Confused about horse genetics?

Question

I have a 5y/o palomino Miniature Horse named Daisy, who was bred to a true black pinto stud. There first foal (who sadly died from complications of being born premature) was a chestnut or palomino pinto filly (couldn't tell with her so young).

So, what color might this foal be? If the father is solid black and the mom palomino? I have only seen chestnut pintos and black pintos come out of him, but is there a chance for another color? I am confused as to which is dominant...palomino (isn't that a "red" gene?) or black? Can a black horse carry a "red" gene? i am just sooo confused lol I tried looking stuff up, but I just got more confused lol.

I know one of his fillies (who we just bought) is a solid black pinot just like him, and her mother is grey. If that helps you narrow something down. xD

Here are some pictures if they help any...

Maddie(1st foal): http://flickr.com/photos/27726637@N05/2586561613/

Daisy: http://flickr.com/photos/27726637@N05/2681198076/

Titan: http://flickr.com/photos/27726637@N05/2722960442/

Thanks for any help :)

Answer 1

Palomino is a dilute chestnut - the dam will have two chestnut alleles at one gene locus (ee) plus one copy of the dilution allele at another locus (CCr).  Two copies of the Cr allele causes full dilution ie to a cremello (cream with blue eyes), no copies (CC) would give a normal chestnut horse.  So the dam will pass on at least one e allele plus either a C allele or a Cr allele.  She is also Tobiano and could be either TOto or TOTO, so could pass on a TO (tobiano) allele, or a to (solid) allele.

The father will be Ee or EE (brown pigment) at the gene which is equivalent to the mares ee locus, so he could pass on an E or possibly an e - you have no way of knowing which.  He is black because at yet another gene locus he is aa - if he were Aa, he would be bay but the less common aa means that the black 'spreads' all over his body, its not just restricted to the points as in a bay horse.  So he will pass an a allele to the foal.  You can't tell what the mare has at her A-locus because the chestnut colour masks this, so she could be any of aa, Aa or AA.  The father doesnt carry any dilution genes.  its not clear from your question whether the father is a solid or a tobiano as the picture shows.

So you could end up with a foal that is

chestnut or black or bay or palomino (dilute chestnut) or buckskin (dilute bay) solid or a tobiano version of any of those.  Black doesnt dilute with only one Cr allele, it need two and becomes 'smokey cream', but thats not possible from your cross.

Have a look at the blog part of my website www.soloequestrian.com for a bit more on coat colour genetics.  

Answer 2

there are always endless possibilities go to animalgenetics.us/Ccalulator1.asp and put in the color variations of the mare and stallion and it will give you an idea of the genetics for each horse

Answer 3

It depends if the black stud is homozygous black or not and if the palomino is homozygous. But the palomino is a red gene and the black is of coarse a black gene. Lol. The possible colors the baby can be are buksin, brown, bay, dun or a chestnut... We bred a palomino to a homozygous black stallion and the first time we got a red dun and the next time, we got a yellow dun. Hope this helped!! :)