Wild Mountain Farms
  • WildMountainFarms
  • About Us
    • Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
    • Christie's Writing
    • Dave
  • Our Stallion
    • 2021 Breeding Season
    • 2020 Breeding Season
    • The Breeding Process
    • Schedule Your Breeding
    • Breeding Contracts and Fees
    • Color and Our Stallion
  • Education
    • About the Rocky Mountain Horse >
      • History of the Rocky Mountain Horse Breed
      • Other Mountain Horse Breeds
      • What They Look Like
      • Temperament of the Rocky Mountain Horse
      • What They Do
      • Where to Find a Rocky Mountain Horse
      • Cost of a Rocky Mountain Horse
      • Genetic Testing
    • Breeding Education >
      • Deciding to Breed
      • Choosing a stallion
      • Getting Started
      • Breeding Costs
      • Breeding Basics >
        • Timing Details
      • AI vs Live Cover
      • Pre-Breeding Preparation
      • Breeding Contract
      • Live Foal Guarantee
    • Basic Genetics >
      • Basic Genetics Expanded
    • Color Genetics >
      • Horse Color Genetics >
        • Basic Color Genes
        • Special Color Genes >
          • Special Color Details
        • The Colors >
          • Red
          • Bay
          • Black
          • White
          • Gray
          • Chocolate
          • Cream Gene Colors >
            • Palomino
            • Buckskin
            • Black Buckskin
            • Cremello
            • Perlino
            • Smokey Cream
          • Champagne
          • Paint
          • Roan
          • Appaloosa Horses
    • Raising a Foal Right
    • Transporting Horses Long Distance >
      • Transport Paperwork
      • Transport Equiptment (Big)
      • Transport Equiptment (Small)
      • Feed and Water For Transporting
      • Driving Practices for Transporting
      • Transport Tips
  • Horses For Sale
    • Stormy-SOLD!
    • Smudge-SOLD!
    • Copper-SOLD! >
      • Copper Stories
  • Our Horses
    • Lady
    • Cowgirl
    • Belle
    • Sugar
  • Our Animal Partners
  • Our Human Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Western Montana Riding Trails
  • The Pacific Crest Trail
    • Who We Are >
      • Why and What
      • Christie
      • Kaladin
      • The Horses
      • Riding Companions
      • Local Resources
      • Home Team
    • Strategy and Goals
    • PCT Basics
    • PCT Water
    • PCT Safety
    • PCT Timing
    • PCT Maps
    • PCT Permits
    • PCT Resources
    • PCT Contacts
    • PCT Gear >
      • backpacking gear List >
        • Shelter >
          • Tents
        • Sleeping Bag
        • Sleeping Pad
        • Camp Chair
        • Water Purifier
        • Water Reservoir
        • Kitchen Gear
      • horse packing gear
      • dog packing gear
      • safety gear
      • photography gear
      • packing organization
  • AirBnB Cabin
  • Wildflowers of Western Montana
    • Arnica
    • Arrowleaf Balsamroot
    • Bear Grass
    • Biscutroot
    • Bitterroot
    • Buttercup, Sagebrush
    • Buttercup, Common
    • Bluebell
    • Cinquefoil
    • Deptford Pink
    • Fleabane
    • Glacier Lily
    • Goldenrod
    • Harebell
    • Indian Paintbrush
    • Kinickinick
    • Larkspur
    • Lupine
    • Mouseeared Chickweed
    • Oregon Grape
    • Oxeye Daisy
    • Pasque Flower
    • Prarie Smoke
    • Salsify
    • Shooting Star
    • Thistle
    • Wild Hyacinth
    • Wild Onion
    • Wild Rose
    • Wild Strawberry
    • Wild Sunflower
    • White Campion
    • Woodland Star
    • Yarrow
    • Plant ID Books I Like
  • Goats
    • Goat Enclosures
    • Feeding Goats >
      • Feeding Dwarf Goats >
        • Dwarf Goat Hay
  • Sheep
  • Horsepacking
    • How Many Horses
  • Sheep
return to general education page

Basic Genetic Principles

Want to understand a little bit more about Color Genetics in horses? Here's a basic primer and some suggestions for further reading. For something more detailed, click here.

Basic Genetics
To understand how color is determined in horses, you have to know three things about basic genetics:


  1. Horses have thousands of genes.  Each gene controls a different trait – eye color, hoof size, temperament, etc.  Some traits are simple – controlled by one gene.  Others are complex, controlled by many genes working together.  Color is one of the complex genes.  It is controlled by the interactions of many genes working together.
  2. Every horse receives two versions of each gene – one from the mother and one from the father.  A specific gene may have many more than two versions available in the whole horse population, but each individual horse only gets two.
  3. When a horse receives two different versions of a gene (instead of getting the same version from both its mother and its father), these traits usually do not blend – most often, one is hidden (turned off) and the other is used to build the foal.  However, when breeding, it is important to remember that the hidden gene exists.  After all, it may be the hidden gene that gets passed on to its foal, and this may create a trait in the foal that was not present in either parent.

a more detailed understanding of genetics
proceed to color genetics page

Location

raising rocky mountain horses
​for every rider

Because when the mountains are wild,
the horse shouldn't be!

Wild Mountain Farms
PO Box 209
25111 Mill Creek Rd.
Frenchtown, MT  59834
406-239-4748
info@WildMountainFarms.com
Christie and Dave Goodman

Contact Us

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  • WildMountainFarms
  • About Us
    • Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
    • Christie's Writing
    • Dave
  • Our Stallion
    • 2021 Breeding Season
    • 2020 Breeding Season
    • The Breeding Process
    • Schedule Your Breeding
    • Breeding Contracts and Fees
    • Color and Our Stallion
  • Education
    • About the Rocky Mountain Horse >
      • History of the Rocky Mountain Horse Breed
      • Other Mountain Horse Breeds
      • What They Look Like
      • Temperament of the Rocky Mountain Horse
      • What They Do
      • Where to Find a Rocky Mountain Horse
      • Cost of a Rocky Mountain Horse
      • Genetic Testing
    • Breeding Education >
      • Deciding to Breed
      • Choosing a stallion
      • Getting Started
      • Breeding Costs
      • Breeding Basics >
        • Timing Details
      • AI vs Live Cover
      • Pre-Breeding Preparation
      • Breeding Contract
      • Live Foal Guarantee
    • Basic Genetics >
      • Basic Genetics Expanded
    • Color Genetics >
      • Horse Color Genetics >
        • Basic Color Genes
        • Special Color Genes >
          • Special Color Details
        • The Colors >
          • Red
          • Bay
          • Black
          • White
          • Gray
          • Chocolate
          • Cream Gene Colors >
            • Palomino
            • Buckskin
            • Black Buckskin
            • Cremello
            • Perlino
            • Smokey Cream
          • Champagne
          • Paint
          • Roan
          • Appaloosa Horses
    • Raising a Foal Right
    • Transporting Horses Long Distance >
      • Transport Paperwork
      • Transport Equiptment (Big)
      • Transport Equiptment (Small)
      • Feed and Water For Transporting
      • Driving Practices for Transporting
      • Transport Tips
  • Horses For Sale
    • Stormy-SOLD!
    • Smudge-SOLD!
    • Copper-SOLD! >
      • Copper Stories
  • Our Horses
    • Lady
    • Cowgirl
    • Belle
    • Sugar
  • Our Animal Partners
  • Our Human Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Western Montana Riding Trails
  • The Pacific Crest Trail
    • Who We Are >
      • Why and What
      • Christie
      • Kaladin
      • The Horses
      • Riding Companions
      • Local Resources
      • Home Team
    • Strategy and Goals
    • PCT Basics
    • PCT Water
    • PCT Safety
    • PCT Timing
    • PCT Maps
    • PCT Permits
    • PCT Resources
    • PCT Contacts
    • PCT Gear >
      • backpacking gear List >
        • Shelter >
          • Tents
        • Sleeping Bag
        • Sleeping Pad
        • Camp Chair
        • Water Purifier
        • Water Reservoir
        • Kitchen Gear
      • horse packing gear
      • dog packing gear
      • safety gear
      • photography gear
      • packing organization
  • AirBnB Cabin
  • Wildflowers of Western Montana
    • Arnica
    • Arrowleaf Balsamroot
    • Bear Grass
    • Biscutroot
    • Bitterroot
    • Buttercup, Sagebrush
    • Buttercup, Common
    • Bluebell
    • Cinquefoil
    • Deptford Pink
    • Fleabane
    • Glacier Lily
    • Goldenrod
    • Harebell
    • Indian Paintbrush
    • Kinickinick
    • Larkspur
    • Lupine
    • Mouseeared Chickweed
    • Oregon Grape
    • Oxeye Daisy
    • Pasque Flower
    • Prarie Smoke
    • Salsify
    • Shooting Star
    • Thistle
    • Wild Hyacinth
    • Wild Onion
    • Wild Rose
    • Wild Strawberry
    • Wild Sunflower
    • White Campion
    • Woodland Star
    • Yarrow
    • Plant ID Books I Like
  • Goats
    • Goat Enclosures
    • Feeding Goats >
      • Feeding Dwarf Goats >
        • Dwarf Goat Hay
  • Sheep
  • Horsepacking
    • How Many Horses
  • Sheep