<p>Agouti is a modifier but we have given it a separate page. Simply put Agouti restricts black to the legs, mane and tail. A Horse with agouti is typed as either Aa or AA. A horse without agouti is aa.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Here are a couple examples of agouti's affects and their codes: I've put individual genetic examples in between pipes: |examples|<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>BLACK</strong>: A black horse with no agouti is black over it's entire body. His genetic code would be very simple - either<strong> |eE aa|</strong> or <strong>|EE aa|</strong> no other modifiers. Note the two lowercase a's - a black horse has no agouti.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>BAY</strong>: A black horse with agouti is called a bay. His genetic code would be <strong>|eE Aa|</strong> or <strong>|EE and aA|</strong> or<strong> |eE and AA|</strong> or <strong>|EE and AA|. </strong>Note he must have at least one capital A to be a bay.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>BUCKSKIN:</strong> A black horse with agouti and a cream gene is called a buckskin. His genetic code would be <strong>|eE and Aa and crCR|</strong> or <strong>|EE and aA and crCR|</strong> or <strong>|eE and AA and crCR|</strong> or<strong> |EE and AA and crCR|<br /><br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>NOTE!</strong> You only see agouti's affects if the horse has a black gene "E" - if the horse has two red genes "ee" agouti can hide -<strong> if the horse has at least one black gene "E" you will ALWAYS see agouti - it cannot hide on black.</strong></p>
<p>eg. a <strong>PALOMINO</strong>'s genetic code looks like this<strong> |ee and crCR and aa|</strong> or like this <strong>|ee and crCR and Aa|</strong> or like this <strong>|ee and crCR and AA|</strong> all three look identical and you cannot tell them apart except by testing HOWEVER if you are interested in breeding for color you need to know as the following example shows:<br /><br /></p>
<p>The <strong> |ee and crCR and aa|</strong> palomino has no agouti so if you breed this palomino to, say, <strong>#1 Black</strong> <strong> |eE and aa|</strong> or <strong>#2 Black |EE and aa|</strong> you will never get a buckskin - you could get a Palomino or a Smokey Black from the#1 Black because he is eE and might throw the foal the lowercase "e" to make a palomino or if he throws the capital "E" the result will be a smokey black. Breeding this palomino to #2 Black horse you will only get a smokey black because there is no agouti from either parent, there is for sure one E from the Black horse and because black is dominant it has to show.</p>
Agouti
- Written by: Sharalee Worms