Splash gene in Clydesdales?

[Kerole]

I was wondering if splash is found in Clydes?

Is the mad roaning, lacy colour on Clydes due to White?

This came to mind when looking at a friend’s 2 new foals.

The two foals are by the same sire from TB mares.

The sire is a real mix of TB, Clyde, and little Paint (5th generation). He is hetero tobiano. His markings are 50/50 bay/white and otherwise ordinary for a tobiano.

The first foal has 4 high whites, straight across mid knee joint, and up to the hock joints with a bit of a point in front. Large blaze that falls over the side of the face and muzzle/nostrils with lacy bits around and above the corner of the mouth. No belly spots or body white.

The second foal is tobi. Dark head, neck, shoulder. White torso and loins, dark patch around buttocks that includes the tail. Little star and small snip. One BLUE eye. Light, bright, pure blue with black eye rims. The star is nowhere near the eye.

Any of this say splash? Or is tobiano responsible for the occasional blue eye in dark head, and crazy long stockings without body white? Sabino 1 perhaps?

I also realise that the very small bit of paint in his heritage could be at play here.

[poltroon]

Clydesdales don’t have Sabino-1 as everyone expected. It is considered possible that they have splash. But they have some sort of sabino-white gene that isn’t named yet, and it can make that mad lacy roaning. What it can’t and doesn’t do is make a horse almost entirely white like Sabino-1 can.

So, work in progress! There is always the option of sending for genetic testing at UC Davis.

[JB]

There are certainly some very splash-looking Clydes out there, but we also know they have W20, which can present like splash in some cases.

However, I don’t believe W20 presents quite like this

And unless you believe, like some do but most don’t, that Sabino can also cause blue eyes, then Clydes must have Splash.

However, SW isn’t likely that common in the Clydesdale breed, so it is far more likely that if your foal does have splash that is came from the Paint and TB side of things. It’s very, very easy for Splash to hide with Tobiano, and Splash definitely exists in TBs as well.

Do you have pictures of the foal and sire, even the Paint? Foal 1 sounds fairly classic Splash. Foal 2 sounds like a fairly typical “banded” presentation that splash seems to like to do with tobi, and the blue eye definitely points to splash.

[Kerole]

Thanks for the input.

I have permission to give links to photos. I’ll do that when I get a minute.

[Kerole]

Here’s a link to photos of the two foals and the stallion.

s834.photobucket.com/user/kerole/library/splash?sort=3&page=1

[Kerole]

Bump.

JB?

[Kerole]

Bump.

JB?

[JB]

Cute!

I do suspect the stallion is a splash carrier, with his bottom-heavy face white

It’s hard to say with the b/w foal, but he’s got the same bottom heavy situation.

The chestnut is either not splash or not just splash. There’s a White in there as well, with all the “splattered” look going on. Certain White patterns can put that much and that type of white on without any of the known splash patterns.

[Kerole]

Thanks JB!

Sadly the black and white foal with the one pure blue eye was born very early, the result of a placentitis mare. She was quite compromised and was euthed at 2 days old. So no more photos are available.

Interesting about the White inclusion. The stallion has more foals due, I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks again.

[JB]

Oh that is so sad She was beautiful!

[Kerole]

JB, some more foals by the stallion.

Chestnut filly with no leg white at all, but has a blaze that is lop-sided and falls off the side of the nose. Also there’s a small isolated patch of white on the side of the upper lip beneath the nostril. Dam is chestnut TB, short sock, small central star.

See her here, here, and here.

Bay Tobiano filly yearling. Bottom heavy blaze? Heavy white flecking through torso.

See her here.