Grulla foals

[DianneC]

Lisa, I don't know for sure, but I think if you look at the color around Duce's eyes you will get an idea. I can see black underneath on the legs but I don't see any grey cast to them.

Michelle, I'm wondering about Hija's filly since she has red eyelashes. Do you think she could be some form of red dun? Is the dark in her mane really black? What did Desi look like at this age?

Hoorah, lets see pictures of Kim's wonderful horses too.

[spanishsagegrullas]

Here's something else to look for, although I don't know that it is a hard and fast rule. I never really noticed until another Kiger breeder said that all their grullas had blue/grey eyes. Since then, about 3 years ago, I have started looking and yes, all my grullas are born with blue/grey eyes, which turn brown after a week or two. Even the colt born last week still has them.

Anyone else notice this?

Diane P.
Spanish Sage Ranch

[zephyrcreek]

Hi Guys!

Interesting topic. I own Kim's colt Rocky. He is now 5, and I would consider him a dark (medium compared to Chinny) grulla. Today he has a much darker coat than the pictures Dianne posted. By the end of the summer he bleaches out and is lighter, but he always has a reddish cast to his coat, and red and blonde highlights in his mane and tail. I always thought it was because his dam was a red dun?? I do have 2 very light grulla's here, and I am often asked if the are silver grulla's. I'm not sure of what the "true" defs are, but Rocky is much darker.

Ellen

[Michelle Clarke]

The red duns are born very light with bright red manes...at least that has been my experience with the seven we have had so far. Some have looked like double dilutes when born with thier super light baby fuzz.

Ellen, our grullas tend to get blondish highlights in the mane, but if I flip the mane over, the other side has lighter grulla highlights - the sun has not bleached them out...Charro on the other hand, has dark redish-looking "highlights"...so do most of the dark grullos we have. It is more of an auburn type color.

I think diet has alot to do with color. The more protein, the deeper or richer the color. Molasses has served as an old trick to deepen gold colors and black oil sunflower seeds for darker colors. I have noticed this spring, being off the sweet feed, the horses colors are much different. Leza was very black looking last year, this year she is more silvery.

[kimk]

Sorry guys, I've been trying to email pics to Michelle to post but my computer keeps freezing up halfway thru sending them....

[zephyrcreek]

Hi Michelle,

My horses are not fed grain, and have not had grain in the last two years. They are fed free choice hay/pasture and minerals. I only have one horse here that we are trying to put weight on that receives a pelleted grain and beet pulp. Topic, at 26, is grained only in the winter with pelleted feed and beet pulp. They all receive the same hay year after year that comes off of my fields. I occasionally supplement with outside hay, but that is a very small portion of their diet.

Ellen

[Michelle Clarke]

Ellen, I was not directing the feed thing at you....just a general thought! How great is it that you can do your own hay!! If we can get rid of all thing dang mesquite out here maybe we can do that in the years to come.

[Michelle Clarke]

For Kim...

[stormyranch]

This is Dolce's dorsal stripe. Kim, would you say this is black?


Yes, Her dorsal is crooked :-)

[kimk]

It doesn't look black in the photo, but you would be the best one to say since you can see it in person. It looks dark brown in the pic.
Kim

[fantasykiger]

I am curious what characteristics would determine whether or not a Kiger grulla is just light or silver?
Is it a matter of the shade of grulla on the main body coat, or something like the effects of silver on other coat colors? I only ask because when I see a silver bay, I expect to see a really light to silvery white mane and tail and some dappling usually, on the bay horse. Would a silver grulla have these characteristics as well on the grulla horse? just curious.
Ok I know it is a mini' and all, they come in such fun colors...
But if you click on this link and scroll down you will find a silver grulla...with the white mane and tail, just gorgeous.
www.buckon.com/stallion.html
Then click on his first foals for a side view pic'

[Michelle Clarke]

Tiffany, I belive the "silver" you are refering too is a different gene all together. I don't belive it is in the Kiger breed. Silver is just used to describe the lighter grullo color in the Kigers...just as the "claybank" was used to describe the light dun color, when in other breeds it refers to a light red dun. It sure is a striking color on the grullo though!!

[nrly]

do kiger have any type of h gene (for instance the black H) I have seen pictures of horse's that I thought were Kigers but were of a Spanish breed and they carried something they called the champaign gene. Just wondering cause they were beautiful.

[fantasykiger]

Thanks for answering that question Michelle..I had a feeling it was more describing the coat/body color and not the silver gene, thanks. After going thru' several grulla colored horses websites it can get confusing. As in the QH world they consider the real light grulla a white grulla and more medium a silver. So it is really a matter of who you ask. It comes with the territory of the dun gene, there is just as many shades of dun as there is grulla.

[Michelle Clarke]

Nola, I belive the "H" gene you are refering to means Homozygous. This means that the horse carries two of the same genes and will always pass one onto the offspring. This can be a color or any trait in general. They can be Homozygous for black, meaning they will always pass one black gene onto the foal. This does not mean the foal will always be black though, this depends on what color the mare is/or has in her genetics. Say for instance the Agouti gene, which makes bay - if the mare passes that onto a foal the foal with be black base with the agouti modifier making a bay.

Some colors are dominant and some are recessive. There are only basically two base colors in horses: red and black. Black is dominant and red is recessive. A horse must receive a red gene from each parent to be red based. A red horse only has the red gene to give, they cannot hide a black gene to pass along to foals. While a black horse can hide a red and pass it on. That is why some black based horses can have red based foals. BUT if a horse is homozygous for black, it does not have a red gene, therefore only passes black.

Kigers can be homozygous for dun, meaning they got two copies of the dun gene (one from each parent) and they will always pass it. Dun is dominant, so it does not hide and will be expressed if they have it. Of course you get into the dark grullos, dunalinos, etc. and it can be expressed very minimally or another dilute or modifying gene can mask all or some of it. Color can get real confusing fast!

We will be breeding Charro to a QH mare that is a champange this year, so hopefully next year we will have a dun/champange foal....! We searched long and hard for the right mare with this color to complement the breeding program. She actually has a pretty distinct Iberian type head too...at least the profile part!