Double Dilutes

What happens when a horse carries two, instead of one, copy of the cream gene (homozygous)?

You get what is called a "double dilute", named because it carries two cream dilution genes.

Double-dilutes are called cremello, perlino, or smoky cream depending on their base color.

A cremello is a chestnut with two cream genes; a perlino is a bay with two; and a smoky cream is a black with two.

These horses are homozygous for the cream gene, meaning that every foal they produce will carry a cream gene, and thus be a dilute ( palomino, buckskin, smoky black).

For one interested in breeding buckskins or palominos, a double-dilute would be the best choice, as they will always produce a colored foal.















































© Annamaria Tadlock