Silver (Z) is a dilution that changes the appearance of black and bay colored horses. It's also called silver dapple, chocolate (Rocky Mountain Horse term) and taffy (Australian term). The silver dilution mutation is on the PMEL17 gene. Silver is dominant, meaning it cannot skip generations. Silvers can range in color shade based upon their base color and other dilutions/modifiers. They can also go through many shade changes throughout their lifetime.
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Silver Bay is a bay that has been diluted by silver. The mane and tail is diluted to flaxen with dark roots. The flaxen often darkens as the pony ages. The body is reddish, but not quite chestnut looking. The black legs diluted to a chocolate color.
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Silver Bay Miniature Horse
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Silver Black is a black that has been diluted to silver, often quite dramatically. The mane and tail is diluted to white/silver. The flaxen often darkens as the pony ages. The body is a chocolate or brown-ish grey. They are often dappled, hence the name silver dapple.
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Silver Black Miniature Horse
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Silver Chestnut does not visibly look different than any chestnut. They look like a normal chestnut because silver does not affect red.
Silver buckskin Rocky Mountain Horse/Quarter Horse cross
Silver can combine with other colors so there's silver buckskins, silver smoky blacks, silver duns, grey silvers, pinto silvers. There's been a test for the silver dilution since 2006 but silver itself is quite old. It's found in Icelandic Horses which have had no crossbreeding for 1,000 years.
Many silvers are mistaken for flaxen chestnuts and vice versa. In the absence of testing; a black based offspring from seemingly chestnut parents indicates that one parent is a silver instead of a chestnut. Similarly, the silver offspring of a chestnut parent and a non-silver black based parent indicates that the chestnut parent is carrying silver.
Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalies (MCOA) is a genetic disorder linked to silver. Heterozygous horses are not affected but homozygous silver horses are. MOCA affected horses can have multiple abnormalities of the eye including cysts, cloudy eyes, abnormal lens positions, and pop eyes. Horses with MOCA often have impaired vision and difficulties in adapting to changing light conditions.
Silver Black Shackleford Island Stallion
There are a couple early descriptions of Chincoteague Ponies that could be silver. An article in the San Francisco Chronicle from 1893 described a Chincoteague Pony that sounds a great deal like a silver, "His coat is a beautiful shade of red, lighter than bay and almost a sorrel. The mane and tails are strikingly conspicuous, being a soft, creamy, white suggestive of silky Augora wool." Silver is found in the feral herd of Shackleford Island Horses which has a similar origin story to Chincoteague Ponies.
The earliest photographic evidence of silver in Chincoteagues is a bay silver named Starlight whom Misty rejected as a mate in the late 1950's. Starlight's photograph appears in the Pictorial Life Story of Misty. Starlight may have been half Welsh Pony which was probably the source of his silver. Another possible silver from the same time period was photographed in 1956. That pony appears to be part Shetland. Another Shetland looking silver was photographed in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Silver is found in several breeds that have been crossed into the Chincoteague Pony including Morgans, Mustangs, Quarter Horses, Shetland Ponies, and Welsh Ponies.
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Drawing of a possible silver Chincoteague Pony described as "red, lighter than bay and almost a sorrel. The mane and tails are strikingly conspicuous, being a soft, creamy, white suggestive of silky Augora wool."
Drawing from The Abbeville press and banner, April 05, 1893 |
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Possible silver black.
The Register Sun on October 14, 1956. |
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Silver Bay Chincoteague Pony stallion Starlight in the late 1950's.
Photo from The Pictorial Life Story of Misty. |
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Silver black Welsh Pony stallion Silver King. He was owned by the Burton's of Chincoteague who also raised Chincoteagues.
Photos from The Pictorial Life Story of Misty. |
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A silver black looking foal from 1979. Was described as "grey".
Photo from The Pittsburgh Press on August 10, 1979. |
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Possible silver black mare in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
Pictures courtesy of Kathy O'Dette and Deb Noll. |