Mavourneen Wrote:
> What's this type of colouring called, does anyone
> know? Why I ask is I remember reading about a
> horse of the same coloring when I was a kid, in
> one of the "Brumby" books. Has anyone ever heard
> of this colouring elsewhere? How fascinating!
The particlar white pattern that he has is known as Medicine Hat in Pinto circles.
I submitted the following artcile to yesterday's Sunday papers on the subect:
Mike McHardy of Rathmor Stud in the Kwazulu-Natal midlands was given the fright of his life last Wednesday morning when his top Rakeen broodmare Perakeen gave birth to a white foal by Summerhill Stud stallion Kahal.
It is believed that this is the first time in South African history that a white thoroughbred foal has been born.
The layman would be surprised to learn this as many “white” throughbreds are seen, even at the racecourse.
However, these horses are actually greys. Greys are born with a base colour, usually bay, chestnut or black, but an inherited gene slowly removes pigment from the coat and they might eventually appear to be white.
McHardy said the colt is destined to be named The Great White.
White patterned horses of any breed fall under a category of horse known as Pinto.
The Rathmore stud colt has an unusual pattern called Medicine Hat in that he is white all over except for his ears which are chestnut .
McHardy said, “It was frightening. I don’t know whether to be happy or sad and at first I wondered why this had to happen to one of my best mares. He is definitely by Kahal, there is no doubt.”
The world’s first ever white thoroughbred registered was a filly born in 1963 in Kentucky called White Beauty. She was a genetic mutation. By the end of 2005, only 48 white thoroughbreds had been registered in history, but 28 of these occurred between 2001 and 2005 as a result of the American Paint Horse Association, which specifically breeds unusually coloured thoroughbreds and quarter horses.
White colouring, whether white markings, white patterns or dominant white, is collectively known as depigmentation phenotypes, and is caused by areas of skin that lack pigment cells.
It has various genetic causes, but much of the genetics behind all-white depigmentation phenotypes is still unknown.
Alan Bechard, a Midlands veterinarian, has sent a DNA sample of the Rathmor Stud foal to Onderstepoort where experts will confirm the parentage and attempt to identify the genes that have caused the colouring.
Northern Dancer, the great stallion who appears in most thoroughbred pedigrees today, is said to be an example of a minimally marked sabino, a colour pattern that falls under the Pinto term, and he and some of his offspring have occasionally passed on this gene.
The Rathmor Stud foal has Northern Dancer in his male and female lines and this is perhaps where the colouring originated from.
Perakeen, who is by Rakeen, won five races and was a runner up in a Grade 3 and a Listed race.
She had produced two previous foals, a bay colt by King Of Kings and a bay colt by Miesque’s Approval, and both were selected for the National Yearling Sale.
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