Coat Colors of TWHs

TWHBEA^SM recognizes and records many coat colors and since most Tennessee Walking Horses are registered as foals between the ages of three to six months, it is sometimes difficult to determine the true color of the foal.

Coat Color Testing is highly recommended where visual appearance is not enough to accurately predict the true color. The Color Genetics Chart gives the genetic color test results for color genes that have tests currently available. The following explains the most common coat color terms:

Terms explained:

Genes always appear as pairs with the upper case letter being dominant and the lower case letter being recessive. A horse receives one gene from each pair of genes from each parent and that determines the base color, color dilution, color pattern or modification of color for the resulting foal.

• Dominant genes - Always physically expressed on the horse and requires that at least one parent express that gene in order to pass it on.

• Recessive genes - are hidden until both parents contribute a copy of the gene for it to be expressed, otherwise it remains hidden.

• Homozygous - means that a foal received one copy of the same gene (A, E, a, e) from each parent. Gene will be passed to 100% of offspring.

• Heterozygous - means that a foal received one dominant gene (A, E) from one parent and one recessive (a, e) gene from the other parent.

Red Factor (Chestnut):

e	Homozygous for the red factor. Only the red factor detected.
Ee	Heterozygous for the black factor. Both black and red factors detected.
EE	Homozygous for black pigment, No red factor detected. It cannot have red foals regardless of the color of mate.

Agouti (Black/Bay):

AA	Homozygous for Agouti gene. The horse has two doses of the dominant “A”. The black pigment is restricted to points pattern and is expressed on horses that are bay or a dilution of bay (buckskin, perlino, amber champagne, etc.).
Aa	Heterozygous for Agouti gene. The horse has one dose of the dominant “A” and one dose of the recessive non-agouti “a”. The black pigment is restricted to points pattern and is expressed on horses that are bay or a dilution of bay (buckskin, perlino, amber champagne, etc.).
aa	Only recessive “a” detected. Black pigment distributed uniformly over the entire body resulting in horses that are black or a dilution of black (smoky black, smoky cream, classic champagne, etc.).

Cream Dilution:

Cr	Heterozygous (Single dilute) for the Cream gene.
CrCr	Homozygous (Double dilute) with two copies of Cream gene.

Color Genetics Chart

BLACK EE aa Ee aa	BAY / BROWN EE AA EE Aa Ee AA Ee Aa	CHESTNUT ee AA ee Aa ee aa
SMOKY BLACK EE aa Cr Ee aa Cr	BUCKSKIN EE AA Cr EE Aa Cr Ee AA Cr Ee Aa Cr	PALOMINO ee AA Cr ee Aa Cr ee aa Cr
SMOKY CREAM EE aa CrCr Ee aa CrCr	PERLINO EE AA CrCr EE Aa CrCr Ee AA CrCr Ee Aa CrCr	CREMELLO ee AA CrCr ee Aa CrCr ee aa CrCr
CLASSIC CHAMPAGNE EE aa Ee aa	AMBER CHAMPAGNE EE AA EE Aa Ee AA Ee Aa	GOLD CHAMPAGNE ee AA ee Aa ee aa
CLASSIC CREAM CHAMPAGNE EE aa Cr Ee aa Cr	AMBER CREAM CHAMPAGNE EE AA Cr EE Aa Cr Ee AA Cr Ee Aa Cr	GOLD CREAM CHAMPAGNE ee AA Cr ee Aa Cr ee aa Cr
BLACK SILVER EE aa Ee aa	BAY / BROWN SILVER EE AA EE Aa Ee AA Ee Aa

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Colors & Markings Guide (PDF)

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