HGG Community Forums

If both the sire and the dam carry frame (Olw), there is a 1 in 4 chance of a dead foal that got the Olw from both parents.

If both sire and dam have any of the 4 dominant white Kit mutations, there is a 1 in four chance that the foal will inherit both of them and die.

If either sire or dam has White 1 or White 2 and the other has either Sabino 1 or Sabino 2, there is a 1 in four chance of a dead foal.

If both sire and dam have Splash 2 or Splash 3, there is a 1 in 4 chance of a dead foal.

Crossing Splash 2 and 3 also gives a 1 in 4 chance of a dead foal.

The best way to avoid these crosses is to learn what the various homozygous lethal patterns look like. You can do a search for them to see the wide range of their appearances.

If you can afford it, doing a color test on all your horses is the best way to know for sure if a horse has any of these genes. However, most of the whites and sabinos are pretty obvious unless a horse has no white factor or minimal white factor. Frame is the trickiest one, because a horse can carry it without it showing up at all unless it has homozygous splash or one of the dominant whites with a fairly large white factor. It's always wise to color test any intact foals that have a parent that you know carries frame.

I just color test the stallions I'm going to use. As long as they do not have any of the above genes I don't care if the mares do or not. I do the same thing with all generations. None of my stallions carry any white, splash or sabino just to be on the safe side.