Palomino is a coat color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane and tail. Genetically, the palomino color is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called the cream gene working on a "red" (chestnut) base coat. However, most color breed registries that record palomino horses were founded before equine coat color genetics were understood as well as they are today, and hence the standard definition of a palomino is based on the coat color visible, not the underlying presence of the dilution gene.
Due to their unusual color, palominos stand out in a show ring, and are much sought after as parade horses. They were particularly popular in movies and television during the 1940s and 1950s. One of the most famous palomino horses was Trigger, known as "the smartest horse in movies," the faithful mount of the Hollywood Cowboy star Roy Rogers. Another famous palomino was Mr. Ed (real name Bamboo Harvester) who starred on his own TV show in the 1960s.
Description
Palomino
horses have a yellow or gold coat, with a white or light cream mane and
tail. The shades of the body coat color range from cream to a dark
gold.
Unless also affected by other, unrelated genes, palominos have
dark skin and brown eyes, though some may be born with pinkish skin that
darkens with age.[1] Some have slightly lighter brown or amber eyes.[2]
A heterozygous cream dilute (CR) such as the palomino must not be
confused with a horse carrying champagne dilution. Champagne (CH)
dilutes are born with pumpkin-pink skin and blue eyes, which darken
within days to amber, green or light brown, and their skin acquires a
darker mottled complexion around the eyes, muzzle, and genitalia as the
animal matures.[1]
A horse with rosy-pink skin and blue eyes in
adulthood is most often a cremello or a perlino, a horse carrying two
cream dilution genes.[3]
The presence of the sooty gene may result in
a palomino having darker hairs in the mane, tail and coat.[4] The
summer coat of a palomino is usually a slightly darker shade than the
winter coat.[4]
Colors confused with palomino
Many non-palominos may also have a gold or tan coat and a light mane and tail.
Chestnut
with flaxen: Lighter chestnuts with a light cream mane and tail carry a
flaxen gene, but not a cream dilution. For example, the Haflinger breed
has many light chestnuts with flaxen that may superficially resemble
dark palomino, but there is no cream gene in the breed.
Cremellos
carry two copies of the cream gene and have a light mane and tail but
also a cream-colored hair coat, rosy pink skin and blue eyes.
The
champagne gene is the most similar palomino mimic, as it creates a
golden-colored coat on some horses, but golden champagnes have light
skin with mottling, blue eyes at birth, and amber or hazel eyes in
adulthood.[5]
Horses with a very dark brown hair coat but a flaxen
mane and tail are sometimes called "chocolate palomino," and some
palomino color registries accept horses of such color. However, this
coloring is not genetically palomino. There are two primary ways the
color is created. The best-known is a liver chestnut with a flaxen mane
and tail. The genetics that create light flaxen manes and tails on
otherwise chestnut horses are not yet fully understood, but they are not
the same as the cream dilution. The other genetic mechanism is derived
from the silver dapple gene, which lightens a black coat to dark brown,
and affects the mane and tail even more strongly, diluting to cream or
near-white.[6]
buckskins have a golden body coat but a black mane and
tail. Buckskin is also created by the action of a single cream gene,
but on a bay coat.
Dun horses have a tan body with a darker mane and
tail plus primitive markings such as a dorsal stripe down the spine and
horizontal striping on the upper back of the forearm.
The pearl gene
in a homozygous state creates a somewhat apricot-colored coat with pale
skin. When crossed with a single cream gene, the resulting horse, often
called a "pseudo-double-dilute", appears visually to be a cremello.
Color breed registries
In
the United States, some palomino horses are classified as a color
breed. However, unlike the Appaloosa or the Friesian, which are distinct
breeds that also happen to have a unique color preference, Palomino
color breed registries often accept a wide range of breed or type if the
animals are properly golden-colored. The Palomino cannot be a true
horse breed, however, because palomino color is an incomplete dominant
gene and does not breed "true". A palomino crossed with a palomino may
result in a palomino about 50% of the time, but could also produce a
chestnut (25% probability) or a cremello (25% probability). Thus,
palomino is simply a partially expressed color allele and not a set of
characteristics that make up a "breed."
Because registration as a
palomino with a color breed registry is based primarily on coat color,
horses from many breeds or combination of breeds may qualify. Some
breeds that have palomino representatives are the American Saddlebred,
Tennessee Walking Horse, Morgan and Quarter Horse. The color is fairly
rare in the Thoroughbred, but does in fact occur and is recognized by
The Jockey Club.[7] Some breeds, such as the Haflinger and Arabian, may
appear to be palomino, but are genetically chestnuts with flaxen manes
and tails, as neither breed carries the cream dilution gene. However, in
spite of their lack of cream DNA, some palomino color registries have
registered such horses if their coat color falls within the acceptable
range of shades.
While the color standard used by palomino
organizations usually describe the ideal body color as that of a "newly
minted gold coin" (sometimes mistakenly claimed to be a penny), a wider a
body color range is often accepted, ranging from a cream-white color to
a deep, dark, chocolate color ("chocolate palomino"), that may actually
be silver dapple or liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail.
Requirements for registration
In
the United States, there are two primary color breed registries for
Palomino-colored horses, the Palomino Horse Association (PHA), and the
Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA).
The Palomino Horse
Association (PHA) registers palomino horses of any breed and type "on
color and conformation."[8] The shade of color considered ideal by the
PHA is the color of a gold coin, but shades of palomino from light to
dark gold are accepted. The mane and tail are required to be white,
silver, or ivory, but up to 15% dark or reddish-brown hair is accepted.
In the interest of breeding palomino horses, the PHA also registers full
double-dilute blue-eyed cremellos, erroneously called "cremello
palominos" by the PHA.[9][10] Horses that are not recorded by any other
registry of unknown pedigree are accepted if their color meets the PHA
definition of "palomino."[9][10]
The Palomino Horse Breeders of
America (PHBA) has stricter requirements. To be accepted by the PHBA, in
addition to color, a horse must have the general structure appropriate
to the breeds of light riding type recognized by the PHBA. The adult
height of the PHBA horse should be 14 to 17 hands (56 to 68 inches, 142
to 173 cm), and the horse must not show draft horse or pony
charasteristics. An individual that does not meet the height
requirements may still be accepted if it is registered in one of the
breed registries recognized by the PHBA.[11] The PHBA usually requires
horses or both parents of the horse to be registered by or eligible for
registration with certain recognized breed registries, including those
for the American Quarter Horse, Paint, Appaloosa, Saddlebred, Morgan,
Holsteiner, Arabian, assorted part-Arabian registries, Pinto (horse
division only), Thoroughbred, and assorted gaited horse breeds.[11]
Horses with PHBA-registered parents are also eligible even if they are
not recorded with any other breed registry. In some situations, mares
and geldings may be registered without pedigree on account of their
conformation and color only, but stallions must always have pedigrees
that are "verified in fact."[11]
The ideal PHBA body color is the
shade of "a United States gold coin". The mane and tail must be
naturally white, and may not have more than 15% black, brown or
off-colored hairs. Brown or dark Primitive markings are not accepted.
PHBA also does not accept horses that are gray or show color
characteristics of Paints, pintos, Appaloosas or cremellos or
perlinos.[11] The skin must be dark, other than pink skin on the face
connected to a white marking. The PHBA will not accept a horse for
regular registration if it has all three characteristics of a
double-dilute cream: light (or pink) skin over the body; white or
cream-colored hair over the body; and eyes of a blush cast. White
markings on the face and legs may not exceed certain limits. Leg white
may not be higher than the level of the elbow or the stifle, white on
the face may not extend past the throatlatch. Spotting and
characteristics of the Leopard complex and the various pinto patterns
are not accepted, and body spots of less than a 4 inch diameter may be
allowed.[11] Horses with non-dark skin on the body, white or creamy coat
and pink skin around the eyes are not accepted. Spots of pink skin
visible in the muzzle or around the eyes, under the tail and between the
hind legs are not accepted. An exception is made for horses registered
with the American Saddlebred Horse Association, which may have skin of
any color.[11] Accepted eye colors are black, brown, blue and hazel.
However, horses with blue or partially blue eyes are accepted only if
their registration certificate from a recognized breed association
mentions the eye color, they are also accepted on horses of unknown
pedigree if they are gelded or spayed.[11]
References
1^
a b Cook, D; Brooks S, Bellone R, Bailey E (2008). "Missense Mutation
in Exon 2 of SLC36A1 Responsible for Champagne Dilution in Horses". In
Barsh, Gregory S. PLoS Genetics 4 (9): e1000195.
doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000195. PMC 2535566. PMID 18802473. "Foals
with one copy of CR also have pink skin at birth but their skin is
slightly darker and becomes black/near black with age."
2^ Locke, MM;
LS Ruth, LV Millon, MCT Penedo, JC Murray, AT Bowling (2001). "The
cream dilution gene, responsible for the palomino and buckskin coat
colors, maps to horse chromosome 21". Animal Genetics 32 (6): 340–343.
doi:10.1046/j.1365-2052.2001.00806.x. PMID 11736803. "The eyes and skin
of palominos and buckskins are often slightly lighter than their
non-dilute equivalents."
3^ "Horse Coat Color Tests". UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
4^ a b Johanna, Viitanen (2007). Hevosen värit [Colours of the horse] (in (Finnish)). Vudeka. pp. 56–58. ISBN 978-952-99464-8-8.
5^
"Genetics of Champagne Coloring." The Horse online edition, accessed
May 31, 2007 at http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=9686
6^ The silver dapple gene is not a graying gene. It is a dilution gene which acts only on black pigment.
7^ "Coat Colors of Thoroughbreds"
8^ Registration and Membership Instructions Palomino Horse Association Registration and Membership, accessed December 6, 2009
9^ a b "Palomino Horse Association History". Palomino Horse Association. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
10^ a b "Registration and Membership Instructions". Palomino Horse Association. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
11^ a b c d e f g "2009 Registration and Transfer Rules". Palomino Horse Breeders of America. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
"Horse coat color tests" from the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab
"Introduction
to Coat Color Genetics" from Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of
Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. Web Site accessed
January 12, 2008