Re: RC: Spotted Arabians

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/1/00 8:17:57 AM Pacific Standard Time, SandyDSA@aol.com 
writes:

<< I am curious as to how many of you who have PB Arabians whom you are 
 competing have any with white spots. Until BT was initiated, an Arabian with 
 body spots could have his or her papers yanked for in=mpure blood - now of 
 course, with BT and DNA etc., this is no longer the case. I have read and 
 heard that in fact unusual body white - not sox or blazes - indicated great 
 inatiquity within the bloodlines. As I was shedding out our flaxen 
 CMK/Egyptian mare yesterday, I counted 9 white spots - sheesh! Too many more 
 and someone might mistaje her for an App! No, really - rather fascinating, 
 and I wanted ot know if anyone else finds this on their PB horses and what 
 their lines are. >>

Sandy, body spots were common in at least two of the original desert strains 
(can't remember which ones, sorry) and have survived quite admirably into 
today's modern Arabs.  At no time did the Registry pull papers for body 
spots, but for many years they were considered to be sort of a social black 
mark and were actively shunned--which is about as silly as using them as a 
primary selection criterion, as some are doing today as the pendulum has gone 
the other direction!  This desert trait has come down through several Crabbet 
lines, and I've also seen some pretty "loud" Polish horses.  I understand 
that a few of the Davenports have been pretty colorful, too--and they are Al 
Khamsa horses as well as being CMK.  So the trait is pretty widespread and 
clearly goes back to desert sources.

At least 6 of our bunch are "spotted"--four of those quite noticeably, 
including grandma Muferra (dam of RT Muffin and paternal granddam of Tevis 
winner BRR Aurber Lights).  One of our spotted Arabs is even a bay!  And 
speaking of Aurber--his dam Carubi was also extremely "loud."  One of our 
spotted ones is the stallion that Paul rides--Aur Bold Tribute--he has a 
corner of his blaze that goes up over one eye, a race up his jaw, and a very 
small body spot right on his midline--not noticeable unless he is sprawled 
out enjoying the sunshine or you are crawling around underneath him scrubbing 
socks.  In our case, all of our "spotted" horses descend from Muferra's sire 
Muhuli, who was a son of Abu Farwa--Ab was noted for white among his 
descendants, as was his grandsire Naseem.  We have high white from other 
sources of Abu Farwa blood in some of our other horses, too. 

The "color" gene that is present in the Arabian is the sabino gene--it's a 
very unpredictable one, as its expression can be extremely variable, ranging 
from virtually no expression at all right on up to horses with well over 50% 
body white.

Heidi