What's wrong with SILVER???

[Bramblehill]

I am admittedly new at figuring out this color thing, but I have a stallion that is silver white (snowy white all over with black skin) He's not a gray, as he's always been this color. He has beautiful conformation and a personality that can't be beat. Anyway, when I mention to breeders that I have a silver stallion, quite a few have told me that I don't want to breed to silver. What's up with that? His dam was white also, but his paternal side included a bay pinto, bucksin pinto, and chestnut. I'm not sure what the dam's folks looked like. Can someone please give me some advice here? I also have a nice black/white pinto stallion with blue eyes, but his personality isn't nearly as wonderful yet. Any insight for me on this?

 

[nootka]

I think it's just a preference. Some people don't like the color.

I will admit to being one of those to a degree. Certain shades of silver really don't do much for a horse, but wow...there are SO many shades of it, depending on the base coat, that I would not, if I loved the stallion's conformation and temperament, he was correct, hesitate to breed to a silver stallion.

There are many BEAUTIFUL silver horses out there.

The same "prejudice" seems to apply to many other colors, I've heard the same about red, about black, about white/grey, etc.

Liz M.

 

[racingfan72104]

I can understand this too! As I don't like the appy color, i think it has something to do with the mottling areound the eyes and nose just to me makes them ugly. but that is just my opinion as i have seen rather loud colored leopard apps that are outstanding individuals

 

[MiniHoofBeats]

What I heard was that some people don't like the silver GENE because silver tends to dominate...so most foals of silver horses end up being silver or carrying silver, to produce more silver down the line.

Whatever =) I say if the horse is pretty, who cares! I have a silver appy stallion and I think a filly who carries silver...haven't determined her real color yet but her sire was silver so =)

 

[Becky]

I LOVE silvers especially those with white markings! So flashy! I think it's entirely personal preference. Red is my least favorite color, yet my two World winning stallions are both red. Quality is more important than color in my book!

 

[KrisP]

Ok, first the definition of silver white that I've always heard is a silver dapple that has gone gray, often they gray out VERY fast. So if your stallion is a silver white he carries both the silver gene and the graying gene.

The MAIN reason for not breeding silver to silver is the possiblity of both horses carrying ASD and having a foal with the genetic defect of the eyes in the homozygous form. There IS a test for ASD and I would test at least your stallion before you breed him to silver mares.

I have a stallion that I know carries it and 2 mares also, sadly I know this because their offspring have ASD and are just about as blind as bats, poor things. The mare that has it is now a pet and the colts have been gelded.

ASD shows no signs on a carrier so a test or an offspring which is effected are the only way to know for sure that the horses carry it. In the homozygous form the eyes of the horse are disfigured, they resemble almost a marble when the horse is viewed face on, they seem to protrude from the head. The horses will also seem to look for you when you call them in the field but not be able to see you until you're within 20-30 feet of them.

This is my personal reason for not crossing silvers to silvers.

krisp

 

[Bramblehill]

Thanks everybody! Next question...for your opinion: I have 4 mares that carry silver and 5 that are red or black and I don't think carry silver. Would you breed silver with silver (assuming there's not much difference in conformation) and breed the black/white pinto to the black/red mares to keep the colors more true, or would you mix them up to have less chance of a bunch of silvers? (Can you tell I'm having a slow Saturday evening!?)

Oops! I posted before seeing the previous one. I wasn't aware of ASD. That is something I'll want to get checked for sure. Luckily, he is only bred to my red mare that has red mane/tail and throws palomino and black, so I don't think she carries silver. Can you give me info about the test?

 

[Songcatcher]

Thanks everybody! Next question...for your opinion: I have 4 mares that carry silver and 5 that are red or black and I don't think carry silver. Would you breed silver with silver (assuming there's not much difference in conformation) and breed the black/white pinto to the black/red mares to keep the colors more true, or would you mix them up to have less chance of a bunch of silvers? (Can you tell I'm having a slow Saturday evening!?)

Oops! I posted before seeing the previous one. I wasn't aware of ASD. That is something I'll want to get checked for sure. Luckily, he is only bred to my red mare that has red mane/tail and throws palomino and black, so I don't think she carries silver. Can you give me info about the test?

Red can carry Silver without ever showing any sign of it. The only way to know for sure is to breed that mare to a Black based horse that does not have Silver. If the resulting foal is Black based and has Silver, you know the mare carries it as Silver cannot hide in Black.

 

[KrisP]

I mistyped above, I actually have 3 mares that I know carry it, a silver dapple, a silver buckskin and a sorrel that I wouldn't have guessed carried the silver just looking at her (I feel you CAN see hints of it in some sorrels) the sorrel mare produced a silver dapple filly in the past out of a black and the colt that had ASD was a palomino out of a silver buckskin stud.

I sparingly use the stallion now and only have bred him to black or bay mares now. I feel that ASD is pretty prevelant in our breed.

In general I do NOT cross silver to silver at all, just safer that way. I also have two sorrel studs that I know do not carry the silver and a bay, and a black that I use with my silver mares.

As for the testing, you can do a google search for more information on it.

BTW, I LOVE a pretty silver horse too, especially a pretty silver bay or loud dappled silver dapple.

krisp

 

[js1arab]

It's getting late for me so I might have misread something somewhere, but are you postive you have a silver stallion? You mentioned a couple pintos in his background. I'm definately no color expert, but you can ask the others who are if he could possibly be maximum white expression pinto. Just a thought to consider or ask about as that would make a big difference in what you breed him to. Again, not a color expert, but if you find out that he is actually a max expression, you might want to be careful of the lethal white overo when breeding to your spotted mares. To be honest...pinto genetics still have me thrown for a loop, but I'm trying to learn :bgrin

 

[Bramblehill]

I am calling him silver just based on what I've read from the the color books. His papers say white and it's listed as white for his dam. (grandparents were unknown on mom's side, so I don't know what they looked like) I haven't seen any areas with white skin-it's all black that I've noticed. I'll check really well when I bathe him. I've only seen pics of three of his previous babies and they were all solids and the color of their dams. I bred him last year to my mare that I was told was sabino (bay with ticking all over, wide blaze- just a tiny speck of light color in one eye)again, I'm going by someone's opinion. The only spot she has is one on her vulva skin) Anyway, that baby was a carbon copy of his momma. At 8 months old he didn't show any signs of lightening up to gray. I'd love it if he was a pinto, but I think that there would probably have been some spots on that baby if he were. I think I'm starting to ramble...!

 

[Jill]

It's just a preference thing. Some people do not like silver, and all the modifications silver can do. However, I *love* the silver gene! I love silver dapple, silver bay, silver buckskin. Color isn't really very important, conformation and quality is, but color is a "nice" plus

 

[kaykay]

i agree kris that asd is getting worse in minis. its really bad in rocky mountain horses which are all silver based. But what you have to watch for is breeding silver to silver that is all silver in the pedigree. you usually see it when there is generation after generation of silver behind the sire and or dam

alot of breeders will breed silver mares but not silver stallions. silver is a very dominant gene and does tend to take over if the stallion is silver. now having said that i have a silver bay pinto stallion.