Dear Don,

Well, with only 2 foals to look at you can’t tell by produce record. We know your mare is a Classic Dun out of a black mare – that tells us her sire was a Dun of some color. If her sire was a red-based Dun (Red Dun or Dunalino) she cannot be homozygous for black. If her sire was a black-based Dun (Classic, Zebra or Grullo) then the black status is still up in the air. We do know that since she is out of a black mare she is heterozygous for Dun and may not produce duns all the time. With her producing two Grullas out of two breedings that denotes the absence of the Agouti gene and since she’s a Classic Dun we know she has at least one copy of the Agouti (Bay) gene – making her heterozygous for Agouti. So, the best way to know 100% is to have her tested for the “Red Factor” to see if she carries the red gene. Right now, that’s the only way to know. - Prism

Hi Prism,

I bred a bay stallion to my bay mare,=. When the foal was born, she was chestnut. But lately has been getting dark patches of fur/skin around her leg. Is it possible that the foal could turn grey? – Kyra, submitted via horsegazette.com

Dear Kyra,

A gray horse will always have at least one gray parent. So with both parents being Bay your foal is not gray as neither parent carried the gray gene to pass along to her. The gray gene doesn’t hide or skip generations. Those dark patches are part of the normal shedding process and as the new hair grows in, she’ll retain her Chestnut color. - Prism

Dear Prism,

We bred our black and white tobiano mare to a black running Quarter Horse stallion. What color possibilities would the foal be? – Michelle, submitted via horsegazette.com

Dear Michelle,

All depends on the Black status of both horses. If either the sire or dam is homozygous for black the foal will be black. If both of the parents are heterozygous for black then the foal could be a Sorrel or Black. - Prism

Dear Prism,

My mare has just foaled and threw a dun filly. We like to know how this could be. My mare is bay roan. (sire is thoroughbred x shire and grey) (dam is Exmoor x Arab and is Exmoor colour bay.) The sire of my foal is a grey blanket spot (his sire is Leopard Appaloosa) (his dam is Thoroughbred x Arab bay) the foal came out a light yellow dun with black ears black muzzle dark around the eyes and blacks socks with black mane and tail, and a dorsal stripe. Her last years foal by the same stallion came out a Chesnut dun. And a grey mare was covered by my stallion and threw a grey foal. – Denice, submitted via horsegazette.com

Dear Denice,

This one is hard without photos of the foal. If you know for sure neither the dam or the sire is a dun (of any color) you can rule out dun. Dun follows the same rule as Gray – a Dun must have a Dun parent. Is there anyway the stripe down the back is countershading???????? Take a look at the stripe and if it is “soft and fuzzy” looking around the edges then it is most likely countershading. Countershading is a form of ‘foal camouflage’ and the baby will loose the stripe as she sheds out. - Prism