September/October Net Bytes
Compiled by Jean Sorensen

To Greener Pastures
1984 grey pacer Laag died on Friday, July 5, 2002, at Boxwood Farm in New Jersey. He was 18. The son of Abercrombie x Tinsel by Meadow Skipper had been in declining health in the past year and had been withdrawn from public service. He sired winners of over $49.6 million, including the millionaire sons Bilateral and Jet Laag.

Ardith Carlton's January 2002 Hoof Beats article on Laag: www.ustrotting.com/hoofbeats/laag-ja.htm. It has a nice photo of him as a mature stallion. You can also view him at: www.boxwood.trot.net and www.studrow.com/laag.htm

------Henry T. Adios 1958
----Silent Majority 1969
--Abercrombie 1975 br
------Duane Hanover 1952
----Bergdorf 1967
------Princess Best 1959
LAAG 1984 grey
------Dale Frost 1951
----Meadow Skipper 1960
------Countess Vivian 1950
--Tinsel 1971 grey
------Task Force
----Kathleen Grattan 1956
------Alice Grattan 1937

1989 Kentucky Derby winner Sunday Silence died August 19, 2002, from heart failure. He'd been battling an infection in his leg and the debilitating effects of laminitis among other things the last 14 weeks. He was by Halo x Wishing Well. He also won the 1989 Preakness and Breeder's Cup Classic.

Exported to Japan, he began stud duty there in 1991. He was Japan's leading sire for the last 8 years. He will be laid to rest at Shadai Stallion Station.

Straight From The Horses Mouth -Oldenburg Licensing
The terms "licensed" and "approved" are used interchangeably by many people, which can sometimes be misleading.

In the past in Oldenburg, "licensed" meant the stallion had been granted a breeding license. If the stallion had not yet met his performance requirements, he was only allowed to breed for one or two years. If he did not complete the performance requirements in that time frame, his license expired. Stallions who did complete the performance requirements were given permanent breeding licenses, which is what many people mean by "approved".

It's a bit different in Oldenburg now in that the young stallions are temporarily approved to go to the 30-day test but they cannot breed before passing the 30-day test. Once they pass the 30-day test, they get a temporary breeding license, but must complete a 70-day test in order to get their permanent license (i.e., become fully "approved").

Things are a bit different in North America because of the lack of enough stallion testing events. An example, Noble Champion was fully approved by the Oldenburg Verband in Germany before importation and is therefore also considered approved by GOV here in North America and his foals out of approved mares can receive full (pink) Oldenburg papers issued from the Verband's office in Germany.

Chris Hutchings, Editor
The Oldenburg Horse

Branding Trakehners
In Germany (for the time being) the foals are branded at the foal inspections. Stallions can also receive a neck brand after approvals. In the U.S. (each daughter organization has a distinguishing mark added to the antler brand) the antler brand is modified by a curved bar underneath the antlers. Horses can be branded at any age although the antlers will not increase in size if an adult is branded.

Catch A Bird
An unusual bay "roan" Thoroughbred stallion, foaled in NZ, standing at Harrington Thoroughbreds, Narrogin, Western Australia. He was raced and has won.

------Vienna (GB) 1957 ch
----Vaguely Noble (IRE) 1965 b
------Noble Lassie (GB) 1956 b
--Noble Bijou 1971 b
-----Hail To Reason 1958 br
----Priceless Gem 1963 dkb/br
-----Searching 1952 b
Catch A Bird 1982 "brown"
------Whistler (GB) 1950 ch
----Showoff (IRE) 1962 ch
------Fair Amazon (GB) 1949 ch
--Showy Countess (NZ) 1969
------Count Rendered (GB) 1945 br
----Sleepy Countess (NZ) 1960 br
------Sleepy Jean (NZ) 1949 blk

Catch A Bird can be see in the book Horse Color Explained by Jeanette Gower. He's an oddly marked, dark bay with white striping - not rabicano or brindling but something 'odder'. The stripes are "vertical rows of white spots without underlying pink skin, joined like strips primarily over the rib and hindquarters". His color has apparently remained unchanged since birth.

Out of 40 foals, he has thrown four roans. All four were bay roans and all are said to be true roan in phenotype. The oldest is a filly named Odd Colours, also pictured in the book as a foal to adulthood (with corn spots). All the mares involved were chestnut and all four foals were blood-typed as being from those parents. They are registered in the Australian Stud Book as bays with ticking.

What happened to make Catch A Bird? The author speculates that he is a mutation as his parents were ordinary in color. He does have a coon tail which isn't an exclusively rabicano trait since sabino can display it was well. So mutation, rabicano run amok or something else being skewed, he is a most unique fellow, never having reproduced his unusual pattern, and time will tell if his offspring breed "roans" like themselves down the line or if they are a mutation as well.

Current Leading TB Sires

• Our Emblem (sire of War Emblem) 91 by Mr. Prospector
• Dehere , 91 by Deputy Minister
• Gulch, 84 Mr. Prospector
• Wild Again, 80 by Icecapade
• Carson City, 87 by Mr. Prospector
• Broad Brush, 83m by Ack Ack

As of 7/20/02 TB Times

French Trotter Naming
French Trotters are given names that start with the same letter in a given year; the next year, the names all start with the next letter of the alphabet. Lutin d'Isigny was foaled in 1977 making it the "L" year.

Of Note: Dame d'Isigny's offspring have a two-word name, with "d'Isigny" the second word.

Caspians
Caspians are horses not ponies. Check out Kristull Ranch in Texas at: www.caspianhorse.com
www.caspians.com -history, imports
www.caspian.org - Caspian Horse Society of the Americas
www.caspianpony.com

Caspians are commonly chestnut, bay, grey, black or buckskin (cream is present) and can be sabino and rabicano.

Breeding groups in the world: Iran does not export. Breeding herds exist in the UK, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia and the US. The US currently has about 300 Caspians.

The UK studbook is online at:
www.caspianbreedsociety.co.uk/

HYPP Result Codes
HYPP - Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis
H/H = Hyperkalemic - Homozygous for HYPP (two copies of the HYPP gene).
N/H = Hyperkalemic - Heterozygous (one normal and one HYPP gene).
N/N = Normal - Does not possess the disease-causing HYPP gene.

The condition is inherited as a dominant trait, which means a heterozygous (N/H) stallion or mare bred to a normal (N/N) horse will result in approximately half of the offspring being affected and half being normal. The rare homozygote (H/H) is usually severely affected with the disease.

Currently, the AQHA now requires tests for HYPP in any horse from Impressive bloodlines. The Paint and ApHC encourages tests but does not require them.

Fjords In Sweden
In Sweden, white dun is a bay + dun + cream. It is also called uls dun. Bay + dun is called brown dun. Brown dun is the most common and most popular color today. White duns were very popular further back but because of the risk of double dilute foals, the color decreased in popularity.

There are two white dun stallions at the moment in Sweden that are hardly used at all because of the color.

Black + dun is called mouse dun or grey dun. This could be a little bit confusing since the grey gene does not exist in Fjords. Grey here simply means "mouse-colored". A grey dun with a cream gene is also called grey or mouse dun. The cream gene is not visible on a mouse dun and breeders avoid matings between them (and other single dilutes), unless they are perfectly sure that one of them is "safe" colored. The cream gene is very unpopular among breeders and double diluted Fjords are consequently very rare today but they do exist.

Red dun + cream is called yellow dun, also a very rare color.

Keepsake and Dark-Legged Tobiano Patterns
Documentation for Keepsake's one solid leg can be found here: www.redfoxfarmtx.com/spotfoals.html. Look for "Miss Golden Delight." She is about 3/4 of the way down the page and is a dun tobiano APHA mare with only 3 white legs. This filly is a good example of the phase of the pattern where you will see the rare dark leg. Her leg white (where she has it) doesn't extend up the body, and her topline white does not extend down to her belly.

On "classic" tobiano, dark legs are not seen - at least not outside the Shetland and its relatives. Perhaps it could happen but proof hasn't been seen yet.

The Shetland breeds are a whole other matter. There is a lot of oddness to the tobiano pattern on them that goes beyond just the higher tendency towards dark legs. On Shetlands (and related breeds - I'll keep using Shetland though for simplicity, but you can insert Icelandic, Miniature and American Shetland) there are a whole host of oddities that make them somewhat different from tobianos of other breeds. In general, the tobiano pattern has a strong tendency to stay roughly symmetrical. This means that the amount of dark on each side will be similar.

This is less true for Shetlands. Look at this page of Shetlands (with it's own assortment of dark legs, by the way!): www.foam.co.uk/fairytail/prod02.htm

On Shetlands (these are British Shetlands), the pattern will sometimes skew from side to side, as it does with Bulkgwyn Taloula. Other times it will skew from back to front, concentrating the colored area to the forehand to an unusual degree. This is seen to a moderate degree in Hermit's Elizabeth and Toyhorse Miss Demure [see website] - it has been seen far more pronounced in others. Tobiano also appears to creep up the jaw in odd ways (remember that British Shetlands do not have sabino or other overo patterns). You can see a mild case of this on Hermit's Elizabeth.

This is why it's strongly suggested to not use Shetland tobiano photos (and to a lesser degree, Miniature or Icelandics) as painting references for other breeds. Usually modifying genes don't differ significantly from breed to breed. Taking patterns from this page, and placing them on an ISH might result in a horse that would never exist in reality.

Minimal Tobiano
There are examples of every possible variation in amount of white from lots to a little, but for some strange reason there are particular stallion's offspring that want to fall into a couple or a few similar categories. For instance, the APHA stallion Spotlight, who seems to sire a whole lot of very minimal tobianos and a whole lot of 50-60% white tobianos and not much else.

Art Deco's owner has commented that her minimal-tobiano stallion was getting mostly average-tobiano foals and one of the average-tobiano stallions was getting lots of minimal-tobiano foals.

In Spotlight's case, he is both tobiano and sabino, and perhaps when the foal gets only tobiano, it's a minimal one and when it gets both tobiano and sabino, it's a loud one. And some of those babies are really loud toveros so it's possible they got sabino (or another 'overo' gene) from mom as well.

Minimal Tobiano Icelandics
There are two related female lines of Icelandic horses where minimal tobianos are the norm. The expression is so small as to be just 4 white feet.

The only known overo pattern in Icelandics is splash white, which produces in its minimal form blue eyes and usually one or two white front feet. If you get an Icelandic with four perfectly matched high white feet and a solid or only minorly marked white face, you're just as likely to be looking at a minimal tobiano as not.

Also, remember that the genetic test for 'homozygous tobiano' isn't actually for the tobiano gene. It's for a marker in the blood that happens to sit on the same part of the chromosome as the tobiano gene. So a horse is tested to see if they have the blood markers.

However, there are some horses who have tested positive for the blood marker (or 'informative') that are not tobianos and will never produce a tobiano foal and it's because they're testing for a gene that sits next to the tobiano gene loci! So you will find some 'minimally marked homozygous tobianos' that just aren't. Even though they've tested positive, they actually only had the same gene as the marker they test for but somewhere along the way, in the shuffling deck that is genetics, the two genes that usually sit next to each other got rearranged. So this may be where these 'nothing but a white stocking homozygous tobianos' are coming from.

Mosaic
There is a 'black and tan pinto' Icelandic mare named Miljon. She is what geneticists term a MOSAIC. It's not actually a pinto pattern at all but rather the same sort of thing that creates calico cats. There have been mosaics born in dogs (a Labrador) and goats. If you assume Miljon's chestnut areas are white, then her entire head is white including the ears, which is not typical of a tobiano (or really any other pattern). And if you assume the black areas should have been white, you end up with dark legs and head, and white in areas that don't fit any of the known overo patterns.

They do not seem to reproduce the pattern. Lesli asked Dr. Sponenberg about these in Kentucky, since he was the one that wrote the article on the Labrador (it appeared in the Journal of Heredity). He said they proved to be 'a big disappointment' in that they didn't appear to be genetic. From that statement, they must have been something that occurred in-utero.

There is a photo of Miljon in Horses of the North -II by G. Palsson and K.L. Junsduttir on page 282 with the caption: "The "skew-skewbald" mare Miljon. She has variously been reported as either "chestnut and bay" or "sorrel and liver chestnut."

Simply Striking Or One More In The Weird Color Department
Simply Striking is an ASB mare with a most unusual color. Some have called it chubari (or "chubari on crack") and some have classified it as a more extreme variation on birdcatcher spots, but whatever it is, it's not known. There are plenty of genetically based colors that are not visible at birth, and are progressive in nature. One more curve ball from Mother Nature!
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=celticsoul

There was a similarly marked TB mare named Harem Queen who was a dark bay covered with very similar spots head to tail, almost resembling a very contrasting dapple rose grey, but wasn't.

Grey Foals
In very rare instances they can start greying out in utero and are born grey.

Arabian MS Czarthan (Uson x Rosanka) was born white. He certainly wasn't a sabino as his skin was dark with pink skin where normal markings would be. There were photos in at least one of the Arabian magazines at the time and he was brand new, not on his feet for the first time yet and white. Based on him, for a time, the Registry had "white" as a color choice on the application.

He sired no born-white foals. He sired normal greying foals.

Rain Recognized by APHA
"Rain," the animated co-star of the popular movie "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron," became an "official" Paint Horse recently, when APHA awarded her an honorary registration certificate.

Rain is the first animated horse to receive a registration certificate from APHA.

APHA chose to honor Rain with the certificate in "recognition of the widespread exposure DreamWorks Pictures has given Paint Horses in the film".

"Although she may be only an animated version of a horse, in her own way, Rain has exemplified the breed standards people have come to recognize in a Paint Horse," said APHA Executive Secretary Jim Kelley. "Not only is she beautiful, but she is versatile, agile, strong and intelligent--just like real American Paint Horses."

Shagya Founders
Shagya: founder Shagya, original Arab, born 1850, imported from Araby 1836, bred by the "Beni Saher" Bedouin Tribe. In his country, he was representative of the Koheil Siglavy line.

O'Bajan: founder O'Bajan, born 1880, imported 1885 from the "Anoze El Sbaa" Bedoiun tribe. The founder was black.

Juszuf: founder Mahmoud Mirza, original Arab from the Siglavy line, born in Araby 1851, bred by the "Azed" Bedouins, imported in 1865.

Kohelian: founder Kohelian Ajuz, born 1876, bred by the "Anoze el Sbaa" Bedouins, imported from Araby in 1985 from the "Dercis" tribe. This line is perhaps the most beautifully gaited.

Gazal: Founder Gazlan, original Arab, born 1840, bred by the "Anoze Kezold Alic" Bedoiun tribe. They are generally grey, massive and powerful.

Mersuch: founder Mersuch, original Arab, born 1898, father Schemed Kohelian, mother Hamdani-Semri, bought from Chaisin Pasha in 1902.

Kuheylan Ajuz: founder Kuheylan Azus I, changed from the Polish stud Gumiskai.

Kuheylan Haifi: founder Kuhelylan Haifi, changed from the Polish stud Gumiskai.

Siglavy Bagdady: original Arab, born 1895, bred by the "Anoze Buella" Bedouins. Imported in 1902.

Siglavy: original Arab, born 1811, the date and circumstances of his import are unknown. This line is very numerous, popular not only in Hungary but in Austria and Yugoslavia also. They are of strong constitution and make excellent carriage horses. They are generally grey but there are many light golden ones among them with many white marks.

Kuheylan Zaid: original Arab born 1921, imported 1931, bred by the Bouallas Enzer" Bedouins. Characterisics of this line are their elegant build. The cause of this is probably that the founder of this line was standing uninterruptedly at Babolna from 1932 to 1948 and so the original Arab whose "feet touched the sand" is very near in this line.

Ardennais Coat Color
From the French National Stud regarding the possible coat colors of the Ardennais breed:
Bay including light bay
Roan
Chestnut
Grey
The Ardennes can't be palomino.

French Coat Color Terms
Bay ~ bai
Seal brown ~ noir pangaré (earlier it was bai-brun)
Black ~ noir
Chestnut ~ alezan
Grey ~ gris
Roaning ~ rubican
Red roan ~ bai-rouanné
Blue roan ~ noir-rouanné
Strawberry roan ~ alezan-rouanné
Dun ~ isabelle
Palomino ~ the same -palomino
Silver dapple bay ~bai crins argentés
Silver dapple black ~noir crins argentés (or noir crins lavés)
Appaloosa ~ tacheté

Peruvian Paso "+" Symbol
The "+" symbol after a horse's name denotes "Medallon de Oro" (PPHRNA Lifetime Award) Winner.

Another New Creation
The "Georgian Grande" is a Saddlebred (up to 75% but never less than 25%) crossed with a Clydesdale, Shire, Percheron, Belgian or Friesian. For pictures and info, check out the link below:
http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecare/breeds/georgiangrande/

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