My friend breeds black. She's one of those nuts that has studied every gene on every pedigree and can tell you if the horse is "true" black or not. Well, I have a mare who comes from 15 generations of black breeding (can we say Puppy Mill? ) Anyway, in the summer she turns bay-ish. Every year it gets "worse". Last year she almost looked buckskin! I registered my bleached out black filly as black because I thought the color was alot closer to black than it was to bay but sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, I mean, when you think of a bay you think of a red horse with blk mane, tail, stockings.... I know there are things I can do to keep her black but I'm really not interested in feeding her supplements or keeping her inside or keeping her wrapped from head to toe. I'm curious about what everyone considers black. Is it a horse that NEVER fades? Is it a horse that appears black? Is it strictly a gene thing? Tell me, I'm dying to know. (For those of you who may be coming from different *mean/pissy* boards, please don't read this post as me being pissy. I like to ask question to make people think, not to stir a boiling pot. I'm a lover, not a fighter.)

ABOUT THE COLOR BLACK
Understanding True Black. A very small proportion of purebred Arabians, perhaps as few as two percent, are black. Take into consideration the number of those who may merely be dark bay or seal brown, and the ranks of the true, clear black become even smaller.

Black vs. Black vs. Brown. According to the Arabian Horse Registry, purebred Arabian horses can be registered as chestnut, bay, grey, black and roan. On The Arabian Horse Registry Website at www.theregistry.org the true black color is characterized as follows: "The entire coat, including the muzzle, flanks, and legs, must be black with the exception of white markings. If any doubt arises between black and dark bay, black can be determined by noting the fine black hair on the muzzle."

"SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BLACK COLOR"
Black horses have been rare, coveted and surrounded by mystique since antiquity. In the ancient Arab world, the horse's color was often associated with certain characteristics. Bays were said to be surefooted and enduring; chestnuts the most swift, gray were ceremonial favorites and the black horse was said to be the bearer of good fortune. The Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, is thought to be responsible for much of the Bedouins' color symbolism for horses. It is said that his favorite mare was a black and led a force 300 horses strong during the first battle of Islam.

It is perhaps because of this symbolism as well as the extreme rarity of true black Arabian horses that they were typically reserved only for the stables of sheiks and high government officials.

GENETICS OF COLOR
Since color is a genetic trait, it is necessary to include in any discussion of breeding for color, at least a cursory explanation of the genetics involved. It was not until the last two decades of the nineteenth century that tangible evidence of the mechanism of heredity began to emerge. It is now known that, in virtually all species of animals and plants at least one full set of hereditary factors must be transmitted to the offspring by each parent. Thus, characteristics, such as color, which are manifested by a particular foal are the result or the genetic influences of both the sire and the dam. Each contributes one set of chromosomes to the mating. The species, Equus Caballus, or horse, has 32 such chromosomes whereas we humans have only 23. For each chromosome contributed by the sire, there is a corresponding chromosome contributed by the dam. In this way, chromosome pairs are formed. Thus, the complete genetic code for what will become that beautiful black filly is contained on those 64 chromosomes. That is, 32 from the sire And 32 from the dam - 32 chromosome pairs.

Chromosomes and genes. For simplicity, we may imagine one chromosome as a microscopic thread consisting of a sequence of genes. Each of these, genes can be thought of as an independent starter of processes that result in producing one or more of the hereditary characteristics of the horse, such as color.

As the chromosomes occur in pairs, there would be another chromosome to compliment the one already imagined. And located upon it would be the same genes in the same sequence as the first. Thus, we could locate the genetic blueprint for the horse's coat color by finding the chromosome pair which contains the color genes and then finding the location, or locus, of the genes upon the chromosomes. In this way, we could find which genes were contributed by the sire through his chromosome and which genes were contributed by the mare.

The alternative forms of each gene are called alleles. If alleles of both the sire and dam are identical, then the offspring is said to be homozygous at that gene, if the alleles are dissimilar, then the offspring is said to be heterozygous at that gene. The expressed allele in a heterozygous is pair is known as the dominant allele, the unexpressed one as the recessive allele. Dominate allele are never hidden by their related recessive alleles.

Coat color in horses is a "polygenic" trait meaning there are many genes which effect this single trait. Although there are at least 10 genes that are responsible for coat color in the horse, we will address only 3 of them here. These are the three genes that will determine whether or not a horse is a true genetic black.

The G gene is discussed because the action of its alleles have the ability to obscure the actions of the allele of other coat- colors.

Gene G: Exclusion of Pigment from Hair. Horses show a similar phenomenon to that of humans hair silvering with age in a coIor called gray. In horses, gray is controlled by the dominant allele G. Since gray is produced by a dominant gene, at least one parent of a gray horse must be gray.

Gene E: Black Hair Pigment. If a horse has black hair in either a distinctive pattern over the points (i.e. mane, tail, ear, legs) or over the entire body, then the animal possesses an allele of the E gene which contains the instructions for placing black pigment in hair. Geneticists symbolize this allele of the E gene E. The alternative allele to E is e. Allele e allows black pigment in the skin but not in the hair. The pigment conditioned by the e allele makes the hair appear red. If an animal has no black pigmented hair, it has the genetic formula ee. So, generally speaking, there are really only two hair pigments to horses, red and black, and all of the colors we see in horses are only variations on those two.

Gene A: Distribution of Black Pigmented Hair. The recessive allele a does not restrict the distribution of black hair and thus in the presence of the allele E of the E gene a uniformly black horse is produced. In most breeds of horses, the a allele is rare, so black horses are infrequently seen.

So to summarize the genetics of breeding a black Arabian, there are really only two possible genotypic expressions that will allow a horse to be true black. Those expressions would be (1) gg, oa, EE or, (2) gg, ao, Ee.,

I am quite certain that all black horses will sun bleach to some degree by the end of the summer. The coat dries out and ages and can take on a brownish tint on parts of the body.

Now, you may have read about blue blacks or non-fading blacks, horses claiming not to fade at all. I haven't seen one myself! A horse that is allowed to live outside, be exposed to sunshine for any measurable part of the day for any extended period of time— without any fading. They all fade with sun exposure to some degree. (Gee, even black cars with tough enamel paint jobs fade over time!)

My blacks are jet black in the spring when their new coats come in, they stay that way until late August, when they take on a more faded shade in places, like perhaps a shoulder or flank. In the Fall when the winter coat come in, again they are jet black. However, during the later part of the winter months, several months of occassional laying in a urine soaked spot of their stall can cause bleaching, as well as the age and dryness of the coat in the winter.

I have two black arabians and they are black however they do fade with the sun as most blacks will. I have a friend who has a black mare that in the summer she can get to where she is buckskin. Even my bay horses will fade with the sun. However the "true black" according to most people is when the horse is born black and stays blue black all through his life as usually a black foal looks mousey at first and then turns black after it sheds. As described of Blacklord Arabi he was born black and is in fact a true black. I am sure that he may fade in late summer if he isn't stalled most of the time. But I believe a black is a black if it fades so what it doesn't matter to the horse so why should it bother us.

As I understand it - there are "fading blacks" and "non-fading blacks". Some black horses do not get sun bleached - but that is really, really, really rare. I've found these to be the ones that look blue/black in color in the light. Now, a true black horse will not have any brown on the muzzle, belly, or udder/sheath area - it will be all black skin and hair. I had a black half-Arab gelding - this is how I learned. A black bay can be almost black - but will show a slight brown color on the underside and muzzle, sometimes it can be a teeny tiny amount.

My Desi is a black bay - her coat itself is black as night - but she has the brown points, and is registered as bay with the registry - because technically she is. If she were a true black, her muzzle and underside would stay black. Most black/dark horses sun fade - our bay stallion turns from a deep red to a rich golden red/brown in the summer - but his mane and tail stay black as black, for some reason.
Desi fades a bit too - when I went to see her before we bought her - she was very faded. A bit more time in the barn during the hot hours helped that with her, as does a good conditioner and sunscreen.

Ann

My yearling colts sire's coat never fades, He's black black all summer.

Our stallion is true black, we have had him tested to see if he also carries the gene to pass on this trait which he does. I have pictures of him listed on our website www.juniperdesertarabians.com and the pictures were taken in august in indiana when we had HOT days. (the only time I could get pictures taken) the only place on him that isn't black is the very ends of his mane, forelock, and tail if you get close enough to look. Other than those areas this stallion is coal black.

If you have the time you can see two of his offspring on the stallion page on our website and they are not black. The filly is black bay and and her half brother is all bay, the filly does fade in the sunlight as you can tell from the picture. I have another gelding that is also black bay but he doesn't fade as badly but still doesn't keep that total black coat all year.

When breeding for blacks you have to be really careful because the black is a reccessive gene and as with all recessive genes you can get some bad conformation along the way. Just food for thought here

I love my little black stallion and love to have others meet him, they just can't believe he is all boy with his kicked back attitude and personality. Not a mean bone in his body. He loves the babies when we wean and I have discovered that he babysits them very well. Most people freak out when they hear that but when they actually see him with them they are just amazed. That alone is probably one of the best selling features about this stallion is that he passed on his good nature and willingness to his babies.

Well I have rambled enough nice to see you all and happy holidays!

Dottie

What a great topic, thanks so much Nitter Pitter for starting it. I always wondered exactly what homozygous black meant and could never get an easy to understand explanation. Thanks Heidi for posting the informations.

Cheers,

Fiona

When in doubt-pull some hairs and send them to Davis I have a freinds whos arab mare is black in the spring and fall but get brownish spots on her sides,weird spots inbetween so she paid to have it done(very inexspencive) and turns out she is geneticly brown Of course Arabsdome doesnt recogise that color so she is reg black. Maybe this is something to look into for the convention-widening the colors alowed to be regestered-like sabino Mer