What color is he?

[chandab]

Brown and white, grey and white and buckskin and white. None of which seems to be right

You are correct, none of those are correct. While not remotely close genetically; phenotypically, grey and white is probably closest. But, now you know silver dapple (silver black) is correct.

 

[Minimor]

The lacing on his back is probably just that. Lacing shows up on both solid and broken-coated (pinto) horses.

If you're planning on breeding these two, in addition to LWO I'd test for silver. Silver *hides* on chestnut so you wouldn't know just by looking. I've seen quite a few chestnut pinto appearing horses that were silver bay. Also, homozygous silver is now proven to be associated with Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomolies (MCOA). Here is a link to the UC-Davis color testing information:

Silver | Veterinary Genetics Laboratory

The silver dilution dilutes black/brown pigment to lighten the manes and tails of black and bay horses to a flaxen or silver gray. The silver dilution is also associated with an inherited ocular syndrome known as Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalies (MCOA).

vgl.ucdavis.edu

I know that I harp on this subject a LOT. I have a friend who bred Shetlands and focused on silver, so I saw it in many forms. I also saw the eye issues, before research had established the link between silver and MCOA. Save yourself the heartache and expense and please test. (For dwarfism as well, although I'll save that soapbox for another thread.)

In actual fact, the eye anomalies are not a real problem in American Shetlands--and likewise not in Minuatures. Long time Shetland breeders will confirm that they have not seen a problem with MCOA in ASPC ponies. Silver, even homozygous silver, has been very common in ASPC ponies, yet breeders do not report eye issues--and if a breeder had eye issues in his ponies and wasn't talking about them...you can be sure other breeders would have been talking about them. there is no such talk. At one time I was breeding silver to silver in my minis, and had zero eye problems in the resulting foals. The eye problems so common in Rocky Mtn horses are not similarly common in Shetlands.

 

[betwys1]

Thank you all for your help! One more question, he has some lacy looking white markings that I honestly thought could be scaring from rain rot given his rescue background. Is this a part of the coat pattern?

Take your pick!