Palomino

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the term "Palomino" as it applies to horses. For other uses, see Palomino (disambiguation).
A palomino mare with a chestnut foal. This golden shade is widely recognized as palomino.

Palomino is a

incomplete dominance, hence it is not considered true-breeding. However, most color breed registries that record palomino horses were founded before equine coat color genetics
were understood as well as they are today, therefore the standard definition of a palomino is based on the visible coat color, not heritability nor the underlying presence of the dilution gene.

Due to their distinct color, palominos stand out in a show ring, and are much sought after as parade horses. They were particularly popular in movies and television during the 1940s and 1950s. One of the most famous palomino horses was Trigger, known as "the smartest horse in movies", the faithful mount of the Hollywood cowboy star Roy Rogers. Another famous palomino was Mister Ed (real name Bamboo Harvester) who starred on his own TV show in the 1960s. A palomino was also featured in the show Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001). Xena's horse Argo was portrayed by a palomino mare named Tilly. In today's horse breeding the palomino color can be created by crossing a chestnut with a cremello.[2]

Palomino is a Spanish word meaning juvenile pigeon (the diminutive of paloma, pigeon) and its equine usage refers to the color of such birds.[3][4]

Description

Palomino color shades
sooty
.

Palomino horses have a yellow or gold coat, with a white or light cream mane and tail. The shades of the body coat color range from cream to a dark gold.

Unless also affected by other, unrelated genes, palominos have dark skin and brown eyes, though some may be born with pinkish skin that darkens with age.[5] Some have slightly lighter brown or amber eyes.[6] A heterozygous cream dilute (CR) such as the palomino must not be confused with a horse carrying champagne dilution. Champagne (CH) dilutes are born with pumpkin-pink skin and blue eyes, which darken within days to amber, green or light brown, and their skin acquires a darker mottled complexion around the eyes, muzzle, and genitalia as the animal matures.[5]

A horse with rosy-pink skin and blue eyes in adulthood is most often a cremello or a perlino, a horse carrying two cream dilution genes.[7]

Sooty palomino horses may have darker hairs in the mane, tail and coat.[8] The summer coat of a palomino is usually a slightly darker shade than the winter coat.[8]

Colors confused with palomino

Image indicating the different color breeds. Left to right: two chestnuts with flaxen manes, a palomino, and a gray
A cremello foal, showing pink skin and blue eyes characteristic of full dilution

Many non-palominos may also have a gold or tan coat and a light mane and tail.

Color breed registries

Image showing the variation between winter and summer coat color on the same palomino horse.

In the United States, some palomino horses are classified as a

incomplete dominant gene and does not breed "true". A palomino crossed with a palomino may result in a palomino about 50% of the time, but could also produce a chestnut (25% probability) or a cremello (25% probability). Thus, palomino is simply a partially expressed color allele
and not a set of characteristics that make up a "breed".

Because registration as a palomino with a color breed registry is based primarily on coat color, horses from many breeds or combination of breeds may qualify. Some breeds that have palomino representatives are the

Haflinger and Arabian, may appear to be palomino, but are genetically chestnuts with flaxen manes and tails, as neither breed carries the cream dilution gene
. However, in spite of their lack of cream DNA, some palomino color registries have registered such horses if their coat color falls within the acceptable range of shades.

While the color standard used by palomino organizations usually describes the ideal body color as that of a "newly minted gold coin" (sometimes mistakenly claimed to be a penny), a wider a body color range is often accepted, ranging from a cream-white color to a deep, dark, chocolate color ("chocolate palomino") that may actually be

liver chestnut
with a flaxen mane and tail.

liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, but coloring could possibly be due to the silver dapple gene
. Some color registries may accept both shades as "palomino".

Requirements for registration

In the United States, there are two primary color breed registries for Palomino-colored horses: the Palomino Horse Association (PHA), and the Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA).

The Palomino Horse Association (PHA) registers palomino horses of any breed and type "on color and conformation".[12] The shade of color considered ideal by the PHA is the color of a gold coin, but shades of palomino from light to dark gold are accepted. The mane and tail are required to be white, silver, or ivory, but up to 15% dark or reddish-brown hair is accepted. In the interest of breeding palomino horses, the PHA also registers full double-dilute blue-eyed cremellos, erroneously called "cremello palominos" by the PHA.[13][14] Horses that are not recorded by any other registry of unknown pedigree are accepted if their color meets the PHA definition of "palomino".[13][14]

The Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA) has stricter requirements. To be accepted by the PHBA, in addition to color, a horse must have the general structure appropriate to the breeds of

gaited horse breeds.[15][16] Horses with PHBA-registered parents are also eligible even if they are not recorded with any other breed registry. In some situations, mares and geldings may be registered without pedigree on account of their conformation and color only, but stallions must always have pedigrees that are "verified in fact".[15][16]

The ideal PHBA body color is the shade of "a United States gold coin". The mane and tail must be naturally white, and may not have more than 15% black, brown or off-colored hairs. Brown or dark

spayed.[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-56239-442-4
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-7167-7928-5
    .
  3. ^ "palomino", Wikcionario, el diccionario libre (in Spanish), 2020-07-12, retrieved 2022-04-14
  4. ^ "palomino | Etymology, origin and meaning of palomino by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  5. ^
    PMID 18802473
    . Foals with one copy of CR also have pink skin at birth but their skin is slightly darker and becomes black/near black with age.
  6. PMID 11736803
    . The eyes and skin of palominos and buckskins are often slightly lighter than their non-dilute equivalents.
  7. ^ "Horse Coat Color Tests". UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-952-99464-8-8
    .
  9. ^ "Genetics of Champagne Coloring." The Horse online edition, accessed May 31, 2007 at http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=9686
  10. graying gene. It is a dilution gene
    which acts only on black pigment.
  11. ^ "Coat Colors of Thoroughbreds". Registry.jockeyclub.com. Retrieved 2013-09-12.
  12. ^ Registration and Membership Instructions Archived 2007-06-30 at the Wayback Machine Palomino Horse Association Registration and Membership, accessed December 6, 2009
  13. ^ a b "Palomino Horse Association History". Palomino Horse Association. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  14. ^ a b "Registration and Membership Instructions". Palomino Horse Association. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g "2017 Registration Rules". Palomino Horse Breeders of America. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g "2018 Transfer Rules". Palomino Horse Breeders of America. Retrieved February 18, 2020.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palomino horses.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Palomino&oldid=1216787547"