re: breeding a palomino

Question
Hi Sandy,

I have a brown/bay pony mare and was thinking of putting her infoal later this year.  Both of the parents were bays.  Is it possible to breed our mare to a stallion and achieve a palomino?  If you think it is possible could you please advise me on what colour the stallion needs to be so I can start to source one.  Thank you for your help.
Kind regards,
Liana

Answer
Hi Liana,

In order to get a palomino foal from your mare she MUST have a red gene.  If both of her parents are a bay, and she herself is a bay, there is a possibility she is homozygous for the bay gene (agouti).

The only way to be assured to get a foal that is dilute (or with one copy of the creme gene) you will have to breed to a double dilute.  If your mare has a copy of the red gene and you breed her to a cremello, you will get a palomino (if she passes on her red gene) or a buckskin, (if she passes on her agouti gene).

If your mare is homozygous for bay, you could breed her to a cremello or perlino and you will get a buckskin.

Hope that helps,
Sandy