Ace's Black Tie Affair

Ace's Black Tie Affair, Ace for short, is one of the most popular stallions on Assateague today. He was born in 2007 and is sired by the Maryland transfer stallion Centaur and out of the half Arabian Susie Q, aka Lady Hook. Both of his parents are deceased. I remember seeing his dam sold as a buyback at the 1996 auction so I always looked for her. I was really glad when Ace was kept so she'd have a legacy on the island.
Maryland Transfers: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/assateague-horses.html
Arabian Outcrossing: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/arabian.html

Ace's black color is what makes him so memorable and popular. His genetic makeup as a black means he has at least one copy of extension which causes black.
Black: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/black.html

Since his dam was a chestnut that means Ace carries recessive chestnut. Chestnuts always pass one copy of red on to all their offspring. Even if (like in Ace) you can't visually see that it's there. If we didn't know what color his dam was we'd still know he carried red because he has sired chestnut foals. The parents of chestnuts must both carry or be chestnut for the foal to be chestnut.
Chestnut: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/chestnut.html

Ace is a tobiano pinto. His sire was solid so he inherited it from his dam. Because only one parent is a tobiano he only has one copy of it, known as heterozygous for tobiano. He passes tobiano on to his foals statistically 50% of the time. Ace has sired tobiano pintos and solids out of solid mares. The old rule was that a tobiano had to have white crossing the back (I learned it too). Testing and close observation has disproven it and Ace is one that thoroughly breaks that rule.
Tobiano: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/tobiano.html

You may be thinking, what? Ace doesn't look like a pinto! That's because he has something suppressing the amount of white tobiano was trying to put on him. Ace is what is commonly called a cryptic or a minimal tobiano. His socks and one body spot are all tobiano was successful in putting on him. There isn't a genetic test for whatever is suppressing pinto. It does appear to be genetic based on observation. That's been seen in other breeds and we can see it with Ace. His dam showed signs of her pinto white being suppressed and so did her dam, just not to the level Ace's is. We can see it in his foals also because many of his foals are minimal pintos. Here's hoping one day there's a genetic test (or a few) for white suppression!
Cryptic Tobianos: https://www.thecolorfulchincoteague.com/cryptictobiano.html