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.
DVD or VHS (2-DVD or 2-VHS set) almost 3 hours of instruction!
$39.95 plus $5 shipping/handling = $44.95 total
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!
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!
Silver Dapple yearling mustang from Sheepshead HMA at the Burns, Oregon, BLM facility.
Catana, from Sand Springs HMA in Oregon, adopted by Barb Montgomery
Karma, a Cold Springs HMA mustang adopted by Andi & Tom Harmon of Burns, Oregon
"Z" denotes the Silver, or Silver Dapples gene. Also known as "chocolate" or "taffy", Silver is one of the dilution genes, along with Champagne, Creme, Dun, and Pearl.
Silver dilutes black to a flat brown color (which may range from a creamy chocolate-with-milk color to a deep "Weimerainer" grey-brown) and lightens the mane and tail - sometimes significantly. The horse retains a dark, nearly black mask on its face, similar to Duns (especially Black Dun, or Grullo).
Silver, or Silver Dapple, is neither silver nor necessarily dappled. It is entirely unrelated to dapple gray.
Silver is called "Chocolate" in the Rocky Mountain Horse breed, and the Australian writer J. Gower refers to it as "Taffy."
Silver dapple does not effect Red pigment, but can be carried by a red horse, who can then pass it on to offspring.
Silver Bay horses are sometimes incorrectly identified as flaxen chestnuts, and Silver Black horses are sometimes incorrectly identified as Liver Chestnuts. But the dark roots of the mane and tail, combined with the darker face are diagnostic of black-based Silver. As the color becomes better known, people are recognizing it better.
Many horses, such as this "chestnut" Pine Nut Pony, are labeled "liver chestnut" but are really silver dapple. (the dark face is a give-away) Likewise, Sooty ("Chocolate") Palomino and Silver Dapple Bay or Silver Dapple Buckskin can look much alike.
Both The University of California at Davis and Animal Genetics, Inc. of Florida can test for the presence of Tobiano, Red, Frame, Creme, Silver, Sabino1, and Agouti (Bay). The test for Tobiano can determine whether or not a horse is homozygous of heterozygous (good to know if you are trying to breed for Tobiano).
You can download forms for these tests from their website-- follow the links from http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu
The Silver gene was believed to be confined to just a few breeds in the United States, although with recent interest, it is being identified in breeds that formerly did not recognize it. It's found most commonly in the gaited breeds of the different Mountain Horse breeds, Rocky Mountain Horses, Kentucky Mountain horses, Missouri Fox Trotters, Saddlebreds, and the Icelandic Horse. It's also common in the Welsh Pony, Shetland Pony, and Miniature Horses.
Mustangs with Silver Dapples are most likely descended from feral horses of these breeds.
Some of the Eastern Oregon herds have a high incidence of Silver Dapples, and it shows up in California and Nevada herds once in awhile, too..
Silver Dapples is fairly prevalent in the Cold Springs Herd Area of Oregon. Photo by Andi Harmon Silver horses at Palomino Valley from the Buck & Bald Complex in eastern Nevada
Silver wild stud horse From Cold Springs HMA, at the Burns BLM Corrals
Silver mare from Northern California at a BLM adoption in Roseville, CA
Silver weanling from Sheepshead HMA in Oregon Sheepshead HMA mustangs
Silver Dapples coloring is often (though not always) accompanied by unique hoof striping - not at all like the striped hooves often seen on Appaloosas and Pintos.
Foals are often (though not always) born with white eyelashes
Rocky Mountain Horse owned by Fran Odom
Another Rocky Mountain Horse owned by Fran Odom
Fran Odom with a "Chocolate (Silver Dapples) Rocky Mountain Horse
More Rocky Mountain Horses. Above, unknown participant at a Jerry Tindell clinic;
Jill Henderson's chocolate RMH in Walnut Creek, CA
Silver dapples ONLY effects BLACK. It has no effect on red. (although a red horse can carry silver dapples and unexpectedly pass it on to a foal)
If the horse is bay (black only on the points), it will turn the legs some variety of brown or tan, and the mane/tail to cream (usually with black roots). These sometimes look like flaxen chestnut.
Andi Harmon's Cold Springs Karma
Silver Bay Shetland pony - you can tell it is Silver and not Flaxen Chestnut by the dark roots!
Tinkerbelle, a silver dapple dun horse rescued by LipizzanLady
Silver can mimic flaxen chestnut. But the key is the roots: Flaxen manes and tails are flaxen all the way through. Silver manes and tails have dark roots. Castana, a Silver Bay mustang from Sand Springs HMA in Oregon, adopted by Barbara Montgomery of Indiana Silver Bay mustang
Tinkerbelle's darker winter/early spring coloring
Tinkerbelle in summer
Horses with the Silver dilution often have striped hooves, and often have light blonde or white eyelashes, especially as foals.
Cold Springs mustang, photo: Andi Harmon
A mustang mix of bays, silvers, blacks, and duns
Silver horses have striped hooves (so do some others, so this isan't diagnostic in itself)
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.
