HIGHLANDER RANCH
Valerie Jump
Fallbrook, Ca 92028
Horse of a different color Genetic History!
BZD Silvr Shado Dancr, AKA Dancer, is a colt born March 25, 2005 at my home in Fallbrook California. His sire is a homozygous Black Tobiano and his dam is a sorrel overo. The dam was a discard brood mare from a Ranch in Garretson South Dakota that carried a very rare color gene.
Sky was broke to ride while she was pregnant. I rode her for three years and she was amazing. She has always given me 110%!! I wanted to get a foal from her and pick a sound minded sire to match her. Bug Zappers Design, in New York that was a potential performance horse that could earn some points in the future. He was said to have a very sound mind and has a very flowing gate. Bug Zapper Design also is homozygous for black and would only throw foals with a black mane and tail.
I booked her breeding two and a half years in advance. By the time we bred Sky to Bug Zappers Design he had earned over 700 points, 13 ROMs, and received 6 Superior awards and was an all around champion!
On March 25th, 2005 Dancer was born. Sky had a nice bay overo colt. The only thing strange was he had a grayish cast to his color and his tail didn’t look black like a foal from a homozygous black sire. His tail was silver colored with a dark line on the top. He did have a black mane however so I figured maybe his tail would turn black later.
Within a couple of months Dancer’s tail did not turn black and his mane started to turn silver. This got my curiosity up so I searched the internet putting “silver mane and tail” and I found out about a color called Silver Dapple. It is a slang name for the silver dilute gene in horses. Curious, I called a Morgan breeder in Oregon with the first Silver Dapple Morgan stallion, Sunka. She instructed me to have him DNA tested for the black gene. If the DNA test came back black and visually his color was not black then he has a silver dilute modifier. With the silver dilute gene the black on the mane and tail turns silver, flaxen, or just is lighter than the body color. The body color is also changed to a brownish or dark gray color instead of black. This color does not affect red so Sky was hiding the gene. She would be considered a silver sorrel. One of the parents must have the silver gene to product it. The silver dilute gene is dominant.
With this hunch I sent a hair sample to UC Davis and it was verified that Dancer was a black overo with no cream gene. UC Davis sent me a confirmation by email. It stated the modifier would be silver dilute to change his color. He now had a silver white mane and tail with a taupe body color. Everyone that sees him is amazed at his color.
I have never shown horses before so I have had him professionally trained to be shown.
He has won several 2 ROMs (registry of merit) and won 12 grand champion awards in the local open shows. He is now being shown under saddle by a trainer named Chelsea Carlson. He is doing great under saddle. At his first APHA show this year, August 7-11, he won 6 Western pleasure points in Burbank California. Chelsea says he loves to work and is a joy to work with.
Given the history of the horse this color will be reproduced.
Valerie Jump
See My UC Davis DNA Findings! (2006 Before Z Test Existed)
Information About Silver Dapples
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