Cream Dilution in Maryland Horses

We drove the Assateague Maryland OSV on Sunday of Pony Penning week and I was absolutely delighted to see this old lady. This is Coco who was born in 1995. She's a full sister to chestnut tobiano Spirit of Assateague who was transferred to Virginia in 2003 and died in 2015.

Coco is the last buckskin and the last cream dilute in the Maryland herd. Her only foal Gizmo is a bay so she didn't inherit her dam's cream. Once Coco passes away the cream dilution will be extinct in the Maryland herd. The cream came from Coco's sire Trigger who was a palomino tobiano. We can then trace cream to Trigger's dam Old Faithful, a palomino tobiano.

Another offspring of Trigger was Glacier who was transferred to Virginia in 2004. Glacier's son Chief Golden Eagle keeps Old Faithful's cream dilute line alive, but in Virginia instead. Trigger was also the sire of solid bay Centaur who sired popular Virginia stallion Ace's Black Tie Affair during his brief time in Virginia.

Coco's half sister Patty was the last solid palomino in Maryland when she died in 2018. Coco's palomino tobiano aunt Ninka (half sister to Trigger) was the last palomino in the herd when she passed last year. I'm thankful I got to see both Coco and Ninka as they are an end of a era in Maryland.

Cream Dilute
Buckskin