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Is That Horse WHITE?
Most horses that look white are actually "gray", meaning they were born
another color and then turned gray (white) as the pigment was gradually
eliminated by the gray gene. Other horses that appear "white" may be cremello,
perlino, ivory champagne, or extreme pintos (basically, one big white "spot"!)
Some still hold to the theory of a "Dominant White" gene. The gene was thought to be dominant (if a horse gets one, it will show), and lethal when homozygous (WW), like the roan (R) gene. It was used as a sort of catch-all explanation for white horses by many people, even those that should have known better -- since many of the horses in question had neither parent white, and as with all dominant genes, one parent must have it in order for the foal to have it! With current research showing more and more conclusively that all-white horses springing from apparently "ordinary colored" parents are in fact white-sabinos,
or horses with additional pinto genes, as are those springing from "white"
parents, the old "Dominant White" gene theory has been for the most part discarded, since no evidence has ever shown it actually exists.
If you'd like to see examples of horse that are (mostly) white due to pinto
genes like sabino, you can try these links:
And then, here are some pictures I took at Kentucky Horse Park during Breyerfest
2010, of the White Horses from the White Horse Ranch, now in Texas. When
you click on these thumbnails, be prepared to see HUGE pictures... and lots of
DETAIL.
These photos show perfectly what "white horses" are really all about: pinto
patterns with very little pigmented skin left anywhere. |
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