Tamar's Ventures' Silver Line Up
From left to right:
Reign, Ginger, Cherokee, and Crickett (not Silver Dapple)
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The Silver Dapple Horses of Tamar's Ventures
I basically fell into the Silver Dapple color by accident.
My mother bought my first horse, Ginger, and I never really
thought about what colors she displayed, I knew she was a
Buckskin in color, which is the cream gene on a bay horse.
Along the way I ended up buying a pony, Cherokee, as a companion
horse to her. Some years later I had the chance to breed Ginger
to an Arabian stallion, so at 11 years old Ginger presented
me with Summers Reign; a black or bay based Silver Dapple.
I still at this time did not know what I really had. I just
thought he was really cool - he would change shades and tones
all year long, and he kept getting darker the first few years.
It wasn't until I decided to buy Reign's sire, Blu Teal, that
things started to change.
I then purchased a couple of Morgan mares, as I wanted
to breed for the Morab horse. I sold the pony at this time
because I wanted to focus more on my horses, and he found
a good home with a couple of kids in Berne, Indiana. The first
year, I bred the two Morgan mares, both of who are chestnut.
One mare, Star, had a chestnut colt for me. Suzie on the other
hand had a filly, Silky, that looked as if she would be bay,
then tried to fool me and make me think she would be chestnut.
This is when I started to question the colors of Silky and
Reign. All along I had been studying the different colors
of horses and what you can breed together and what will result.
I was asking more questions and trying to find out more about
how a dark horse could have a light mane and tail.
Suzie ended up having a chestnut colt, a black bay colt,
and then she had another filly, Ameretto, that was a little
lighter than her sister (Silky), but at this time I had a
better idea of what color she would turn out to be. I had
found a color board where I started asking more questions,
and another gal posted a picture of a Silver Dapple, which
made me more interested. I decided to send a hair sample from
Ameretto to UC Davis to test for red factor. It came back
as (Ee); that she has one black gene and one red gene, so
she cannot possibly be a chestnut. She is black based with,
more than likely, a bay modifier. After she was confirmed
as a Silver Dapple, I started looking at Ginger again, as
she always had dark brown points on her legs and not black.
Her mane and tail always was darker but silver on the ends.
She always had dapples showing on her golden coat. Unfortunately
she got sick in September of 2001, and while I was trying
to get her well, she was clipped from her nose down past her
poll onto her neck some. The clipping was done in December
of 2001, and she was a beautiful dark Silver color with the
dapples still showing through where she was clipped.
So now I knew that I had three Silver dapple horses: Ginger,
Cherokee, and Reign. Then along came Suzie who has given me
two more Bay Silver Dapple fillies. So as you can tell I am
pretty much hooked on interesting colors and modifiers, and
how they interact together to form the shades and tones that
we see on the horse in front of us.
For the future: Suzie is currently bred to a black Morgan
stallion, who is thought to be homozygous black, for a May
2003 foal. I will then breed her to a dark bay Morgan stallion
in Wisconsin for a 2004 foal. Hopefully she will grant me
two more Silver Dapple foals in the coming two years. After
this I will have to decide whether to keep breeding her to
Morgan stallions or breed her back to an Arabian for another
Morab foal.
Tamara Dirrim
For more information about Silver Dapple Morgans and how
the Silver Dapple dilute gene works, please visit Laura Behning's
web page,
The
Silver Dapple Morgans Project.
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NOTE: All Silver Dapple horses below were
sired by Blu Teal (Arabian) and out
of Amanda's Suzie Q (Chestnut Silver Dapple Morgan) unless otherwise
noted.
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Click for larger image.
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GINGER - breeding unknown
Tobiano Buckskin Silver Dapple Mare
Sept. 1980 - Dec. 7, 2001
The one who truly started it all for me. Although
Ginger's breeding is basically unknown, she obviously
has a tobiano gene (high white stockings and white patch
on top of her rump) and a cream gene. It was not so
obvious that she also had the silver dapple gene until
later.
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Click on each picture for a larger image.
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Click for larger image.
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SUMMERS REIGN - 1/2 Arabian
Brown Silver Dapple - 1991 - Gelding
Reign is by Blu Teal and out of Ginger (above).
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Click on each picture for a larger image.
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Click for larger image.
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TAMARS SILK N SATIN - Morab
Bay Silver Dapple Mare
April 26, 1998
Now owned by Michell Carpenter and family in
Auburn. Indiana.
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Pictures below are shown in chronological order by date/age.
Click on each picture for a larger image.
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BLUQUIZ MILLENIUMSEND - Morab
Chestnut - 1999 - Gelding
While Quiz is definitely a chestnut, he could possibly
be a chestnut silver dapple like his dam. He is included
on this page for this reason. A look at his mane shows
that it is mixed colors, with some very 'silver' looking
hairs. It is possible that he had mane hairs that were
dark enough (due to the sooty/smutty gene) to have been
diluted by the silver dapple gene. There is no way to
know this for sure, though, so it is only speculation.
The hairs could be the result of a flaxen gene, if his
sire and dam had flaxen genes to pass on to him.
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Click on each picture for a larger image.
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Click for larger image.
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AMERETTO BLU - Morab
Bay Silver Dapple - 2001 - Mare |
Pictures below are shown in chronological order by date/age.
Click on each picture for a larger image.
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Click for larger image.
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CHEROKEE - Pony
Bay Silver Dapple - Gelding
Cherokee is included on this page because ... well
... he *is* a bay silver dapple and he is simply too
cute not to include him, even though he is no longer
here at Tamar's Ventures.
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Click for larger image.
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TMV CARBIDE SILVER HAWK - Morgan
Bay Silver Dapple - Stallion
Hawk is 2004 bay silver dapple colt out of the chestnut
silver dapple Morgan mare, Amanda's Suzie Q. He is pictured
at the left as a yearling (July, 2005).
See more of Hawk on his web page by clicking here.
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The Silver Dapple Morgan History Timeline
The Origins (1927) - The First Silver Dapple Morgan
Breeder
In 1916, Richard Sellman of Rochelle, Texas
produced the Morgan stallion DAN #7095 (Sorrel) who was
by Headlight Morgan #4683 and out of the unregistered
mare, Kate B (THE ADMIRAL #4871 x KATE).
In March, 1927, DAN was sold to W. P. Thornhill,
Miami, Texas.
LADY SKINNER #01424 (Chestnut) was bred
and owned by Dick Skinner, Meade, Kansas. LADY SKINNER
was bred to Kansas Ranger #5785 (Dark Bay), and in 1909,
produced NELLIE SKINNER #03580 (Dark Bay).
In March, 1927, NELLIE SKINNER was purchases
by W. P. Thornhill, Miami, Texas.
NELLIE SKINNER was bred to DAN three
(3) times, producing:
BETTY SKINNER #04987 (Sorrel; light mane/tail) in 1928
CAVEY #04988 (Chestnut Sorrel; light mane/tail) in 1929
DAN’S BESS #04998 (Sorrel; light mane/tail) in 1932
BETTY SKINNER was bred to her sire,
DAN, three (3) times, producing:
DAN’S BABY 04645 (Sorrel; light mane/tail) in 1932
DAN’S BETTY 05005 (Chestnut; flaxen mane/tail) in 1934
PACHECO 7978 (Chestnut; flaxen mane/tail) in 1935
And, DAN was bred to his grand daughter,
BESS’ ANN 04651 (Light Bay), who was out of CAVEY, producing:
BRADY 05370 (Chestnut; flaxen mane/tail) in 1934
These descendants of the DAN/NELLIE SKINNER
breeding are the foundation of all Silver Dapple Morgans,
even though we have not pinpointed whether it was DAN
or NELLIE SKINNER who was the source of the silver dapple
gene in the breed. Logic would tell us that DAN, registered
as a sorrel, was the source. However, we have to remember
that registry records were not always 100% accurate with
regard to color. So we must not assume anything. DAN's
sire, Headlight Morgan (Chestnut), sired many, many offspring
who have modern descendants today, and no other sources
of silver dapple have surfaced there. DAN's dam, KATE
B (Bay), was by The Admiral (Chestnut), who also has many
modern descendants with no sources of silver dapple having
been discovered at this time. KATE B's dam, Kate was recorded
as bay. But how many of these colors inaccurately recorded?
We do not know and surely never will. We must be cautious
in giving credit for the silver dapple origin in the Morgan
breed, and credit neither DAN nor NELLIE SKINNER alone,
but simply credit the source as "The DAN/NELLIE SKINNER
Line".
What we do know for sure, though, is that
descendants of The DAN/NELLIE SKINNER Line did produce
supposed chestnuts who, when bred to other chestnuts,
sometimes produced non-chestnuts. Something that is known
to be generically impossible. And every proven silver
dapple in the breed today has at least one line to The
DAN/NELLIE SKINNER Line. This is the "proof"
that this line is responsible for this color's existence
in the breed today.
Technically speaking, W. P. Thornhill of
Miami, Texas was our breeds first Silver Dapple
Morgan breeder. He just didn't know it.
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First Suspect (1944) - Paleface 06336
When Laura Behning of The Silver Dapple Morgan Project
began to research the possibility of this color's existence
in the breed, one of the first Morgans she suspected to
be a silver dapple was PALEFACE 06336 (Chestnut), by Squire
Burger and out of Zona Skinner. Laura Behning saw a color
photo of PALEFACE showing her to be a very typical bay silver
dapple. Zona Skinner was registered as a red sorrel, but
a second breeding to the chestnut, Squire Burger, produced
the bay colt, Bright Star! Genetically impossible . . .
unless Zona Skinner was not actually a red sorrel as recorded,
and was perhaps a black based (black/brown/bay) silver dapple.
Laura Behning first wrote about her search for proof of
the silver dapple color in the Morgan breed in two articles
e published in the May/June 1997 and the March, 2000 issue
of The Rainbow Morgan Horse newsletter. Other possible silver
dapple Morgans of the same basic time frame were also included
in these articles.
Since Zona Skinner was out of CAVEY, a DAN/NELLIE SKINNER
daughter, it is very safe to assume that Zona Skinner was
indeed a silver dapple.
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Modern Proof (1980's) - Foxton Morgans,
The First "Knowing" Breeders
Also suspected to be possible silver dapples (and written
about in the above mentioned article) where horses being
bred under the Foxton prefix by Tom and Nancy Harris of
Colorado. The 1987 mare, FOXTON FAWN, was investigated by
Laura Behning.
It wasn't learned until later by Laura Behning that the
Harris' actually knew that they had the silver dapple
color in their Morgan herd. They had been breeding this
color since 1983. That was when the dam of FOXTON FAWN was
born. FOXTON FELICIA was their first silver dapple Morgan,
produced when they bred their chestnut mare, SH Crescent,
to the stallion Pegasus Persuader, who was the source of
the silver dapple gene.
To the best of our knowledge at this time, the Harris'
were, in fact, the first breeders of silver dapple
Morgans who actually knew they were producing this
color!
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First Confirmation (2002) - ZEULNERS'SUNKA
WAKAN
It wasn't until 2002 when the stallion ZEULNERS'SUNKA WAKAN,
registered as a chestnut, sired a bay colt out of a chestnut
mare that we had concrete genetic proof of the silver dapple
gene in the Morgan breed. When Sherry Siebernaler posted
to the MorganColors Yahoogroup in February, 2002 that "Sunka",
who was supposedly a flaxen chestnut, has sired a bay colt
out of a chestnut mare. It was also determined that Sunka's
sire, S BAR B BLKSADDLE CHESTER (reg. as chestnut), had
sired a bay filly, ZEULNERS’SHY ANNIE (half sister to Sunka)
out of a chestnut mare. Nancy Castle, then owner of MorganColors,
contacted Bobbie Zeulner, explained what was suspected,
and Bobbie quickly pulled hairs from ZEULNERS'SUNKA WAKAN
to send to UC Davis for red factor testing.
The test results proved that ZEULNERS'SUNKA WAKAN was NOT
chestnut! Given his phenotype, progeny colors, and the red
factor test results, we now had our first genetically tested/confirmed
silver dapple Morgan!
The Zeulner's were now the second "knowing"
breeders of silver dapple Morgans!
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Second Confirmation (2002) - AMANDA'S SUZIE
Q
Just days after the genetic confirmation proving that ZEULNERS'SUNKA
WAKAN was in fact a silver dapple, Tamara Dirrim (owner
of this site) of Tamar's Ventures in Hamilton, IN received
confirmation that her Morab filly, AMERETTO BLU (pictured
on this page), was not a flaxen chestnut, as she appeared
to be. Since her Arabian sire is obviously a brown, and
because the Arabian breed does not have any dilution genes,
this proved that her chestnut Morgan dam, AMANDA'S SUZIE
Q, was a chestnut with the silver dapple gene.
AMANDA'S SUZIE Q was in foal to the same Arabian stallion
at the time, producing a black Morab colt later that spring.
Tamara then found a black Morgan stallion (homozygous for
black) to breed to AMANDA'S SUZIE Q. This breeding produced
the dark black silver dapple colt, TMV SILVER PROPHECY in
2003.
The following year (2004) AMANDA'S SUZIE Q, bred to Carbide
Smoke (black), produced the bay silver dapple colt, TMV
CARBIDE'S SILVER HAWK.
Tamara was now the third "knowing" breeder
of silver dapple Morgans.
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A New Generation #1 (2004) - SCHAENZER'S
SILVER EAGLE
Susanna Schaenzer had begun with plans to produce 1/2 Arab,
1/2 Rocky Mtn. horses, in the hopes of producing gaited
horses of the silver dapple color. Susanna loved the Arabian
look, and she also appreciated the glide ride and silver
dapple color of the gaited Rocky Mtn. Horses.
Some changes in her life changed her course of breeding,
however. One such change was learning that there were gaited
Morgans, another breed that she very much admired, so she
purchased a gaited Morgan mare. At the same time, she also
learned that there was a silver dapple Morgan stallion in
her neck of the woods, so she made plans right away to breed
her gaited Morgan mare, Granaway Bonne Amie, to ZEULNERS'SUNKA
WAKAN, in the hopes of getting her very own gaited silver
dapple Morgan. And she did! In 2004, her mare presented
her with a brown silver dapple colt, SCHAENZER'S SILVER
EAGLE. This colt is being kept intact for future breeding.
Susanna then becomes the fourth breeder of silver
dapple Morgans.
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Joint Venture (2005) - ERBERS APRIL JOY
Marilyn Esteb of Stone Pine Morgans leased, for one breeding,
the bay silver dapple mare, LONE PINE STARLITE, in early
2004. Unfortunately, this breeding with LONE PINE STARLITE
resulted in a bay colt, born June, 2005. However . . .
Karen Burridge and Marilyn Esteb joined forces to purchase
the bay silver dapple mare, ERBERS APRIL JOY. In 2005, ERBERS
APRIL JOY produced a chestnut colt who may or may not have
the silver dapple gene. There is no test specifically for
the silver dapple dilute gene, so only progeny from this
colt will prove if he has the gene or not. Obviously, they
will continue to breed ERBERS APRIL JOY.
Either way, Karen Burridge and Marilyn Esteb are still
fifth in line as breeders of silver dapple Morgans.
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Georgia Silver (2006) - FOXTON FROSTY DAWN
Laura Behning of Georgia had long suspected that the silver
dapple gene might exist in the Morgan breed, and in 2002
she purchased a silver dapple filly from Foxton Morgans.
FOXTON FROSTY DAWN is currently bred and expected to produce
her first foal in 2006.
Laura can certainly claim her place as the sixth
breeder(s) of silver dapple Morgans!
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A New Generation #2 (2007+) - ZEULNERS
SILVER LEGACY
Linda Sterling of Sterling Morgans (Arizona) recently purchased
the 2005 black silver dapple colt, ZEULNERS SILVER LEGACY,
who is sired by the brown silver dapple, ZEULNERS'SUNKA
WAKAN.
Although, it will be a few years before ZEULNERS SILVER
LEGACY will begin siring any offspring, Linda Sterling is
now in the running for being the seventh breeder who
is knowingly breeding silver dapple Morgans.
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Note: There have been others who have
unknowingly bred silver dapple Morgans, of course. However,
since they were unaware of what this color was, they were
not purposefully and knowingly producing the silver dapple
color. And the sole purpose of this portion of this web
page is to highlight those who have and are purposefully
and knowingly bred this color. By no means does this diminish
the importance of those who "accidentally" produced
silver dapple Morgans, for without them, we might not
even have this color in our breed today.
The information posted
in this timeline is not meant to include every known or
suspected silver dapple Morgan, either historical or current.
Nor does this timeline include every historical breeder
who may have produced silver dapple Morgans. It is meant
only to show the currently known source of the silver
dapple dilution in the Morgan breed, and to be a guide
to show which Morgan breeders knowingly have bred for
and/or are knowingly breeding this color.
This timeline was put together by Nancy
Castle and Tamara Dirrim, and posted on this web page
on September 25, 2005.
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