HGG Community Forums

Hi there Treble! To answer your questions, some genes are dominant and only need one copy to show on a horse’s coat. An E/e and E/E horse can look the same on the outside, but an E/E horse will always pass “E” to its offspring. An E/e horse will only pass “E” 50% of the time. E (black) and A (bay) are genes that dictate a horse’s color. Without any dominant (E) black genes, horses will be a base of red (chestnut/sorrel). The small “e” and “a” signify the horse has a non-dominant copy of black/bay.

Then there are pigment modifing/ diluting genes, like cream. Over a chestnut base (e/e a/a OR e/e A/a OR e/e A/A), one cream gene will turn a horse palomino, and two copies will make a cremello. Add a copy of champagne to one copy cream and then the horse becomes a gold cream champagne. Because cream and champagne are dominant genes, the horse only needs to have one copy for it to show. Like above, a horse that is heterozygous has a 50% chance of passing these genes to offspring.

Certain genes, like in-game satin, are recessive and need to be homozygous to show on a horse’s coat. In this situation, a horse could carry a single copy, but there will be no outward signs.

Hopefully that helps a bit. I’m newer to HaJ, but know a decent amount about genetics outside of this. Still figuring out some aspects of the game though! :)

If i remember correctly the "-" means its the default for the gene. So -/- on the cream allele (where the cream (Cr), pearl (Prl), Sun (Sun) and snowdrop (Sno) can be found), the "-" means it is the default or "non-epressant" of the gene. Like the others said, if your horse has -/Cr it is heterozygous for creme genetically and will also show it on its coat color. Similar like the appy gene: -/- means no appaloosa, Lp/- means heterozygous for appaloosa and Lp/Lp means homozygous for appaloosa. The expressions of each gene vary. Like the others said, a heterozygous cream horse (-/Cr) on a chestnut base (ee) will be palomino. If it had homo cream (Cr/Cr) it will look different, being a cremello. So the "-"/ does not mean the gene expresses as it is homozygous. The "-" simply means the horse doss not has any modifiers on that cream allele. Another example is sooty: Sty/Sty means a horse is homozygous for Sooty and has a dark coat. Sty/- means it is heterozygous Sooty and that it has a medium darkened coat. -/- on the sooty allele means your horse has no modifiers, no Sty so no darkening of the coat, so it will have a light colored coat.
I hope this helped you a bit with figuring out the genetics! :)

ok, if you look at a gene line the only genes that show are the ones the horse has X/- means the horse it Het for that gene ( it may or may not be visible in the horses coat depending on what gene it is ; for example if the horse shows PATN1/blank but there is not LP it means he has the pattern but will not express it, the foals have a 50% change of inherting the gene ). X-X means the horse is HOM for the gene ( this means it is visable, the horse will express it and the foals will at least be Het for the gene). Blank/Blank means the horse does NOT have the gene, cannot show it and foals will not inherit it. does that make it more clear for you? if not shoot me a dm and i ll try to explain further :)