Net Bytes - November/December 2000
compiled by Jean Sorensen

To Greener Pastures
Bold Forbes: 1973-2000, died August 9 at age 27. He was euthanized due to renal failure and complications from gastroenteritis. He was the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner, having won the Derby in 1976. He had been a resident and member of Kentucky Horse Park's Hall Of Champions since being retired from stud duty at Arthur Hancock's Stone Farm in April 1991. He was buried near Thoroughbred champion Forego, Saddlebred CH Imperator, and Standardbred Rambling Willie.

Olisco: 1980-2000. The bay Selle Francais stallion was found dead in his stall on Sept 16. He was a fabulous show jumper and sire.

Bold: 1981-2000. The Jacksonville Police Horse that was the 1997 Breyerfest dinner model died in Reddick, FL at the home of his owner on August 14th. He was 19 years old and had a large cancerous tumor in his abdomen that was diagnosed in the fall of 1999, but was in operable. He lived his last months in pasture with his 30-year-old mother.

Part-Bred Arabians (Half-Arabian, Morab, 'Pintabian' and Welara)
~ The Half-Arabian Registry keeps track of high-percentage Arabian crosses. They do this by adding a prefix to the registration number representing the number of crosses to an Arabian. So, a half-Arabian has a registration number that begins 1A; a 3/4 Arabian's number begins with 2A; a 7/8 Arabian has 3A; a 15/16 Arabian has 4A; and so on. Thus you can identify the degree of Arabian blood just by looking at the number.

~The only way to get a Pintabian is to breed a purebred Arabian to some sort of tobiano-spotted horse. Then keep breeding the offspring to more purebred Arabians (and praying for color), until you get a tobiano horse with at least 99.2% Arabian blood (which, for those of you who are curious and don't have a calculator handy, takes 7 generations!). You could also get a Pintabian by breeding a Pintabian to a Pintabian, if you can find two of them. That is why it is preferable to use the terms AraPinto or Pintarab. They're just as easy to use and no restrictions except that one parent need to be a purebred Arabian!

Now, if all you want is a pinto colored Half Arabian, then you can breed one purebred Arabian to any other horse that is pinto and hope that the foal is pinto when it is born. The IAHA maintains the Half-Arabian Registry and all that is needed is that one parent be a registered, purebred Arabian.

Paint x Arabian crosses are popular, as are Spotted Saddlebred x Arabian crosses. The Paint x Arabian crosses are also eligible for the "Quarab" registry as Spotted Quarabs. (A Quarab is ½ QH ½ Arabian.)

~In England, Arab x Welsh crosses are not called "Welara's". It's strictly a US term. If an Arab x Welsh cross was registered in England (many don't), they would be Part-Bred Arab's (PBAs) or 'possibly' as Part-Bred Welsh but they aim more for sport horses than ponies (a lot of eventers/hunter trials for example are part Welsh Cob).

Straight From The Horses Mouth
Morab information: http://www.morabnet.com/. Look under the section called "ethics".
Formula for Morab Breeding Program:
Mare: Registered Arabian then the sire must be Registered Morgan or Morab 50% Morgan--50% Arabian blood
Mare: Registered Morgan then the sire must be Registered Arabian or Morab 50% Morgan--50% Arabian blood
Mare: Registered Morab with 50% Morgan--50% Arabian blood, then the sire must be Registered Morgan, Arabian or Morab may have even % of bloodlines or 25-75%
Mare: Registered Morab with less than 50% Morgan or 50% Arabian blood then the sire must be a Registered Morab
*** Note: Any other breeding being considered by Morab owners must be discussed with the registry before the breeding takes place to avoid later misunderstandings involving registration.
BLOODLINES: The study of bloodlines of each breed, the Arabian and the Morgan, is to reveal a consistency in the ability of such breeding stock to pass on many outstanding and desired traits. There are many individuals used for breeding that have inherited a bloodline lineage noted for their ability to 'impart' desired qualities to their offspring. These qualities need to be evaluated by the prospective Morab breeder in terms of goals of breeding, equestrian discipline and expected talent of the product. There should be an attempt to blend the heritage of the Arabian and the Morgan with credible bloodlines for our present and future Morabs.

What Does It Mean?
Question: What does 3x3 mean on a pedigree?
A horse that is 3x3 means that the same ancestor appears twice in the third generation of the pedigree. The horse may appear twice on the dam's side, twice on the sire's side or once on each side. So if a pedigree is 3x3x5, the ancestor appears twice in the third generation and once in the 5th.
If you had the same horse show up in different generations, lets say 3rd and 4th generation on the sire's side and 4th and 5th on dams side, the sire would be 3x4 for horse A & the dam would be 4x5 for horse A. So for a foal from these two horses, it would be 4x5x5x6 for horse A.

Silver Dapple
Silver dapple is NOT expressed on chestnut. It acts only on the black pigment, which a chestnut has none of. So a chestnut may carry the gene (like a black horse can carry the cream gene) but it will be unexpressed. There are no "chestnut silver dapples".
The typical expression on a black basecoat would be the chocolate/mocha sort of body color, with or without the wild dappling, and a nearly white mane and tail (not yellow like flaxen).
The typical expression on a bay basecoat would give something that looks at first glance a lot like a flaxen chestnut, but the lower legs will be darker than a chestnut, and the mane/tail usually is lighter and more "silvery" in shade.

Colorful Friesians
There was quite a discussion on what to do with non-black Friesians. We know they happen but can you show them? Every provable offspring of two registered Friesians is registerable. A chestnut Friesian (or silver dapple or spotted) will only be allowed in the "Foal Book," whether he is registered with the Dutch FPS (the North American affiliate is FHANA) or with the German FPZV (their North American affiliate is FHS). The Foal Book only acknowledges that his parents are both fully-registered in the Studbook. If he were a mare, he would not be granted breeding rights. If he were a stallion, he would not be considered for presentation at the stallion examinations. There are a lot of reasons why a horse may not be advanced from the foal book, including too much white, unsoundness (even if due to an injury), certain conformation faults (such as parrot mouth), and, of course, NOT being black! So the chestnut is still registered as a Friesian, he'll just never be approved for breeding.

The current Dutch rules for Friesian breeding require stallion candidates to be tested for the chestnut gene. Carriers are not eligible to become Approved breeding stallions. They might be presented in-hand at the January stallion show in the possibility that they pass the first two rounds and gain the equivalent of "ster" status, which can only benefit their sire and dam towards a "Preferent" title. (Owners seem more likely to have the red test done *after* the stallion show.) There are currently 10 or 12 stallions known to carry the red gene and they all trace to the stallion Freark. Of course this does not mean that all the carriers received the gene from Freark...only that the Dutch blame it on him.

Also, stallions, which are lame due to injury, are allowed to be presented again the following year. If the lameness is a permanent injury, then he is out of luck because movement and performance are the most important parts of the stallion testing and how could a lame horse be judged on his movement? The jury can not simply take the word of the owner that "if he was sound, he'd have excellent movement".

So, when it comes to showing them, what do you do? Anything but a black Friesian should be automatically disqualified in the Friesian breed class since a color other than black is not acceptable by the Friesian associations. I would gladly take a chestnut one, wouldn't you? The options found so far are:

1. Show it as some kind of crossbreed. Being chestnut, how about as a Moresian (Morgan x Friesian). Of course, there is that little problem that most Morgan/Friesian crosses don't look like purebred Friesians! Soooo……
   
   
2. Show it as a part-bred Friesian. There was a breeder at Equitana this year that had several of his 1/2 and 3/4 breds, and they were stunning horses! He had everything from palominos to a wild leopard appaloosa. There were even photos in his book of a silver dapple! All of the young horses exhibited the feathering and the lush manes of their dad, as well as his topline.
   
   
3. Chestnut Friesians could be registered as an American Warmblood. The AWS seems to take just about anything BUT does require inspection and a passing score for approval.
   
   
4. How about as a Finnhorse? Chestnut is the most common color. See pictures at: www.geocities.com/uunotar/finnhorse.html. They do come in flaxen chestnuts also and the Breyer Friesian flaxen chestnut SR works the best according to Satu.
   
   
5. Why doesn't someone make a registry for Friesians other than black? How about the Friesian Sport Horse Registry then? "The mission of the FSHR is to join together people who love Friesians and the Friesian cross horse. This registry is not affiliated with FHANA or the German Friesian registries. Thus horses barred or denied registry in these said registries are welcomed to join FSHR. The purpose of the FSHR is the document, preserve and perpetuate the percentage of Friesian blood in horses registered with it." It's at www.fshr.org.
   
   
6. From 'Carriage Driving' magazine, Aug/Sept: NEW ARAB/FRIESIAN CLUB
   A new club has been formed to support breeding and the use in sport of Arab-Friesian horses. The club also plans to sponsor horses in future events. The well-known Belgian driving team Aerts/Schrijvers has turbo Friesians which are a quarter Arab and three-quarters well-selected Friesian. The Arab bloodline offers lasting top performance while the Friesian is cool, flexible, collaborative and sensitive.

For more information and photos on 'colorful' Friesians, check out these web sites:
Obizuth: 2yo chestnut Friesian filly, Laes x Abracadabra (deceased)
http://www.geocities.com:0080/Heartland/4075/obizuth.html or http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4075/obizuth991.jpg
Chestnut Friesian mare: http://www.cartersfriesians.com/Juliet.htm
Spanish Mustang/Friesian cross colt: http://www.thundervalleystables.com/html/pictures.html

Iron Metal Chief

------Sterling Merry Boy - Sterling Silver x Merry Snow Lady
----Zane Grey
------Lady Anne - Golden Governor x Nancy Anne
--Missouri Traveler E.
------Golden Governor - Dark Gold King x Betty Fox
----Lady Anne
------Nancy Anne - Ted x Miss Ozark [Old Fox x ?]
Iron Metal Chief ®
------Midnight Mack K - Midnight Sun x Panola
----Mack K's Society Ace
------Society's Black
--Lady Chantilly Lace
------Wagon Train - Joe's Wagon Train x Society Maid
----Sugar Cookie
------May Flower Delight - Traveler x A Croner mare

Thoroughbred Color
The Jockey Club 'officially' allows the following colors:
Bay (includes buckskin)
Dark bay/brown
Grey/roan
Chestnut (includes palomino)
Black

What is put down on the registration form isn't always a guarantee that that is the color of the horse. There ARE palomino (Glitter Please was one) purebred Thoroughbred's. They just get registered as chestnuts! There are also buckskins that are registered as bay. Cremellos also occur.

"Roan" is actually grey (or rarely, sabino) and is what you would call "rose grey". To the Jockey Club, roan meant a mixture of white and red/brown hairs (i.e. rose grey or sometimes wild sabinos like Puchi). Prior to 1993, the JC registered grey and "roan" as separate colors. For foals of 1993 onward, they are registered as one color. However, they are all grey. Blacks are registered as "dark bay or brown" most of the time. Since both sabino (with loud body spotting and all-white sabinos) and rabicano (rare but there often in combination with sabino - What A Pleasure produced both) are found in the Arabian, you can also find both in the Thoroughbred thanks to their Arabian ancestry. Some lines throw sabino, but sabino is registered as the base coat color with the markings shown on the registration form. Whites are usually registered as white.

They do not come in true roan, dun, champagne, silver dapple, tobiano, or splash white. That is to say, none have ever been confirmed yet in any of those colors. :-) And since these are dominant and for the most part, cannot "hide", we can assume that if there aren't any around now, there won't be any in the future. Some clipped chestnuts look dun so some people swear there are dun TBs. Back stripes are also not uncommon in TBs, adding to the confusion (but never have seen other primitive marks like cobwebbing/stripes).

There are possibly a few frame overos (but frame is dominant too) in the TB breed but whether these are TRUE frame overos (i.e. a mutation or somehow carried along with sabinos for years and years) OR simply oddball sabinos is not known yet. But they are out there and LOOK like frames. But most seem to have a lot of sabino in their pedigree.

Of that bunch, the most likely to be lurking along in minimal form is the Splash gene. It's not likely to show up but that's what everyone thought about grey Morgans for a very long time too - that they had become extinct. Then one last remaining line of them was found to exist. So never say never.

I See Spots
Birdcatcher spots, Tetrarch spots, and Candy spots are all white spots. "Birdcatcher", "Tetrarch" and "Candy" because of the Thoroughbreds which had them - Birdcatcher, The Tetrarch and Candy Spots. The Tetrarch was a grey with 'white spatters' foaled in Ireland about 1911. There is a picture of him when he was about two (the only season he raced) on the Del Mar pedigree site. The Tetrarch had big chubari spots, a recognized variation on grey. The spots are egg shaped and egg-sized (or bigger) and have a transparent appearance, as if someone had flicked bleach at the horse, then wiped it up quick. The spots are usually just a transient stage - they don't have white skin underneath, and as the horse greys out, they disappear. For some reason, this color seems to be fairly prevalent on Arabs of Spanish ancestry, so it is to be presumed that The Tetrarch got it from his Arab ancestors. Birdcatcher spots are small and usually permanent. Candy Spots was a chestnut with white spatters foaled in the 60s.

Bend Or spots are black or dark spots, often appearing on chestnuts. Man O'War is said to have had them.

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