Everything you wanted to know about about coloured horses and the terminology used.
Homozygous - Breeding and Genetics Information from Angrove Stud
Angrove Stud in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, is set in beautiful park land in the North East of England. Leafy with enclosed woodland and meadows; secure stock fencing, and green pastures: Angrove Stud is the ideal setting to relax a mare ready for stud. Our facilities are safe and comprehensive. Our visiting mares receive the highest standard of attention and care.
Homozygous Coloured Horses
Homozygous is a term given to a horse that will always "throw colour" - its offspring are more likely to be coloured thanks to their genetics.
The genes which control horse colour (or any other trait for that matter!) can take two alternate forms - for the sakes of example, let's say you bring your mare to Ricco, and she conceives. At this stage, the genes that go into controlling the colour of the progeny could create either a skewbald or piebald horse (a coloured), or they could create a solid coloured horse. If the same "allele's" that form these genes are present twice, then the horse is said to be homozygous.
The usual case is that two allele's are present, and the horse is heterozygous. In this case, one of the sets of genes will take precedence over the other: it will be dominant, and the other, recessive. Think of it as a switch - coloured, or non-coloured!
In case you were wondering, the condition applies to humans, animals and plants! Animal Genetics offer a range of DNA-based testing services for horses.
Angrove Stud's Homozygous Progeny
Our first foal bred at the stud is Homozygous for Tobiano: meaning he will always produce coloured tobiano progeny. Angrove Spotted Dick, also known as Pudding, (born 10-01-2007) - sire: Angrove Ricco - dam: Angrove Dancing Girl.
Spotted Dick's Equine DNA Homozygous Test Results
Angrove Spotted Dick's Gallery
