[acronymm]

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Welcome to the official Cupido Draft Horse coat guide!
Here, you will discover both visual and written guides to base coats, dilutions, markings, breed specific genes, event markings, and more.

Each phenotype will include a description and any notes. There will also be such thing as tiers, ranging from common (c), uncommon (uc) and rare (r)

Tiers are used in order to keep certain markings from appearing too frequently.

Thank you so much to rebel.appy for these wonderful lines

[acronymm]

Base Coats:
I. Chestnut
II. Bay
III. Dun
IIII. Grey
V.





Special Markings:
I. Part 1
II. Part 2
III. Part 3
IIII. Part 4

[acronymm]

Thank you Shadow for your help with this guide!

Note: Cupido Draft Genetics are based off real genetics. Therefore, genetics may not completely correspond, this is because CDH has more simplified genes. This guide does not accurately use the gene locus.

Breed specific genetics and non-genetic markings do not have a specific geno. Instead, they are written out.
For example: + byakko, + m venus, + chubari, etc

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BASE COATS
Chestnut [Red]: Standard/Classic, Liver, Honey, Golden, Flaxen, Black
Bay [Agouti]: Standard/Classic, Dark, Blood, Wild, Seal, Copper, Gold, Sandy/Light, Cherry, Mahogany
Black: Standard, Raven, Jet, Sun-fading, Bleached

MODIFIERS & DILUTIONS
Grey
Dun
Flaxen
Silver
Pangare
Champagne
Mushroom
Cream
Pearl
Ivory
Amber
Sooty

WHITE MARKINGS
Tobiano
Frame Overo
Overo
Splash
Sabino
Sabino-White
Dominant White
Medicine Hat

APPALOOSA MARKINGS
Roan
Leopard
Fewspot
Semi-Leopard
Near Leopard
Snowcap
Blanket
Varnish
Frost
Mismarked
Snowflake

COMBINATIONS
Tovero [Overo + Tobiano]
Pintaloosa [Any paint marking + appaloosa marking]

NON-GENETIC - Non-genetic traits pass at 5% or 10% if dam/sire both have them
Bloodmarks/Bloody shoulder
Chubari spots
Gulastra plume
Bider marks
Cornmarks
Grease/Bend or spots
Tetrarch spots
Birdcatcher spots
Lacing
Brindle
Manchado
Cat tracks/Belton spots

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VOCABULARY

1. Dominant: Masks recessive alleles in a heterozygous genotype- therefore is expressed in the phenotype. Represented by an uppercase letter

2. Recessive: Masked by a dominant allele in a heterozygous genotype and only shows in the homozygous form. Represented by a lowercase letter. Trait that shows in the homozygous recessive form is a recessive trait

3. Genotype: Set of genes/alleles in the DNA which is responsible for a particular trait. Example: Ee/AA/TOn

4. Phenotype: Physical expression of an organism’s genotype. Example Chestnut Tobiano

5. Homozygous: Have either two dominant or two recessive alleles at a single locus.

6. Heterozygous: Have one dominant and one recessive allele at the same locus

7. Punnett Square: Diagram used in the study of genetics used to predict the genotype, specifically when breeding

8. Dilution: Different dilution genes literally “tone down” the intensity of basic base colors. For instance, a black affected by dilution becomes grulla; bay becomes buckskin; chestnut becomes palomino, etc.

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Agouti aa/AA/At/A+
Black base aa
Extension ee/EE
Gray gg/GG

To get Chestnut/Sorrel base
Horse must be either
ee/aa
ee/Aa
ee/AA
ee/AAt
ee/AA+
ee/Ata
ee/AtAt
ee/A+a
ee/A+A+
Liver chestnut is unknown modifier
Flaxen chestnut modifier is a recessive genetic. Must have any of the above and be genetically ff to show flaxen. Ff is a flaxen carrier, FF is not a carrier of flaxen.

To get Black base
Horse must be either
Ee/aa
EE/aa
Fading/bleach/solid black is unknown modifier

To get Gray/Grey
Gray is 100% dominant to all genetics and will eventually turn a horse white with dark hooves and have black skin showing around eyes/muzzle with brown eyes unless other genetics or markings play a role in changing the skin, hoof, or eye colors. They gray out over time, but some are faster than others.
How they look as they gray depend on base coat, dilutions, modifiers, and other genes. They can dapple.
To be gray a horse must be:
Gg
GG

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Eumelanin: E
Determines if a horse has a black or chestnut (red) base.
E: Black (EE, Ee)
e: Red (Chestnut) (ee)

Agouti: A
Restricts black pigment to points to create bay and causes brown.
A: Bay (AA, AAt, AA+, Aa)
At: Seal Brown (AtAt, AtA+, Ata)
A+: Wild bay (A+A+, A+a)
a: Non-agouti, normal black base (aa)

Grey: G
Changes a horse's coat to grey over its lifetime. Affects all coats. Foals are born their natural color and grey over their lifetime, usually ending up as completely white or fleabitten grey.
G: Grey (GG, Gg)
g: Non-grey (gg)

Cream: Cr
Cream dilutes a horse's coat to a lighter color. It is an incomplete dominant gene, so two copies dilute further than one. One copy of cream turns black to smoky black; bay to buckskin; seal brown to brown buckskin; and chestnut to palomino. Two copies of cream turns black to smoky cream; bay and brown to perlino; and chestnut to cremello. Cream causes light eyes in double-dilutes.
CrCr: Double cream (two copies of cream)
Crprl: Psuedo double cream (looks the same as double creams but has one copy of cream and one of pearl)
Crcr: Single cream

Pearl: prl
Pearl produces a horse with a metallic shine that somewhat resembles champagne horses. It is a recessive gene, so it only shows with two copies.
prlprl: Pearl
crcr: Non-cream (also crprl; carrying pearl)

Dun: D
Dilutes a horse's coat color, with the head and legs often being darker. The horse may appear to have a dark mask over the top of the head. Causes primitive markings such as a dorsal stripe, ear barring, leg barring, shoulder stripes and cobwebbing on the forehead. Some homozygous duns may have bider marks.
D: Dun (DD, Dnd1, Dnd2 or Dd)
nd1: Non-dun 1, causes some primitive markings (nd1nd1, nd1nd2)
nd2 or d: Non-dun 2, no primitive markings whatsoever (nd2nd2)

Silver: Z
A dilution affecting black pigment in the mane and tail, and black body pigment to a slight degree. Silver lightens black to silver black, bay to silver bay, and brown to silver seal brown (or blue taffy).
Z: Silver (ZZ, Zz)
z: Non-Silver (zz)

Champagne: Ch
Dilutes the coat to a lighter, somewhat metallic color. Champagne dilutes black to classic champagne, bay to amber champagne, brown to sable champagne and red to gold champagne.
Ch: Champagne (ChCh, Chch)
ch: Non-Champagne (chch)

Mushroom: mu
Mushroom is a recessive gene that dilutes red in the coat to a taupe or sepia color. It dilutes chestnuts to a light sepia, and bay to a dark taupe that resembles sooty buckskins.
Mu: Non-mushroom (Mumu, MuMu)
mu: mushroom (mumu)

Flaxen: f
A recessive gene that dilutes mane and tails to a flaxen wheat color. Effects red pigment. In real life, it has not been definitively linked to one gene; there are still theories that it is polygenic and therefore influenced by many genes.
F: Non-flaxen (FF, Ff)
f: Flaxen (ff)

Sooty: Sty
Darkens the coat color and to an extent, the mane, from the topline of the body. It often has a pronounced effect on buckskin and palomino coats. In real life, inheritance of sooty is not well understood and it is unclear if it is caused by one or many genes.
Sty: Sooty (StySty, Stysty)
sty: Non-sooty (stysty)

Roan: Rn
Lightens the hairs of the body. The face, legs and mane remain fully colored.
Rn: Roan (RnRn, Rnrn)
rn: Non-Roan (rnrn)

Pangare: P
Lightens the underside of the body, around the eyes, the nose, and up the rump. Some sources say it also lightens the mane and tail in chestnut horses, mimicking the flaxen gene. In real life, pangare is not attributed to a single gene; it is thought to be polygenic - caused by many different genes.
P: Pangare (PP, Pp)
p: Non-pangare (pp)

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Tobiano: To or T
Produces patches of white across the whole body. Legs almost always have some degree of white on them, often up to the knees or further. Patches are usually rounded, without the jagged edges commonly seen in overo. The chest and flank are the last to lose color. The head and ears are usually solidly colored. At minimum, tobianos may only have white on the legs with no other markings. At maximum, they may be almost entirely white, only retaining color on the head (moroccan tobianos) or the chest/flanks.
To: Tobiano (ToTo, Toto)
to: Non-tobiano (toto)

Frame Overo: O
Causes irregular white patches, usually with jagged edges. The white almost never crosses the topline of the horse. Legs may or may not have white markings. The head is often white or bald-faced, with markings being irregular. Blue eyes are common when white comes close to or covers the eyes. Frame overo is associated with Lethal White Syndrome (also called Lethal White Overo), which refers to how homozygous frame horses all die shortly after birth due to complications. For this reason, fame overo horses cannot be bred together.
OO: Lethal White Syndrome (LWS)
Oo: Frame overo (or reverse overo)
o: Non-overo

Splash: Spl
May be called Splash or Splashed White. Causes white markings look as if the horse has been dipped in white paint hoof-first. It affects the legs and face first. Eyes are often blue regardless of if white covers them or not. Minimal splashes may appear to just have a few socks or be seemingly solid-colored. Maximum splashes usually retain color only on the ears, top of the neck and/or withers.
Spl: Splashed white (SplSpl, Splspl)
spl: Non-splash (splspl)

Sabino: Sb
Causes irregular white spotting and roaning. White is typically irregular, jagged and has a spotty/roaned look, appearing most frequently on the stomach. Interspersed white and colored hairs caused by sabino can mimic the roan gene. Roaning or jaggedness at the edges of white markings is common, as are irregular face markings. Usually two or more feet/legs are white.
Homozygous sabino results in a coat that is more than 90% white and is referred to as maximum sabino or sabino-white. Homozygous sabinos usually have a fully roaned appearance (including the head and legs, unlike the Roan gene) often with patches of darker color, or as a white horse with spots of color and some lightly colored patches.
Heterozygous sabino can display as minimally as a few spots on the face with a few white feet. It can present as an extensive roaned appearance, or just as solid white spotting on the legs, belly, neck and/or rump.
Sb: Sabino (SbSb, Sbsb)
sb: Non-sabino (sbsb)

Dominant White: W
Dominant white is a family of 28 genes (W1-W28) causing white spotting, often similar to sabino, up to a near- or full white horse. Multiple of these genes are thought to be homozygous embryonic lethal, meaning offspring does not typically survive to reach birth. W20 is the most widespread of the dominant white genes, and is known to cause markings such as socks and blazes, but when paired with other white markings such as tobiano, it significantly increases the extensiveness of the white. The dominant white gene has been simplified into two genes: "W" dominant white which causes a fully white horse with pink skin, with homozygous white being embryonic lethal, and "W+" which represents W20. They occur on the same locus like pearl and cream.
WW: Lethal as embryo
Ww: Dominant white
WW+: Dominant white
W+W+: White leg and face markings. More extensive than in heterozygous form. Extends white markings when paired with them.
W+w: Minimal white leg and face markings. Extends other white markings when paired with them.
ww: Non-dominant white

Appaloosa: Lp and PATN1
Varnish is only on the LP gene and can be present or not present with the LP
Single LP has spots, homo LP often has few to no spots
Pattern 1 is leopard (LPlp) or fewspot (LPLP)
Pattern 2 is blanket (LPlp) or snowcap (LPLP)

Rabicano: Rb
Rb: Rabicano
rb: Non-rabicano

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MORE
CDH Generator
Equine Genetic Guide
Horse Coat Reference
Equine Gene List
AQHA Guide

[ShadowStarFang]

Gonna cover Chestnut, Bay, Seal Bay, Wild Bay, Brown, Black, and Grey. Grey is gonna be covered here as well since it’s not really a dilution or modifier as much as it just overruns everything lol
Genetic panel of coverage ee/aa(At/A+)/gg
Not gonna add all shade variants, as many are just slightly different or may just be visually different but not genetically different. This is to cover the genetics as Acronymm has many shades covered above with the CDH rarity guide!

Pretty Title Here!

links to other colors posts and to top post here too

Chestnut

Sorrel, Red, Liver chestnut

• ee/aa
• ee/Aa
• ee/AA
• ee/AAt
• ee/AA+
• ee/Ata
• ee/AtAt
• ee/A+a
• ee/A+A+

Information blob here!

Wild Bay

Alternate names

• Ee/A+a
• EE/A+a
• Ee/A+A+
• EE/A+A+
• Ee/A+A
• EE/A+A
• Ee/A+At
• EE/A+At

Wild Bay is the most dominate Agouti (A+) genetic within Cupido Draft Horses.

Bay

Alternate Names

• Ee/Aa
• EE/Aa
• Ee/AA
• EE/AA
• Ee/AAt
• EE/AAt

Bays will be red on their body and head, with black points. The black points include legs,
muzzle, tail, mane, and occasionally ear tips. The Agouti (A Gene) restricts the black
pigment from the Extension (E Gene).

Seal Bay

Dark Bay, Brown

• Ee/Ata
• EE/Ata
• Ee/AtAt
• EE/AtAt

Seal Bays are the least dominate Agouti (At Gene) in Cupido Draft Horses. The At Gene
provides minimal black restriction on the bay base. Often leaves the soft spots, such as
the muzzle, flanks, and under rump, with more red or orange color. In some cases, the
horse may look black even.

Black

alternate names to this coat! Yay!

• Ee/aa
• EE/aa

Expression of the extension gene, allowing a horse to be a variety of shades of black.

Grey

Gray

• Gg
• GG

Information blob here!

[acronymm]

ALTERNATIVE NAMES
In the horse world, there are many alternative names for base coats, dilutions, modifiers, markings, etc. Most range in various shades, hence the reason there are many different names

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NAMES OF THE DUN DILUTION
Classic Dun/Yellow Dun/Bay Dun/Peanut Butter Dun/Zebra Dun/Golden Dun/Dusty Dun = Most common shade of dun. Comes from the dun dilution on a bay base. The coat ranges from a light creamy yellow to a deep gold. Mane, tail, points and primitive markings are dark.

Red Dun/Apricot Dun/Peach Dun/Claybank Dun = Dun on a chestnut base. Often confused with chestnut, all hair is lightened on the body, but mane, tail, points and primitive markings are a darker, undiluted shade of red.

Black Dun/Blue Dun/Grullo/Grulla/Mouse Dun/Slate Dun/Lobo Dun = Dun on a black base which has a variety of names. This creates a smoky blue color that ranges from light mouse grey to a deep slate grey and is often considered the rarest of the dun shades. Mane, tail, points and primitive markings are dark black

Wolf Dun/Coyote Dun/Olive Grullo/Muddy Grullo = Dun on a seal brown base is not as strong as the rest. This changes body hair to various shades of muddy-brown. Mane, tail, points and primitive markings are dark brown to black

Smoky Grulla = Dun with a cream gene on a black base. A grulla horse can hide the cream gene as well. The cream gene doesn’t have any effect on the color, but the horse could potentially have palomino or buckskin foals

Palomino Dun/Dunalino = Occurs when the dun gene and cream gene pair on a chestnut base

Dunskin/Buckskin Dun = A buckskin horse that also has the dun gene. This color horse has a bay base with one copy of the cream gene and the dun gene. The horse is typically much lighter in color than a normal buckskin and has noticeable leg barring and a dorsal stripe. Many dunskins will also have lighter-colored highlights in their mane and tail

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