Famous Sabino Gene Carrying Cobs
Hywi Showgirl
Leyeswick The Hustler
Horeb Euros
Blaengwen Brenin
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Article first published Winter 2007
The Welsh Lovers Dream
There can be few sites more entrancing than a welsh cob or welsh pony of cob type in the peak of health belting round the show ring in a perfect extended trot, tail up and with the handler still managing to hold on and fit enough to keep going as long as the animal wants to. Now close your eyes and tell me what colour the cob in your mind's eye is? I bet it was a bay or chestnut (or maybe a black) and chances are it had symmetrical socks!
Part of our Welshness
Evolutionary wise there is no need for that dream animal to have the much sought after 4 whites and I can't help thinking that nature, "red in tooth and claw", would have taken care of anything that stood out too much on the moor and mountain and yet here we are in the 21st century craving not only the perfect conformation; the required temperament and on top of all that can we have matching socks please. Of course there are plenty of beautiful animals past and present that don't conform to this narrow ideal and there may well be some reading this that genuinely prefer no white markings. I think that a rich bay can look really stunning with no white on its legs, but you think of the same lack of white on a black pony and everyone goes "It doesn't look very welsh". To a certain degree you could say that part of what marks the welsh sections apart from the other mainland natives is in fact this additional white.
The origins of white pattern genes
So where did it come from? Feel free to email me if you believe this is wrong, but I would say that it was part and parcel of the effect the arabs, hackneys and heavy horses had on the breeding in the lean years of the Welsh Pony and Cobs History. All three types often feature extensive white markings and it is quite possible that even today these once essential interlopers are still affecting our breed both in terms of colour and character. Two early cobs that very much looked to be "expressing" a sabino gene were Brenin Gwalia & his grandson Hendy Brenin. It may well be that the majority of our current sabino genes carrying stock have inherited it from this one line.
Non welsh white pattern types
There are also some white patterns that do not apply to the welsh breeds too. A few non occuring ones are Tobiano & Blanket or even Leopard type spotting, which can only be described as being at the peak of their popularity at the moment, but only in the part bred world. To the best of my knowledge none occur in any of the pedigree welsh sections. Although who knows what recessive patterns lurk deep in our gene pool! You may be more familiar with the words Piebald & Skewbalds or simply "coloured" - which for the purposes of this article are all the same thing as Tobiano. Similarly if you have ever seen an Apploosa you've seen the spotting that will never occur in the gene pool of the welsh breeders. None of these should be confused with the types that do appear in the welsh sections.
Alien Terminology
So what's with all these weird american sounding words on this page you ask. Well, the progress of genetics has at some point in the last twenty years hit the welsh cob world. The colours and markings haven't changed - but our understanding of the terminology has. We now know that a chestnut sire and a chestnut dam would not a bay foal make. It isn't genetically possible. We also know that nothing in colour terms is guaranteed, although the odds of producing desired colours can be increased by the very careful studying of at least several generations of both dam and sire, which I will endeavour to cover at a later date. We have also adopted a few new words that more accurately describe the genes affecting the colouring and especially the white parts of our animals. Nebo Brenin was more than likely a chestnut with a sabino gene, but we would refer to him as a chestnut roan....The same applies to his grandson Danaway Tango - definitely the owner of a sabino gene and definitely no less a welsh cob because of it.
Are we getting whiter?
Nothing has really changed with the amounts of white - I know I fretted at the Royal Welsh this year when I first saw some of the many cobs with white running up there legs, but the wise old sages I discussed this with just shrugged their shoulders and batted off a list of the late greats who had white lacy stockings reaching into their bodies, and look no ill effects! We haven't been overrun with animals that resemble Piebalds and Skewbalds have we? (NB. Not genetically possible for the one gene type to manifest into another) We're no whiter than we were before. For every fan of a heavily "roaned" chestnut, there is another breeder just as dedicated to breeding with some other emphasis in mind.
Nevertheless if there had been an additional injection of white into the breed, accidental or otherwise, I suppose it is possible that one or more welsh cobs or ponies of cob type could be a carrier of the Sabino 1 gene: currently the only one of the sabino genes that can be tested for. To date, no welsh have tested postive for this. Just out of curiousity if two carriers of the gene mated, it would theoretically be possible to achieve a foal with a very great deal of white on it indeed! Still, we get to hear about them much, because the "stigma" of too much white plus of course the implications for the owner of the stallion mean that if there were any or are any we don't talk, as a rule, about them very much. But even if there was say, a stallion that was a carrier of the Sabino 1 gene, provided any mares put to him were also tested (and came back negative of course) the increase in producing a loudly marked foal would be minimal. Anyway I am digressing....
Championship Winning White Gene Welsh Cobs
The four famous cobs & ponies of cob type at the top of the page, are more than likely all carriers of one or more types of a sabino gene. (Not the Sabino 1 gene I hasten to add). 16 white socks, and all showing a little spot of white on their underbellies. Can you imagine what a negative impact it would have had on the breed if we had disallowed such creatures to be registered properly with the WPCS. Below are some more examples of the differing types of white genes that we come across in the welsh world. The photos within the Other Probable Sabino Carriers are important and I suggest that you take a good look. I believe they will all throw foals with a degree of white, but whilst the bay conforms almost perfectly to many peoples ideals of markings, she is just as likely to produce the odd spot as any other animal anywhere displayed on the whole site, which means that it would be futile as well as foolish for us to try to alter the number of animals with the odd white spot by refusing them passports. Can you spot the common sabino carrying ancestor of these five welsh cobs by the way? He has left us a very fine legacy of progeny... and he has already been mentioned on this page!
Preventing it getting out of hand
I don't think anyone is particularly desirous to produce whiter and whiter Cs & Ds, well not in the UK at any rate. Until such times as it is possible to test for at least some of the different sabino gene types, trying to control the amount of white by refusing the odd spot is going to have zero impact on the overall number of patterns occuring. As mentioned above, trying to predict the likely amount of white that would occur on the foal when bred from two pedigree parents would be far too uncertain. Someone consciously desiring to produce an animal that could, for instance, be eligible for CHAPS registration, would always use a proper homozygous stallion. (Homozygous means guaranteed to throw piebald /skewbald by the way - not all "coloured" horses do.) 99.9% of breeders would prefer not to run the markings gauntlet with the registering officials of the WPCS; the potential decrease in value of having your foal consigned to Section X is too real a threat to want to risk.
Similarly not all sabino genes carrying welsh cobs will throw the same amount of white into their foals. When you think how hard some people have tried to get that perfectly marked Prince of Wales Cup winner to manifest, it is obvious that we are in no danger of becoming whiter and whiter. Indeed there is currently scientific discussion under way to suggest that there might be a "preventive" gene that masks or stops the white from manifesting in some cases.... There is still a lot to be learnt about genetics, but it is already possible to test, quite cheaply for various genes. There will come a point , in the not too distant future, when animals entered in official sales may require actual proof if certain claims are made (i.e double dilutes, or indeed homozygous for colour (part-breds) grey genes, etc,etc. Perhaps the WPCS might benefit financially by offering colour testing and making it a voluntary addition to passports of the future?
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All the photos above are of Pedigree Section C or D Cobs mostly taken at the 2007 Official Sales and Royal Welsh Show.
I own the copyright to almost all the photos on this page & I could provide evidence of all their acceptance as pedigree animals if it was required. If I am displaying a photo of an animal you own or have owned which you would rather did not appear, please contact me and I will remove the photo in question. email me
Sabino Spots
I have deliberately pulled these photos out to illustrate how commonly occuring these little blips are. None of the animals appears to have been marked down at the shows because of it, and if I hadn't raked my collection of photos to find them, most of the time I would hardly even notice the spots. A "body spot" as it is called is a very simple way of identifying that a horse is carrying a sabino gene. I personally think that it may one day be possible to split these types of pattern into three types, all of which we might be able to test for: Excuse my pants labels, couldn't think of any better ones.The first three photos show the very rare "Island Spot" type where sometimes the minuest of white is visible as an independent spot on the barrel or, even rarer, neck of the animal. The photos numbered 4-13 show "Neat Belly Spot" that is a neat patch of white originating from underneath the belly, but with a clear line between the solid colour and the white part. It is difficult to say what 14 possess, as the photo is poor quality, and the pony may well possess at least one other white pattern gene type. 15 - 20 shows a third type of white patch, that is "Spray Belly Spot", again originating from under the animal, but this time, not having a clearly definable start and stop. Again it is difficult to say whether this is just a more marked effect of a sabino lacing or roaning gene - you can see a distinct travelling of the white up the side of the last three animals in the Sabino Spot Gallery.
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Sabino - Spots
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Sabino - Roaning & Lacing
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I bet we all feel more comfortable looking at these don't we? Some of us would consider all of these to be roans - an admirable characteristic for quite a few of us? Well we can of course carry on calling them chestnut roans and bay roans, but they are in scientific language more accurately described as exhibiting sabino roaning or lacy markings. It is quite difficult to say for certain where sabino lacing stops and rabicano starts (see below) - as white is difficult to pick out on the tail of a chestnut, but I think you can see the type of marking this refers to from the photographs, be they chestnut, bay or palomino. It is also quite likely that many of the photographed animals display more than one type of white gene pattern, which it is, at this moment in time, believed to be genetically possible. "Lacing" refers to the often irregular type of leg marking - it can often have a jagged edge as oppose to the type which look like they have evenly stepped into four new cans of paint. It often extends far above the knee or hock too.
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An irregular pattern of white, a broad blaze or a degree of flesh marking on the lower part of the head is sometimes the only evidence or "expression" of a sabino gene we get to see. More prevalent on chestnuts, there often seems to be something preventing the full impact of this particular gene on bays, but rest assured it is still there, ready to potentially manifest in a future generation. However, nothing seems able to have prevented the filly in the 10th photo from displaying the gene, even though she's a bay, so nothing is guaranteed is it? For the record, she has one white hoof, and two discreet white socks, and no "roaning" anywhere on her body. Blue eyes is another indicator of a sabino gene.
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Other Probable Sabino Gene Carriers
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Based on her facial markings & taking into account her very famous and very important common ancestor, I would say that the bay featured in the " Other Probable Sabino Gene Carriers" gallery as featuring or "expressing" evidence of the sabino gene.
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That sounds so American doesn't it? You may not have heard of the term but you have certainly seen a cob displaying it. It is actually quite simple to spot. It may well be present in animals other than bay, but I haven't seen any yet. Put simply, Rabicano is when the "roaning" doesn't appear all over the body, but is often apparent only on the barrel. But what they all have as a huge giveaway is white in their tails. Known as "Skunk Tail" in the US, I wonder whether we could find a more appropriate mammal for its use over here? It can range from being quite subtle to very obvious. They've surely been around for ever, but we've been calling them and enjoying them as bay roans.
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I felt I couldn't tackle the white pattern genes without a quick word about the true defintion of a roan. Completely unrelated gene wise to anything previously discussed on this page, they don't have any of the "ticking" or "flecking" that we have come to think of as being roan, but in fact appear to be "washed out" apart from the head and legs which are always a different colour to the body. Very few and far between in the C & D world, I know that Leyeswick Romany Lad, based at the Dycott Stud, is another real roan, but for me and my camera who haven't made it out of Wales yet, I 've only spotted four so far. I'm sure there are plenty of A & B fans squeeking at the computers now - if you wish to tell me of some more & know where there is a photo on the web where I can check for myself, please feel free to email me.
There are more genes affecting the welsh pony and cob, but the above discussion represents all the white ones that welsh breeders will ever come across. Gray ponies is a different matter completely which, along with some further discussion about genetics and their effect on colour, as well as tackling the other colour altering genes such as "Pangare", also known as Mealy & "Flaxen" I intend to present at a later date.
Many thanks to the Wise Sages for their input into this article.
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