<![CDATA[The Colorful Chincoteague - Blog]]>Sun, 04 Oct 2026 16:24:27 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Historical Pony: Simon]]>Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:33:25 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/historical-pony-simonThere's not a whole lot to say about this old stallion color-wise, but I've talked about two of his daughters recently so he needed a post. This is Simon aka Little Red aka Petty Cash and was probably known by more. He died before the old registry was founded so he never had a registered name. These days we usually call him Simon. No idea of his parents or when he was born. We know of three of his foals that were kept for the herd: Teague in 1982, Ruby in 1988, and High Five in 1989. I think it's very likely others were kept we don't know about. Simon died in 1990. He was a possibility for the sire of Surfer Dude before finding out Simon died too soon for that. Surfer Dude's dam Gremlin was loyally in Simon's band from about the time she was a 2 year old until he died. Big shout out to Kathy O'Dette for her pictures and stories about Little Red. He was her favorite stallion, she owned two of his sons, and was turnback donor to Ruby.

Simon was chestnut and passed chestnut on to all of his foals. All three of his daughters kept on Assateague were chestnut. His bay tobiano daughter from last week, Jaca Del Mar, carried chestnut recessively from him.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/chestnut.html

It looks like he carried at least one copy of agouti. He sired at least two bay tobianos out of the black tobiano mare Mappy. Being black Mappy can't have agouti so it would have had to come from Simon.

He occasionally had a little flaxen to his mane. You can see it in the first picture. Flaxen often isn't as white as his almost son Surfer Dude's was. It's usually a bit lighter red like Simon's is here.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/flaxen.html
]]><![CDATA[The Story of Jaca Del Mar]]>Mon, 28 Sep 2026 22:37:08 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/the-story-of-jaca-del-marA story this week instead of the usual color post. I met author Joy MillerUpton at the Pony Centre this year when I was there passing out information about the breed registry. Joy was wearing a shirt with a photo of her 1984 Chincoteague Pony Jaca Del Mar while signing her book. We chatted about her pony and I asked if she knew what Jaca's parents looked like since we know a pretty good number of ponies from that era. She looked through her phone and she had a picture of Jaca's dam. It was Paint the Wind, one of my favorite old mares. I showed Joy the pictures of Paint the Wind in my pony book and of Paint the Wind's parents. Paint the Wind was in the herd of the solid chestnut Simon for many years so he would be Jaca's sire.

Looking for pictures of Jaca in our photo archive was on my very long post-Pony Penning to do list. I finally got around to looking and Deb Noll had taken a beautiful series of photos of her! Jaca and her sire, dam, and the rest of the herd had taken a stroll out of the woods and meandered down Beach Road. And Deb was there to get some great shots. Joy said that it makes sense now why Jaca wasn't afraid of cars!

Joy bought Jaca at the Pony Penning auction for $350 and she told me that a man alongside the corral fence had recommended her as a good pony to buy. Joy is a long rider and took Jaca on long rides in Ohio. Jaca had one foal, a half Paso Fino named Pearl who went on many long rides alongside her dam. She was also trained to drive and was a lesson pony. Jaca passed away in 2016. Joy's book about her long rides, including with Jaca, is called Journeys: Finding Joy on Horseback.

I sent Joy the pictures Deb took, two of which are in this post. Joy sent me the two pictures of adult Jaca playing in the snow.
]]><![CDATA[Daisey]]>Mon, 28 Sep 2026 22:32:55 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/daiseyDaisey is a solid bay mare born in 2004. She's one of the last foals of the solid chestnut stallion Cinnamon Hologram. Her dam is the prolific buckskin tobiano Merry Teapot's High Bid. She's a full sister to the late Salt Water Taffee and half to Molly's Rosebud. Daisey sold at the 2004 auction and was donated back to the herd in 2012. She was supposed to be a kid's pony but didn't have the temperament for it! That's why she doesn't have any brands. Two of Daisey's foals have been kept for the herd: her first foal and short lived chestnut filly JKS Canadian Lady and 2022 buckskin mare Angeliques Tigress Warrior.
Daisey's probable color genetics: E/e, A/A
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/chincoteague...

Daisey is a bay carrying recessive chestnut. She inherited chestnut from her chestnut sire. She also had 4 chestnuts with chestnut stallion Phantom Mist, including her buyback JKS Canadian Lady.https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/chestnut.html

She's never produced a black foal and neither did her parents so it's possible she has two copies of the bay creating agouti. The two sires of her foals throw a wrench into this thinking though because they didn't sire any black foals either. So I think it's likely she's homozygous for agout, but I'm not positive.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/bay.html

Even though Daisey's dam was a buckskin she didn't inherit the cream dilution. It's dominant so a pony either has it or they don't. She's had 3 buckskin foals, including her buyback Angeliques Tigress Warrior, but the cream came from their sire instead of her.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/creamdilute.html
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]]><![CDATA[Historical Pony: High Five]]>Sun, 13 Sep 2026 20:36:21 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/historical-pony-high-fiveHigh Five was a chestnut mare born in 1989. High Five was the name the old Chincoteague Pony Association gave her, along with the identification number 6. Her turnback donor family named her Cinnamon Swirl aka Cindy. Pretty much everyone from back when she was alive called her Cindy and that's what I knew her as too. Her donor family followed her for her entire life so we knew birth year and parents thanks to them. Cindy's sire was a solid chestnut called Old Red or Simon. Her dam was a bay with one sock named Silk and Lace and nicknamed Pudg. Through Cindy's dam she was a half sister to Carol's Little Freedom. Her only known foal kept for the herd was the solid chestnut mare Sashay Lady. Cindy was an extremely smart and resourceful mare who was a favorite of many. Cindy died in 2013. Her descendants in the current herd are Dreamer's Gift, Chili, Serendipity, Dreamer's Stardust, and Jersey Jaxs.

Cindy was a chestnut and all 13 of her recorded foals were chestnut too. The sires of all of her foals were chestnut, so with both parents chestnut there was no other option for her foals. Two chestnuts always produce a chestnut.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/chestnut.html

Since Cindy's dam was bay it's possible she inherited agouti from her or her sire carried agouti unseen. But with all of her foals being chestnut there's no way to know. I looked through her descendants to see if that would offer any insight, but nope.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/bay.html

Cindy's only white was a big star. She had a few tobiano foals but the tobiano was inherited from the tobiano sire Cherokee Chief, whom she was with for many years.
She occasionally would show some mealy around her nose, flank, and legs. You can see it in the first picture.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/mealy.html

Cindy had a flaxen mane during parts of her life. It would come and go as it sometimes can do. She's flaxen in the second photo.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/flaxen.html
]]><![CDATA[Wesley Bloxom Stallion]]>Sat, 22 Aug 2026 21:55:50 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/wesley-bloxom-stallionHadn't planned to have a part 3 on the 2026's, but the newest unexpected addition to the herd is a bay tobaino colt Maryland transfer. He's been named the Welsey Bloxom Stallion, aka Old Dad. N2BHS-MY is his Keiper number which traces his maternal line. His sire is bay tobiano Billy Bob and his dam is bay tobiano Susi Sole. He was transferred due to his dam being hit and killed by a car. I obviously don't have any pictures of him myself yet so you can see a nice album of him here: https://horseidhelp.smugmug.com/.../202.../4-SUSI-SOLES-COLT

The Maryland herd is all related in some way because of being a closed herd since 1968, but Old Dad has some interesting ties to other transfers to his new home. He's a descendant of 1991 transfer Hot Air Balloon through his sire. His paternal great grandmother VIP was also the dam of 1994 transfer Firestar. A great grandsire Fonzi is the damsire of Moonbeam who was briefly part of the herd in 2021.
More on Maryland transfers: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/assateague-horses...

Old Dad is a bay like both of his parents and his two full brothers. Both of his parents carry chestnut recessively and his dam Susi Sole has a chestnut son. Whether or not he carries chestnut recessively or not is unknown. Similarly it's unknown if he has one or two copies of the bay causing agout, both are possible.

He's a tobiano pinto like both of his parents. It's possible he has one or two copies of tobiano. I also think it's possible Old Dad has splashed white or another pinto pattern. His ancestor Hot Air Balloon had splashed white, we know this thanks to his Chincoteague descendants. Old Dad, his sire Billy Bob, his sire Bodacious Bob, and his dam Rosie all have signs of having something other than tobiano.
]]><![CDATA[2026 Buybacks]]>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:11:57 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/2026-buybacksIt's time for my annual post going through the colors of the 2026 buyback foals. Look underneath each photo to read about that pony's color genetics. My analysis is based on their parents, siblings, other family, and their physical appearance.
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Sue's Songbird from Up The Bay
Ace's Black Tie Affair x Tuney
Black filly
Probable color genetics: possible E/E, a/a, nd1

Sue's Songbird from Up The Bay is a solid black. It's possible she has two copies of black. Both of her parents carry recessive chestnut so it's equally likely she has a copy of recessive chestnut.

Both of her parents are tobiano pinto but she didn't inherit it from either of them since she doesn't have any white at all.

Gold hair in a black foal's ears is a sign that she likely has non-dun1 which is what causes primitive markings such as dorsal stripes.
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Loori's Freedom
Surfer's Riptide x WH Summer Breeze
Chestnut tobiano splashed white filly
Probable color genetics: e/e, TO/n, SW1/n

Loori's Freedom is a chestnut like her sire. She may carry an unseen copy of the bay causing agouti since her dam is a bay. Surfer's Riptide has never sired a bay foal out of a black mare with several opportunities so I'm pretty sure he doesn't have agouti.

She definitely has tobiano from her dam and I'm pretty positive she has splashed white 1 from her sire. The amount of white she has and the shape and placement of the white says splashed white to me. Since only Loori's Freedom's dam is tobiano she only has one copy and will pass it on to approximately 50% of her foals.
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Rey of Sunshine
Chief Golden Eagle x Judy's Sunshine
Palomino tobiano filly
Probable color genetics: e/e, A/?, CR/n, TO/n

Rey of Sunshine is a palomino and palomino is chestnut with the cream dilution. Both of her parents are palominos but she only inherited the cream dilution from one of them. Approximately 50% of her foals will have the cream dilution. If she'd inherited it from both of them she'd be a cremello instead. She'll pass a copy of chestnut on to all of her foals.

Only her dam is a tobiano so Rey of Sunshine has one copy of tobiano pinto. Approximately 50% of her foals will be tobiano.

She's on the minimal end of tobiano and that runs in her family, her dam, her dam, and her dam were all minimal tobianos. As you can see there's a genetic component to white suppression like this but we don't know how it all works yet.

Rey of Sunshine has at least one copy of the bay causing agouti but you can't see it since she's a palomino. Thanks to observation and testing of her sire's foals I'm pretty positive he has two copies of agouti. Her dam has produced a black so only has one copy of agouti or none.
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Liberty
Archer's Gambit x Seaside Miracle
Bay tobiano filly
Probable color genetics: E/e, A/?, possible TO/TO

Liberty is a bay carrying recessive chestnut. She inherited chestnut from her chestnut sire. She inherited black and agouti from her bay dam. Her dam appears to have two copies of both considering all 9 of Seaside Miracle's foals have been bay. Liberty's sire appears to have one copy of agouti so it's possible she has two copies since she definitely inherited one from her dam.

Both of Liberty's parents are tobiano pinto so it's possible she inherited a copy of both of them. But both of them also only have one copy so it's equally likely that she only has one copy.

It's possible she also has another pinto pattern like an Eden White that has been tested to be found in a family member, but there's no way to know for sure.
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CLG Midnight Rebel
Ace's Black Tie Affair x CLG Rumor Has It
Black tobiano colt
Probable color genetics: E/e, a/a, possible TO/TO, possible SW1/n

The only colt kept this year is a black tobiano, even though he looks a bit weird right now! He inherited black from his sire. He carries chestnut recessively from his dam.

Both of Midnight Rebel's parents are tobiano pinto so he could have inherited it from both of them or he may have only inherited it from one of them. If he has two copies then all of his foals will be tobiano pinto.

His dam clearly has splashed white 1 inherited from her sire Ken. It's possible he has it too even though he doesn't really look like it. SW1 can be very sneaky sometimes!

He's on the minimal side of tobiano and that's one reason why I list his sire as Ace's Black Tie Affair rather than Maverick. Ace's family, looks, and offspring show that he has an inherited type of white suppression that's pretty determined at reducing the amount of white. You can see it at work on Ace and on Midnight Rebel. This and some physical attributes are why I list his sire as Ace. I actually polled my pony friends on his sire during Pony Penning!
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SCC Red Sky At Night
Ajax x Thunderstorm Skies
Chestnut tobiano filly
Probable color genetics: e/e, possible TO/TO

Red Sky At Night is a chestnut. She inherited one copy from each of her parents and she'll pass one copy on to all of her foals. It's possible she has an unseen copy of the bay causing agouti. Her bay sire has one copy and her dam has one or none. It's just as likely she has none.

She's a tobiano like both of her parents so it's possible she has two copies of tobiano which would mean all of her foals would be tobiano pinto. But she might have only inherited one copy which would mean 50% of her foals would be tobiano. She has some cat tracks that sometimes indicates a homozygous tobiano, but not always.

Considering how much white she and her dam have I think it's very likely they have another unknown pinto pattern. Her sire's family also seem to have something else too given their looks and one of his daughters tested to have 4 white patterns.
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Halsey's Pearl Harbor
Chief Golden Eagle x Summer Breeze
Buckskin tobiano filly
Probable color genetics: E/e, possible A/A, TO/n, CR/n

Halsey's Pearl Harbor is a buckskin, which is a bay with one copy of the cream dilution. She inherited the cream dilution from her sire and black from her dam. She'll pass cream on to approximately 50% of her offspring. She inherited the bay causing agouti from either or both of her parents. Her sire carries agouti unseen and her dam is a bay.

Since her sire is a chestnut with the cream dilution she carries chestnut recessively. She'll pass chesnut on to all of her offspring.

Only Halsey's Pearl Harbor's dam is a tobiano so she has one copy of tobiano pinto. She'll pass tobiano on to approximately 50% of her foals.
]]><![CDATA[Peregrine Took]]>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:09:24 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/peregrine-tookIf you see Peregrine Took today you might think he's black, but he's not. He's a fun example of age progression of sooty and shade. He was privately bred and was born in 2009. My friend Matt helped foal him out and named him. He took the first two pictures.
As a foal Pippin was a pretty normal looking bay tobiano foal. The first photo is when he was a newborn. The second was when he was a little older and he'd lightened up in the sun.

The third photo is when Pippin was a yearling. His head has gotten dark but can still see the bay on his back.

The last two are from this past January. Look how dark he is! Can hardly see any of his brown. I took the headshot specifically because you can see in it that his nose is still brown. If he wasn't a pinto with such distinctive markings you'd almost think he was a completely different pony from the foal.

Looking at Pippin's pedigree this dramatic color shift makes sense. His sire is Tuffer Than Leather who sired multiple sooty ponies, and is the ancestor of more thanks to his daughter Baybe. Interestingly Pippin looked pretty similar to his sire as a foal and as an adult. So it appears father and son went through a similar color shift as they aged. Pippin's dam Zebie Beebe Bella was also a sooty buckskin, you can see her behind him in the newborn photo.

Sooty and color shade can't be tested for but you can see in Pippin how it's probably genetic in some way. I really hope someone figures it out in my lifetime!
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/sooty.html
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/colorshade.html
]]><![CDATA[Chickadee]]>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:05:52 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/chickadeeChickadee is one of a pretty big group of 2013 buybacks. Her sire is the half Arabian chestnut tobiano Courtney's Boy and her dam is the bay tobiano Black Star. I featured her dam last week and one of her dam's granddaughters last month. Her 2011 full sister Beacon was also kept, but she died as a young mare. Chickadee hasn't had any foals kept for the herd yet. One of her daughters has been color tested and her results are here: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/.../tested-pony...
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/arabian.html
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/halfarabian.html

Chickadee is a bay carrying recessive chestnut. Her Black Star dam was too. She inherited the chestnut from her chestnut sire Courtney's Boy. Also like her dam she might also have two copies of agouti since she hasn't produced a black foal in 10 foals. Three of her bay foals were sired by the black Ace's Black Tie Affair. Her color tested daughter is homozygous for agouti.

https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/bay.html
She's a tobiano pinto like both of her parents but she only inherited one copy of tobiano. We know this because 3 of her foals have been solid, not pinto.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tobiano.html

Chickadee has a cool roaned star. This is likely from roaning that often happens on tobianos.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/roaning.html

Chickadee's daughter Tallulah tested to have two other white/pinto patterns: White 34 and White 35. It's possible one or both of them could have come from Chickadee. No way to know at this point.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/white34.html
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/white35.html

She one of my commonly used examples of mealy on a bay. That's the light colored hair around her nose and on her flanks. Her full sister Beacon also had a good bit of mealy. Mealy is genetic in some way but we don't know the how yet.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/mealy.html
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]]><![CDATA[Historical Pony: Black Star]]>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 13:14:23 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/historical-pony-black-starThis mare is a matriarch of a line of ponies in the current herd. Black Star was born August 1998. Her sire was the dark bay/brown tobiano Witch Doctor and her dam the solid chestnut Rap the Wind. None of her grandparents have been identified yet. Black Star had four daughters kept for the herd, two of which made it to produce their own foals: her first foal Scottiee's ET in 2002, Beacon in 2011, Chickadee in 2013, and CLG Wild Star in 2016. ET has then had four daughters kept for the herd; one of which was recently featured Sweetheart who has a stallion son. Black Star died winter 2021. The second photo was taken the fall before she died.

Black Star was a bay carrying recessive chestnut. She inherited chestnut from her chestnut dam. She also produced 3 chestnut foals to tell us that. Black Star may have had two copies of agouti since she never produced a black foal out of 13 foals.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/bay.html
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/chestnut.html

Black Star was a tobiano pinto like her sire. Since her dam wasn't a tobiano she could only have had one copy of tobiano. Her two non pinto foals also tell us that.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tobiano.html

She and her granddaughter Sweetheart are somewhat similarly marked. This is because they both likely have some type of white suppression. It was trying to keep away her white markings. If you trace the big dark spots on both of her back look like they shouldn't be there and instead be white.
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]]><![CDATA[Misty's Sirocco]]>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 01:02:46 GMThttps://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tccblog/mistys-siroccoThis little guy's owner Kendy with the 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒖𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝑫𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎 asked me to go through his genetics since they're quite interesting! Misty's Sirocco isn't color DNA tested yet, but both of his parents have been.
Sire, Ace's Tidewater Promise: A/a, E/E, nd2/nd2, TO/n, CR/n
Dam, Misty's Storm Chaser: a/a, E/e, nd1/nd2, TO/n

Sirocco is black like his dam but the why is a bit more interesting. Misty's Storm Chaser carries recessive chestnut from her chestnut sire Cezanne. Ace's Tidewater Promise is homozygous for black so he can only sire bay, black, buckskin, and smoky black foals. Despite Chase's recessive chestnut the pair of them could never have produced a chestnut or a palomino.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/black.html

It's pretty common for black foals to look a bit...weird. That greyish color he had as a newborn and the faded looks he's gone through is pretty common for black foals. Black foal coats bleach pretty badly in the sun so when I get to see him later this month he'll look pretty faded! He's pretty sunbleached in his 3 month birthday photo a few days ago.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/blackfoals.html

Sirocco's sire is a buckskin and I'm pretty positive he inherited his sire's cream dilution. That makes him a smoky black. Cream dilutes red pigment so it has little to do on a black, but Sirocco gave us a big hint. If you look closely at Sirocco's newborn photos he had dark blue eyes. Those are baby blues and have now turned brown. Baby blue eyes are found on foals with the cream dilution: palomino, buckskin, and smoky black. Not all cream dilute foals have baby blue eyes but some like Sirocco do.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/smokyblack.html
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/smokyblackfoals.html
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/foalblueeyes.html

It used to be theorized that black foals with light colored hair in their ears was a sign they are smoky black. You can see the light colored hair in Sirocco's ears in the second photo. This theory has been found to be incorrect. What was found is that black foals with that colored hair in their ears have non-dun1. Sirocco's dam Storm Chaser was tested to have non-dun1 so he probably has it too. His dam had that when she was a foal.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/primitivemarkings...

Both of Sirocco's parents are tobiano pintos and their DNA tests showed that both of them each have one copy of tobiano. Thanks to random chance neither of them passed tobiano on to him.
https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tobiano.html
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