swift, tall & good-looking"

[motorgypsy]

Here's a picture that shows how metallic they are

http://www.akhal-teke.org/images/Horse%20Pics/Aliger2.jpg

http://www.akhal-teke.org/2004ConferencePictures/ataaconference131.jpg

[Terry Wallace]

Beth....here are some of the Akhal Tekes that sold in the sale so long ago... photos are 35mm and don't really do the coats "justice"....but here they are...http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/twobarwpaso/AkhalTekestallioncloserFtCollinssal.jpg

[Terry Wallace]

three year old filly...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/twobarwpaso/AkhaltekefillyFtCollins.jpg

[Terry Wallace]

Mares & foals...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/twobarwpaso/AkhaltekemaresandfoalsFTCollins.jpg

[Terry Wallace]

Hey M/G's ...the bay you posted, and the bay I posted...sure do have an uncanny resemblance! Do you have any history on the horse you posted?

[PASOFAN]

Wow, pretty horses! I find metallic coats to be very interesting, thanks for posting pics, I helped me really to see it!! :D

[Beth Worden]

Thanks, Terry and MG for the pics. These horses do not look as ugly as my father described them. He said they were fast and some gaited! He also said they were very rank horses and did not take to training well at all.

[motorgypsy]

I got them from akhal teke.org. Here is the link for the picture. It was the 2004 Conference pictures

http://www.akhal-teke.org/2004ConferencePictures/ataaconference131.jpg