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Hi Sookieboo, no worries about not being sure about it; as the genetics in this game are based on real life, they are just as complicated as in real life. So it can be really hard to grasp what causes what! But that's also (to me) what makes this game so interesting :)

I copied this explanation from a comment I made a while ago in another thread about dapples: https://www.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/34215/the-dapples-look-at-the-dapples/p2


Basically there are 3 things/genes that influence the amount of dapples: DP, Sty+ and Silver. However, there are also occurances of random dappling, if you reroll the image of a simple stysty chestnut for example they could end up with some dapples.

DP makes the coat darker, so the dapples are more pronounced.
STY+ causes Dappling in itself, but if the horse already has some dappling going on that gets more pronounced too.
Silver horses also have dappling more often than non silver horses, plus the silver makes the coat slightly dilluted so the dapples show better (just like the dapples show better on buckskins).

This horse is hetero DP with some dapples:

MS2 Sugarolas hetKPDP

This one is homo DP and also has S+, you see there are more pronounced dapples:

MS3 SilverlightTurksSFpGP

This is a buckskin with DP and S+:

MS3 DAPPLYDEE SHOWW

This is a silver buckskin dun (het DP, no s+), you see a little bit of dappling.

MS2 SuggyishYou KPhDP

This is a silver bay dun (het DP, no S+, but 1 sty more than the horse above), you see the dappling better:

MS2 NICE 7666908

Some more silver examples:
These are two regular silver black horses, 1st one has no sty at all, 2nd one has 2 copies of normal sty.

MSRrs In Time

MS Public Chanel L

This horse has S+, adding more dapples:

MS Whirling Steak KP

It's a bit harder to see but this horse is a silver smokey black with 1 copy of S+, but also having 1 copy of cream that dillutes the coat. To me, that makes the dapples stand out even more.

MS7 MilleniumWhirlig

Finally, this is a hetero DP S+ Silver Black horse, making the coat darker and thus making the dapples stand out even more:

MS2 SummerReturnedGPDP

So to conclude, a normal horse can have some dapples, but that's rare. Silver horses have dapples more often, as well as DP horses. S+ horses always have dapples.
Ofcourse there are also the champagne horses, they are similar to silver horses with how often they have dapples, but to me that looks more like leopard spots instead of dapples:

MSH Panthera PAS
(This was an old horse I had)

I hoped this helped a bit! :)

Edit: Oh and I just wanted to end with these two beauties, first one S+, Het DP, silver buckskin with cream:

MS4 It Escaped DP

Homo DP S+ liver:

MS3 Morniyad LOOVEE SHOW

Finally, some champagnes also seem to have 'dappling', however that is usually referred to as 'reverse' dappling. On page 3 of the other topic are some examples about that.

So I hoped this explained it a bit and made it clearer to you what causes dapples. For more info and more examples I'd recommend reading/scrolling through this thread:
https://www.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/34215/the-dapples-look-at-the-dapples/p2

Hmmm so does DP appears as Ssty on the Gene string?

Thanks again - I want to try and work out why I have 2 horses with similar genes but one has dapples one doesnt. I will go away and read but may be back if I cant figure it out ;)

Ah I see - so its not always automatic that dapples appear. This girl was the reason I started looking at what caused dapples I thought she should have dapples due to her gene string which is what started me looking into what causes them. I have rerolled her twice and not had any luck and as a newbie without much HB might just have to accept she wont have them!

https://www.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=8375388