Why breed for coat color?

[Gnalli]

[QUOTE=WildandWickedWarmbloods;8506252]
OP, I was amazed to find out that people actually breed for color before conformation and performance. I never heard the term Krazy Kolor Breeder except on CoTH. But then I realized that is what one A circuit barn owner thought I believed when I was looking for a horse. I told him no, but after I got conformation and performance and breeding, I did have a color preference. I agree with you OP, that color should be way down the list of what a person should breed horses for. Bling does not compensate for conformation and performance and breeding.

Except that people will buy a horse just for the color if they do not know conformation. Then they wonder why their horses do not win in shows.

btw, I bought a horse that was not the color I preferred. Then I bought another horse that was the color I wanted to avoid. Both horses had great conformation and bloodlines and people at barns all wanted horses just like them.[/QUOTE]

I thought I was the only one who did that. I am not fond of sorrels or Pintos or palominos…or short horses. There are 2 sorrels and a Pinto mare in my barn, the horse the Pinto replaced was a palomino. The tallest of the bunch is 15.3 on a good day.

[Gnalli]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8508101]
breeding for color (or lack-there-of) begs another question… there have been studies that report close links between temperament and color, as the hormones and neurotransmitters responsible for temperament also play a role in pigment production…

so i wonder, are paints more docile? piebald patterns and pigmentation are linked to domestication – one need only look at cows and foxes to see the surprising result when you breed for temperament alone… and in rats and cats, black or melanistic coat patterns usually boast the most docile or placid animals.

would be interesting if a study was produced on coat color / temperament in horses.[/QUOTE]

I would be inclined to believe this based on personal observations. They have tainted me enough to make me really question certain colors, even in a superb animal. I flat detest a mealy horse. I like the way a gray mule looks, but don’t want one. Red mare beware, anyone? Old wives tales usually have a seed of truth.

[Gnalli]

Like Quietann was saying, many of the Old Timers tended to believe that there was a rat in the woodpile if a spotted horse came along.They automatically assumed that the lines were not pure. Color genetics was not even a thing then. Many of them called a perlino or cremello an albino.

When I get to heaven, I am going to have to answer to my sweet daddy about why I have a pinto mare in my barn. The saving graces with her are that she is wonderfully made up (save a thick throatlatch), it is very obvious that she is a King P234 bred mare, she is a bay for her base color. The man HATED a spotted horse, but loved a chromed out roan…go figure. He would be 86 this year, so yeah, an Old Timer. This is the same man that told my mother that she was a pretty as a blood bay Quarter Horse mare. He meant it as a compliment. Mama …well, she knew Daddy.

Bottom line is that a good horse is never a bad color, but we all have our preferences. That is only wrong if it is detrimental to the animal.

[JB]

A great many QH’s are sorrel/chestnut. As a whole, the QH is a more level-headed, quieter breed than the TB or Arabian. A great many Arabians are gray - does anyone think that gray horses are hot?

People start to see what they want to see and what they hear It’s easy to tune out the negative/opposite of what you want to believe, whether you realize it or not.

[red_mares]

[QUOTE=JB;8514356]
A great many QH’s are sorrel/chestnut. As a whole, the QH is a more level-headed, quieter breed than the TB or Arabian. A great many Arabians are gray - does anyone think that gray horses are hot?

People start to see what they want to see and what they hear It’s easy to tune out the negative/opposite of what you want to believe, whether you realize it or not.[/QUOTE]

A large proportion of ASBs are chestnut too. They are, not on the whole, quieter or more level headed than TBs or Arabs.

[JB]

But for the most part, it’s training which either ramps them up, or doesn’t. One of the few ASBs I personally knew was not only chestnut, but a seriously level-headed, best ever trail horse

I just don’t buy (in horses at least) the notion that color is linked to temperament.

[Miichelle]

[QUOTE=JB;8514552]
I just don’t buy (in horses at least) the notion that color is linked to temperament.[/QUOTE]

I agree, but I think that this line of thinking came about because certain bloodlines are (can be) predominately one color. I base this off of my observation, years ago when I was breeding Shetland Sheepdogs, that blue merle Shelties are “beautiful airheads with low trainability” (and many other not so complimentary statements). At that time almost ALL blue merle Shelties that were winning in the breed ring were from one kennel/bloodline and yes, they were dumb but guess what? The blacks from those bloodlines were dumb also, they just didn’t stand out the way the much less common blues did… Just a thought…

[wcporter]

I love reading these threads in the breeding forum. I always learn so much.

You guys are an endless wealth of knowledge :yes:

FWIW, I really dont have one color that I love more than another, but I will say that I am slightly obsessed with roman noses :o

[JB]

[QUOTE=Miichelle;8515588]
I agree, but I think that this line of thinking came about because certain bloodlines are (can be) predominately one color.[/QUOTE]

I agree, which is why I find it amusing that nobody equates gray (predominant in Arabs) to being hot and flighty. It’s just “Arab= hot and flighty” LOL

[Montanas_Girl]

[QUOTE=JB;8515763]
I agree, which is why I find it amusing that nobody equates gray (predominant in Arabs) to being hot and flighty. It’s just “Arab= hot and flighty” LOL[/QUOTE]

And that line of thinking is no more accurate than the “chestnut = hot” stereotype.

[crosscreeksh]

[QUOTE=EKLay;8513809]
This could be said about pretty much anything though. Locally, I can go see a herd of poorly conformed fill in the blank very easily. Pinto, solid, mini, pony, and draft… Crappy breeders are crappy breeders regardless of whether they’re breeding based on color, “cute”, hair, or a popular horse that is 20 generations back in the pedigree. People breeding for just color are not the only ones flooding the market with horses that should never have been bred.[/QUOTE]

For SURE!! In our area of Ok. it is not uncommon for a herd of 100 QH mares spitting out babies every year…no care, handling, grain, vaccinations…and the registered foals are bringing $75 at the local sales every fall!! I guess they figure they have no overhead in care/feed, so they are making a profit…and filling the slaughter bound trucks!!

[JB]

[QUOTE=Montanas_Girl;8517747]
And that line of thinking is no more accurate than the “chestnut = hot” stereotype. ;)[/QUOTE]
Yep, exactly the point!

I just find it silly that some correlations are made (inaccurately) but the same inaccurate correlation isn’t made to something similar.