spots on a palomino ?

[poppy1969]

My palomino yearling colt has developed dark spots on his coat. Started off with the odd one or 2 now he has rather a lot.
Im presuming he is a sooty palomino though want to know how this affects what colours he would throw. Plannning on using him on 2 bay mares next year, one is by a bay out of a dun, the other by a black out of a bay.
here is a pic of his body, he also carries the sabino gene and has some flecking.

 

[joeanne]

Until he is graded why use him on anything?

 

[Emilieu]

They look like Ben D'Or spots to me.

 

[sandy3924]

Until he is graded why use him on anything?

Spot on!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

They are Bend Or spots, not sooty.

RE breeding with your mares

one is by a bay out of a dun

I guess that you mean her dam was a buckskin, but in a way the dun/buckskin difference is irrelevant as she's not inherited it (both the cream and dun genes show if the horse has one copy). This mare could have either one or two copies of agouti.

by a black out of a bay

Ok, so this mare has only one copy of agouti.

Do either of the mares have a hidden chestnut gene? Any chestnut or chestnut based coloured grand dams or grand sires?

If neither mare carries chestnut, then they can only pass on black as a base colour. Your colt can only pass on chestnut as a base colour. He has one copy of the cream gene (50% chance of passing it on).

So the offspring will probably be black based.

Potential colours for the foals.

Black + Chestnut + agouti + cream = buckskin
Black + Chestnut = Black
Black + Chestnut + cream = smoky black
Black + Chestnut + agouti = bay

If there is a hidden chestnut gene you could also get these colours. Remember agouti has no effect on a chestnut base.

Chestnut + Chestnut = Chestnut
Chestnut + Chestnut + Agouti = Chestnut
Chestnut + Chestnut + Cream = Palomino
Chestnut + Chestnut + Agouti + Cream = Palomino