I have a dark brown/dappled bay mare and want to breed her and people have recommended toward a chestnut stallion. I have been told that this will or should produce a dark chocolatey brown foal. What do you guys think? Any opinions would be much appreciated.
Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 05:25 am:
If she has two dark brown or bay parents, then she should have a bay or brown foal, depending on the stallions parentage. If she has one chestnut parent, you could get a chestnut foal. If you want to guarantee a dark foal, look for a stallion who has two dark parents. We have a mare that is the same as you described, put to a bay stallion,gets lovely dark chocolate to black foals. Good luck. Hope you get what you want.
Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 08:36 pm:
Two bays usually produce a bay foal, sometimes a black or chestnut Have you had your mare DNA tested? I have a Bay mare, bred her to a chestnut stallion and got a bay. I had her DNA tested and she is homozygous for Agouti, which means that she will always limit the black on a black foal to the points and turn it into a bay, so in my case, my bay mare will never have a black foal.
If you cross your bay with a chestnut, you can get a bay, chestnut or a black, though bay and chestnut are more common.
It was my understanding that a horse with two bay parents will override chestnut, every time. ie: we have a bay stallion fitting this description and in 8 years at stud, he has never produced a chestnut. He has covered a lot of mares of every colour. If both the mare and stallion are bay, but with one chestnut parent, that's where the possibility of chestnut foals come in. So if the mare has both parents bay, you shouldn't get a chestnutat all. Having said that ther are a few cases of two bays producing white foals with brown eyes, so I guess nothing is impossible.
I haven't had my horse's DNA tested and honestly don't plan to. I don't think she is homozygous for the agouti. In some areas she has quite dark alleles. In some places of her body eg, her stifle and muzzle are are almost a chestnutty colour and her legs are black. She has red strands of hair in her mane aswell. Thanks for your opinions guys.
Posted on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 01:36 pm:
I have a bay mare who was bred to a bay no markings stallion and my first foal was a chestnut. My mare had a chesnut mother of course. Last year bred my mare to a Dark Bay with no red factor and got a gorgeous red bay with all the white. I am thinking I will be getting a lot of chestnuts from her, but at the same time, the color she throws is always very rich. The chestnut is a gorgeous deep red and the bay is to die for. So just because you have two bay parents doesn't mean crap, unless the have been tested for the red factor!
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