Hello, here's one of the broodmares and her baby - what color would you say she'll be? She's out of a bay by a belgian (I think the light version ).





We're all thinking a roany bay or dunn...

I say bay.

We're playing the color game right now with our two mustang foals. We don't know the father's coloring, so it's interesting. LOL

I see markings on her that are dun-like. Cobwebbing on her forehead, shoulder markings, and possibly a line down her back. I don't know if they'll stay with her, but those are certainly dun characteristics. I don't see any leg stripes, but I'd say there are possible if those other characteristics stay and aren't my eyes deceiving me.

She's a cutie, whatever color she winds up.

Yep, she also has a dorsal stripe and a little bit of striping on the legs. Do you think the roaning will stay? Her head is solid and her body is filled with white hairs throughout it.

Thanks!

She could be a dun roan. Here is a site with a picture of roans and this page talks about duns and bay duns.

She can't be a dun b/c neither of her parents were. A belgian is normally a chestnut with a flaxen mane/tail. They carry the red gene only. The bay can carry one black and one red, or both black. Looks like the baby is bay and will stay bay. The light color hairs are probably part of her baby fuzz. She's VERY cute!

If daddy was Belgian (I'll assume chestunt with flaxen) and mommy is bay there is NO PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE WAY the baby is dun. Some foals show primative markings and some horses keep them (even the counter shading that can LOOK like a dorsal). Still to be a true dun the genes must be there and they are not; dun genes don't "hide" or skip.

Looks like your foal is bay, and I'll bet he'll stay pretty close to that. Unless mother or father IS a roan (and you'd see it) or carries the sabino gene (not always as easy to tell, but it looks like mom doesn't even have socks, so she's not sabino) the roaning likely won't stay. If neither of the parents are "true" roan then he can't be true roan even if there are some white hairs there.

Well, sorry about that, Katie. Me thinks I'll stay out of the color game. LOL As for our foals, we've just decided to call them red for now and see what they shed out to be. Our heads were spinning a bit too much, especially since we don't know the father on either one.

Your little one is very cute, and I bet is going to be quite beautiful when she grows up.

It looks like she'd turn into a strawberry/bay roan.. I don't know alot about color genetics, but she is a cutie

She's a cute little bay

Jessi

Don't worry Horsewoman, I don't even know the coloring of the sire, that wasn't important to the breeder. All I know is that the sire is a Belgian and the dam a bay Arab.

What I also now know from a little bit of research is that the Belgian horse is most commonly a red roan with black points. Also listed as common colors are duns. This horse is held by the Amish, so its breeding is likely untouched by the fads of the horseworld and more likely to fall in the category of what a Belgian originally was like.

So I think it is totally plausible still that the baby will be a roan and/or a dun.

To everyone also:
I know I said I thought is was the light version of the Belgian (which according to the books I've checked in could be a roan even) but that was speculation based on the fact that those are the most commonly seen in public.

Thanks for the input everyone!!!

Oh, and a question in general, I thought that chestnut was dominant to bay so if you bred a bay (r/r) and chestnut (R/R) you'd get a chestnut (R/r). Is that totally wrong?

Thanks, Katie. I hope you post pictures of her as she gets older so we can see any color changes.

She could definitley be a roan if her sire was roan. Dun is normally not a belgian color, but it is possible. Altho duns are usually born a buckskin color, not bay. And since dun is a color modifier, the bay on the foal would be MUCH lighter.

From the Belgian Organization: When the breed hits its stride in the 20's and 30's the colors had well become the "sorrels and roans." Now there are few roans and even an odd bay, but for all practical purposes, it is a chestnut-sorrel breed today. This has long been the preferred color by Americans...the Cadillac of colors being a red sorrel team with white mane and tail, with a white stripe in the face and four white socks. This is the ultimate in draft horse style.

Chestnut is recessive red (ee) and bay is black based. Bay can be Ee (hetero) or EE (homo). A hetero bay can still throw a red foal, a homo only throws black based foals. In this case, the bay mare is more than likely homo since the Belgian is red (ee) and does not carry a black gene. The foal is probably bay genetically (black based) but she could roan out. I would have to say she is not dun.

Actually, the VAST majority of belgians are sorrel (chestnut). I've NEVER seen a dun or roan, don't think I've even heard of a bay belgian.

The base color for ALL horses is either red (chestnut) or black. Black is dominant to red. So if a horse had one red and one black gene, it will be a black based horse. A red horse MUST have two red genes.

Now, bay, the agouti gene, restricts black to the points, which creates the bay. If a black horse has even one agouti gene, the horse is bay. Since agouti ONLY works on the black a red horse can have one or two agouti genes, but it will still be red.

Dun is a gene all too itself, and a parent MUST be dun for a foal to be dun. Same with true roan. Both dun and roan are dominant.

Hope that made sense

Jessi

Here's what I've found on belgian websites:

"By the 20's and 30's, when the breed really hit its stride in this country the breed had pretty well become the "sorrels and roans." Now there are a few roans and even the odd bay now and then, but for all practical purposes, it is a chestnut-sorrel breed today.
"
"the fact that they are pretty much a one-color breed"

Jessi