Mustangs 4 Us
Palomino or Flaxen Chestnut?
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Home  
WHB History
Mustang Heritage
Adopt a Mustang!
(Wild Horse, not the Car!)
Wild Horse & Burro Watching
Gentling and Training
Burros
Mustang Mules
Wild Horse & Burro Herd Areas
Mustang * Horse Colors
Helpful Videos
"Free to Good Home"
"Working With Wild Horses" Book
Cool Stuff to Buy
Our "Wild " Herd
Links

This is a non-commercial, independent website, owned and written by Nancy Kerson, for the benefit of actual and potential adopters of BLM Mustangs and Burros and similar animals.

Mustang T-Shirt

$19.95

Sizes & Style

 

Working With Wild Horses, Second Edition
Working With Wild Horses
(book)
Second Edition 
Printed Book $23
 or
$7.50 Download

This website is owned and created
by Nancy Kerson, a private
citizen - I am not the BLM or anyother branch of  government!

Information about BLM adoptions
is offered as a service, to help
mustangs find homes and to
promote public appreciation of
wild horses and burros.

For information about the BLM
Wild Horse & Burro Program,
please call (866) 4MUSTANGS
or Click HERE

Please direct adoption questions
to the BLM, not to me.

And I sure as heck am not a
Mustang car dealership!

I have NO horses or burros for
sale and am not interested in
buying or listing or otherwise
promoting your sale animals!

This website:
Copyright 2001, 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
All Rights Reserved.
I am happy to share, but please
give me a credit when you
"borrow" things off my website!
Thanks!

VIDEOS OF INTEREST TO MUSTANG & BURRO ADOPTERS:


Kitty Lauman:
From Wild to Willing:
Using the Bamboo Pole to Gentle Mustangs
More from Lauman Training available now!

DVD or VHS
(2-DVD or 2-VHS set) almost 3 hours of instruction!

$39.95 plus $5 shipping/handling = $44.95 total

BUY 2 DVD Set:

Can't Order Online?
No Problem!
Just email us and we'll tell you
how to mail order


Lesley Neuman:
The First Touch
Gentling Your Mustang
$45.00

Lesley works with 3 wild horses at a BLM adoption, and very clearly explains what is happening, what she is doing, & what she sees in each horse as it progresses. Study this video and you can learn "pressure and release" gentling techniques to gentle your own new mustang!

Format:


Help for Burro adopters!
Crystal Ward
Donkey Training

All the basics of gentling, handling, and training. A MUST for new burro adopters! Good for domestic donkeys, too!

FORMAT


 

 

Palomino, Sorrel, or Flaxen Chestnut?


Cheryl Kavicky & her Flaxen Chestnut Haflinger, Donny


Palomino Mustang

Palomino and Flaxen Chestnut (or Sorrel in the Cowboy world) horses can look very much alike. There is a genetic difference, however. Palomino is a Red-based horse with the Creme gene, which dilutes the body from chestnut to golden, and dilutes the points to very pale gold, even white. Flaxen chestnut is a red-based horse with the Flaxen gene, which turn its points to light gold or white. Chestnut and Sorrel are terms that, to some extent, are cultural. Horses trained in the European and Dressage traditions are called chestnuts, whereas in the Western riding tradition they are called sorrels. Same horse, same colors, same genetics.

Flaxen Chestnuts, when bred to one another, breed true. They produce more Flaxen Chestnuts. The Haflinger is an example of such a breed. This is because Red and Flaxen are both recessive genes and will only manifest if they are homozygous for that gene; i.e. Red results only when there are two "e" genes. A single "E" will overpower it, resulting in a black horse. Flaxen, the other Recessive color gene, only affects Red. Flaxen carried by a Black or Bay has no effect. Since Flaxen Chestnuts are homozygous for both red and flaxen, they will always reproduce flaxen and chestnut.

Palomino, however, does not breed true. If two Palominos (each contributing one red and one creme gene to the new foal) are bred together, the resulting offspring will be: 25% chestnut, 50% Palomino, and 25% Cremello.

  e Ccr
eeeeCcr
CcreCcrCcrCcr

The only way to reliably produce Palomino is to breed a Red (Chestnut, Sorrel) horse to a Cremello.

 

 Ccr

 Ccr
eeCcreCcr
eeCcreCcr

Mustangs with no known ancestry cannot always be identified for certain, as to whether they are deep palominos or light flaxen chestnuts.

FLAXEN CHESTNUTPALOMINO

Calico Mtns

Calico Mtns

Nellis (Nevada Wild Horse Range)

Calico Mtns

Calico Mtns

Calico Mtns

Color genetics are the same for all horses, regardless of breed or ancestry.

Since this is a Mustang website,
I use and prefer pictures of wild, or formerly-wild horses wherever possible.
 

 
  

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A Quick Overview of Horse Genetics | Horse Color Genetics Charts 2 | Equine Base Colors | Dominant Horse Color Genes | The Dilution Genes | Recessive Color Genes | Miscellaneous Color Issues | Curlies (not a color, but...)

copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Nancy Kerson, all rights reserved - I'm happy to share, just need to be asked and have credit given where due.

Disclaimer: Horses are inherently dangerous. Use the information contained within this website at your own risk.