# Silver lovers



## Connie P

How many of you love silver horses or silver dapple horses? I just find them to be so beautiful. Of course conformation is my top priority and then paint a little color on. I absolutely love the overo pattern and have to say that black would probably be my most favorite color, then bay, then silver I think........................would love to hear how many love silvers.




Now then a solid bay with chrome is stunning also!

Show us your silver/silver dapple horses. Solid and/ or pinto!





Here is mine! Magic Mans All Izon Me - Silver Dapple Pinto/Tovero - Pardon his ill fitting halter. 






IZON TESTED NEGATIVE FOR THE SILVER GENE ON 11-2-09 - HE IS NOT A SILVER HORSE AFTER ALL WHICH GOES TO SHOW YOU SOMETIMES THESE TESTS CAN BE INACCURATE. I LOVE HIM JUST THE SAME SO NO WORRIES!


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## SBrown

I love them too! Here's some of mine...........

Our main herd sire, Thousand Oaks Sirs Lancelot, silver bay overo (LWO+)









A yearling daughter of Lancelot, Thousand Oaks Lancelots Lady Beth






Bond Peppy Power






These are only a few....lots more can be seen on my website under "Sold".

Sharman


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## Sue_C.

Have you had him lab-tested for silver? Although he is beautiful, I don't think you can have a black mane and tail on a silver black/dapple...as the gene modifies it to white/silver? Perhaps what makes his body "look" silver black, is sabino roaning. Just a guess.


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## Connie P

Yes Sue he has been lab tested Silver Dapple Pinto.








Sharman - your horses are gorgeous!


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## shelly

He is gorgeous!! Here are my two silvers!

TMABS Avalanche Joe-Silver dapple homozygous tovero--4 yr. old stallion






M&Js Silver Mystique-Silver dapple tobiano--7 yr. old broodmare


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## targetsmom

Well, here is Max at 4 days when he was still a silver bay tovero (LWO+) .... he is turning gray/white like his dam now. Yes, he was tested....


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## luv2ridesaddleseat

Here is my Silver Dapple pinto filly!! Lab tested. She is my first baby ever and her sire is Shellys stallion who's picture is a couple of replys back!


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## loveminis

I love the silvers !!!


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## CheyAut

I LOVE silver!





Silver black appy colt






Silver buckskin mare (Ee Aa Zn Crn)






Silver black gelding (Ee aa Zn)






Silver bay mare






Silver bay mare






Silver bay mare






I no longer own this silver black gelding, but LOOOOOVE his color!






I also have chestnuts that carry silver, but of course you can't tell by looking at them


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## Tucker

Oh I love silvers you guys have beautiful horses would love to see more.


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## Lucky-C-Acres-Minis

Here's our silvers:

Copper, silver bay roan mare:






Trixie, silver buckskin:






Buster, believe he is silver buckskin (though not tested) since his points are diluted:


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## HGFarm

Interesting, dont think I have EVER seen a silver with a dark mane or tail......... he is beautiful!!!


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## Connie P

Well I guess I posted this in the wrong area and when I came back tonight to read it had been moved. Whoops!  Thanks for the compliments!

Everyone has such gorgeous horses. I have really enjoyed looking at all of them! Thanks for sharing and please keep them coming!


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## Sue_C.

> Interesting, dont think I have EVER seen a silver with a dark mane or tail......... he is beautiful!!!


Me neither...I really didn't think it was possible, as the gene is a modifier, and takes the black, and changes it. This is strange...and unusual.

Has he produced silvers from non silver mares yet? What made you think he was silver...so as to make you have him tested? Interesting...


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## Birchcrestminis

I love the silver blacks !





I have one silver black pinto

my gelding Crystal Ridge Carousel Royale

One of theses days I have to take a "top view" picture,

he has the neatest starburst dapples over his loins.


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## Connie P

Here is a little bit of info that I found explaining the silver gene. Info copied and pasted from The Silver Dapple Morgans Project.

What do silver dapples look like, and how is the gene inherited?

Silver dapple, sometimes simply called "silver" (Rocky Mountain Horse breeders call it "chocolate"; in Australia, it is called "taffy"), is a dilution gene that only affects black pigment, with an added affinity for lightening the mane and tail to various shades of silver gray through platinum. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as some silvers don't have dapples, other than those "good health" dapples other colors get as well.

Since the silver gene only has an effect on black-based horses, if a black, bay, brown, buckskin, etc. horse has the silver gene, it will be a silver. The manes and tails on silvers can vary in shade from stark white through very dark (often they darken with age), but they often retain a "core" of darker hair in the center of the tail and darker "roots" in the mane, with lighter hairs at the tips of the mane. A red silver (light bay silver) has a light mane and tail and chocolate or charcoal colored lower legs instead of the black points of a bay, and can be mistaken for flaxen chestnut. Black or brown silvers, a color which is common in the Rocky Mountain horse, can also be mistaken for flaxen liver chestnuts. Since the silver gene is not visible on true chestnuts- because they have no black pigment to dilute- silver can seemingly "skip" generations through chestnut "carriers". It is theorized that these "stealth silvers", along with actual silvers being mistaken for "chestnuts", enabled the color to be basically unrecognized in the Morgan breed until the present day.

The silver gene is dominant, so one parent of a silver must be silver or a chestnut carrying silver. The genetic designation for silver is "Z".

Izon's dam is a Silver Dapple Pinto and his sire is a Black, Roan, Rabicano, Medicine Hat Frame Overo.

Here is a photo of Izon as a yearling - note the light tail - his tail has obviously gotten much darker as you can see in pic on the first page.






As for his foals - below are two of his colts that I believe to have the silver gene. I don't know if their new owner has ever had them tested but I would bet the answer would be yes.

2006 colt






2008 colt - both colts are owned by Subres Miniatures






I hope this helps some.


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## roxy's_mom

Here's my silver black tobiano mare, Morning Glory's Silver Bullette. She's gotten darker with her summer coat and had started to roan out from the base of her mane back late this summer. Next year should be interesting. I'm thinking she is possible homozygous for the tobiano gene (sire and grandsire are both silver black tobianos that are homozygous) because she has a hidden black spot under her white hair on top of her butt (can only be seen when she's wet) and a black spot in the middle of her tail under the top layer of white tail hair but haven't had her tested.

Here's when I first got her in May '09, she was clipped three weeks prior to the photo:






Here you can see her two-toned mane:






These two pics were taken the end of May '09 at a show, you can see how dark she got in just a couple weeks from a clip:











Becky M.


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## minimule

I don't actually _love_ the silvers but I seem to collect them.

Gal, silver dapple






Mouse, Gal's first and only foal so far. Silver dapple pinto, one blue eye and TINY











Streak, Smokey Silver Black roan.....we're working on her feet. She didn't get the best of care for a while.


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## ohmt

Silver black mare:






Silver bay appy filly:






Their beautiful silver black dam:






my 27.5" silver grulla mare:






Her pretty momma-a silver red dun:






Silver Bay pinto filly:


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## Kendra

Hawk






Image






Fergie (silver roan)






Lucky, my beautiful girl we lost this past spring.


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## Connie P

I am really enjoying all the silver horses!


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## candycar

It's hard to pass up a chance to show off my girls



Even if I've already shown these pics.... I love silvers, and love seeing all the different ways it shows!

My joy, Jelly Bean






My lovley, Midnight Lexus, "probably" silver black, with varnish roan and some sobino thrown in?


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## Tucker

Well I love the Silvers I like the way they stand out very flashy. come on guys lets see more silvers love the pictures of all the beautiful silvers.


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## BM Miniatures

here are a few of mine

Skye











Stealer(dam of Zodiac)
















Zodiac











Baccarat


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## Connie P

Wow Skye is a gorgeous horse!

Kendra,

I am so sorry for your loss of Lucky - she was a beautiful girl!


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## MiniAddict21

Here's my little man










Fortora Farms Grey Arrow










Him beside my 4 year old Neice


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## Dona

Connie.....you know how much I LOVE your boy "Izon"



He is spectacular!

But....I have a hard time believing he is a Silver Black.



I see no indication of Silver on him...or on either of his colts. His mane & tail are VERY black in those photos. (uless they were dyed for show?) And he shows a lot of Sabino traits & roaning, which would account for the lighter hairs in his tail (in his younger photo)

In all my 20 years of breeding Miniatures, I have NEVER seen a Silver Black who didn't have a lightened mane & tail (even after aging....some do get darker, but never jet black, just a darker gray)

You know, they can, and do, make mistakes on tests. Have you considered having him re-tested?


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## Magic

I have a silver black (appaloosa) gelding that has a dark mane and tail. His dam is red, and carries silver, and he sired a silver dapple colt and a silver bay filly (before he was gelded) out of non-silver mares, so I know he carries silver. Here are some pics:











as a foal:






In person you can tell that the silver gene is affecting his black color, it just isn't affecting it MUCH. His silver bay daughter has a dark mane and tail too, with very little lightening, and his silver dapple's son tail is mostly white, but his mane is mostly near-black. It's interesting, and it's rare, but not impossible.


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## Brandi*

Gotta love him







targetsmom said:


> Well, here is Max at 4 days when he was still a silver bay tovero (LWO+) .... he is turning gray/white like his dam now. Yes, he was tested....


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## Tapestry Minis

This is my one silver baby....she was our first born at our ranch

*Tapestry's Learning To Fly*










She gets more spots with every year....the winter coat she is getting now makes her look like a leopard...spots all the way down her legs.


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## suz

Here's my silver dapple guy - 6 yrs old -










You tend to see more dapples when he is freshly clipped.


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## Dona

Magic said:


> I have a silver black (appaloosa) gelding that has a dark mane and tail. His dam is red, and carries silver, and he sired a silver dapple colt and a silver bay filly (before he was gelded) out of non-silver mares, so I know he carries silver. Here are some pics:
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> as a foal:
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> In person you can tell that the silver gene is affecting his black color, it just isn't affecting it MUCH. His silver bay daughter has a dark mane and tail too, with very little lightening, and his silver dapple's son tail is mostly white, but his mane is mostly near-black. It's interesting, and it's rare, but not impossible.


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........very interesting!

Yours & Connie's are the only Silver horses I've ever seen (in person or otherwise) who didn't have an "affected" (lightened) mane and/or tail.

May I ask what colors the mares were who produced the Silver foals by your guy?


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## Connie P

Thank you Dona for the compliments!





I may just have him tested a second time.


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## Firefall

I had a surprise this year when my sorrel pinto mare had this little silver colt. She's hiding silver really well and this was her first foal. His sire is my JC'S Winnie Walker stallion that's a black white pinto. This little man does NOT have one spec of white on him any where!


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## Magic

Dona said:


> Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........very interesting!
> Yours & Connie's are the only Silver horses I've ever seen (in person or otherwise) who didn't have an "affected" (lightened) mane and/or tail.
> 
> May I ask what colors the mares were who produced the Silver foals by your guy?





The silver dapple colt was out of a black snowflake appy mare, here is a pic of the mare and colt together:






The silver bay filly was out of a bay pinto mare (who was out of a bay mare and by a black pinto stallion). This is the silver bay filly as a foal:






I need to get current pics of her still. And here is her dam:






Actually, I have another silver bay mare, and she has a dark, mixed mane and tail as well. She's a half sister to the sire of these foals, they are both out of my red-carrying-silver mare. Interesting! I'll see if I can round up some pics that show her color too.


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## Magic

This is a picture of the silver dapple colt, at 2 years old early this spring. His mane is virtually unchanged from the silver gene, though his tail is mostly white. His body gets darker once he sheds his winter coat.


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## Magic

Ok, I found and uploaded some pics of my other silver bay. This is a pic of her at just a few days old:






A pic of her clipped as a weanling, several months old:






Her tail had gotten almost completely white at that point. Then, as a two year old, unclipped; her tail has some black in it again, her mane is mixed, actually looking lighter than it is in person since this pic is so light:






And then as a three year old, body clipped. No "enhancements" were applied, except for hoof black on her front feet. You can just see her tail in this pic, which is light at the bottom, but it has a lot of black in it as well. I would call it "mixed". Her mane has quite a few silver hairs in it but as you can see, is mostly black. Just when we think we've figured out miniature horse colors, they throw us another curve don't they? Lol!


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## Connie P

Wow Magic! I have to say I LOVE the backdrop in your second to last post. I wish I had a backdrop like that!





Lovely horses everyone and thanks for posting. I have really enjoyed looking at everybody's silver horses.

Now maybe I should start a post - "who has the most wildly marked overo"?


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## Dona

Magic said:


> This is a picture of the silver dapple colt, at 2 years old early this spring. His mane is virtually unchanged from the silver gene, though his tail is mostly white. His body gets darker once he sheds his winter coat.


Now this guy is interesting! He looks (to me) to be a Black Sabino. Has he been tested for Silver?

The Silver Bay filly too.....seems to show a lot of roaning on her body....Sabino perhaps?

I believe Connie's IZON also carries Sabino. It would be interesting to know if the Sabino gene, somehow, effects how silver manifests on black.


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## Watcheye

My very first miniature horse Mckeever was a silver bay. He is also pictured in my avatar. He was a very sweet horse. I miss him...


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## luv2ridesaddleseat

Silver is my absolute favorite color! I can't wait to see my baby girls color this spring when I get to clip her. She is getting darker by the day. I LOVE silver!!!!!


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## Becky

I absolutely _love_ silvers! Especially those with chrome. Here are a few of mine.

East Acres Stary Night. One of the most beautiful mares I have ever seen!







Stary Nights daughter, Redrock Neon Starlight. World Top 10 and producer of World Champions and Top 10's.






Adventure IIs Belle Of The Ball. Registered as palomino



, but she is a silver bay.






I added this cute, cute, little 29" silver pinto mare this past spring, Big Countrys GG Gal. Though covered with ink spots, she tested heterozygous for tobiano.






I'm with the others, Connie. Izon sure doesn't look silver to me. He looks black affected by a sabino gene to 'roan' out his coat. Sure doesn't look silver, but...... I'd test again.


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## Magic

Has Izon had any silver foals out of non-silver mares? I knew that my boy was silver even though he hardly looked it, but his having had two silver foals clinched it even without being tested. I would tend to trust the test results, and also pictures sometimes just don't show what you can see much more clearly in person.





Oh, and yes my horses do carry Sabino, so it's possible that Sabino affects silver in some odd way.


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## Miniequine

Nice horses you all.





Here is my 2009 silver dapple filly Pink Rodeo Magic (muddy!)

She is constantly changing colors

Her Dam (the silver carrier) is bred back to my bay pinto stallion.

Oh, I am hoping for a Silver Bay!!!!


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## Connie P

Ok - I have been SO incredibly busy, but I did finally take the time to pull Izon's mane this morning and have sent it off for a *second *test to see if he is "truly" silver.........................will let you know when the test comes back......



and even if it comes back not I still love him anyway LOL............ but then I will have the dilemma of one test says yes and one test says no.............hmmmmm.....................well maybe it will just come back yes a second time and I won't have to think about it anymore.


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## countrycharm

majour fan of silvers here!!



hehe here are two of mine, all i have uploaded at mo i own 10 all up



(beautiful horses everyone!!!)


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## Holly at WhiteTailsMinis

Not to long ago we got us a silver ( grey filly ).

Here she is this is RFM Billions China Doll


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## PaintedMeadows

Lots of beautiful silvers!!


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## RedTango

Dream-silver bay


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## Connie P

Lots of beautiful horses here! Thanks for posting everyone!


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## Connie P

Izon's test came back that he is NOT silver. I guess these tests can be inaccurate as his first test said positive. Oh well - no biggie. I love him very much and will take him as a black pinto and be VERY happy with that. He is LWO positive which I already knew!

I started a silver post without even owning any silver horses. LOL. I have enjoyed looking at all of your silvers though!


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## luv2ridesaddleseat

He'd be gorgeous even if he were pink!!!!!


















Now, may I ask where the first test was done?


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## PaintNminis

I was wondering that same Question

and where was the 2nd Place ?

Gorgeous Boy btw


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## Connie P

This test was done at Animal Genetics in Florida. I will have to dig through his paperwork to see where the first test was done as it was several years ago. I am not near my desk at this moment though.....................


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## Willow Tree Miniatures

I HAVE A CREMELLO STALLION AND HE HAS BEEN LAB TESTED TO CARRY A SILVER GENE. HE PRODUCED A SILVER BUCKSKIN FILLY THIS YEAR. I DO NOT REALLY CARE FOR SILVER, BUT THIS FILLY WAS VERY NICE AND AFTER HAVING HIM TESTED I FOUND OUT HE CAN ONLY PRODUCE PALOMINO, BUCKSKIN, SILVER BUCKSKIN OR DOUBLE DILUTE FOALS(DEPENDING ON THE COLOR OF THE MARE). HE HAS NONE OF THE PINTO GENES THEY CURRENTLY HAVE TESTS FOR. HIS MOTHER HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS A SPLASH OVERO. ALL OF HIS LAB RESULTS ARE LISTED ON MY WEBSITE IN CASE ANYONE WANTS TO SEE THEM. LOTS OF INTERESTING COLOR INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN FIND OUT FROM TESTING...


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## miniaddiction

Im with Dona, Magic I think your silver horses are actually Sabino's, that colt looks just like my Sabino colt from last year.


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## Dona

Connie P said:


> Izon's test came back that he is NOT silver. I guess these tests can be inaccurate as his first test said positive. Oh well - no biggie. I love him very much and will take him as a black pinto and be VERY happy with that. He is LWO positive which I already knew!I started a silver post without even owning any silver horses. LOL. I have enjoyed looking at all of your silvers though!


AHA!



I suspected as much. Like I said before.....I have never seen a Silver with black mane and/or tail. Dark gray maybe....but never black. IZON is gorgeous.....whatever color/pattern he displays!


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## Connie P

Thanks for the nudge Dona for a second test - now I can advertise correctly.


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## Dona

Connie P said:


> Thanks for the nudge Dona for a second test - now I can advertise correctly.


I also think that his two foals that you posted photos of are displaying "Sabino"....I see no Silver on them either. Sabino can cause lots of roaning & white hairs mixed into the manes & tails....giving them the illusion of possible being Silver sometimes.





IZON is much prettier without the Silver gene, IMHO. His jet black mane & tail are very striking!


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## Watcheye

Dona said:


> IZON is much prettier without the Silver gene, IMHO. His jet black mane & tail are very striking!


I agree! Love the black! Striking is the perfect word for it.


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## Connie P

Thanks guys!






I really have enjoyed looking at all the silvers though and may add one here someday!


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## Magic

miniaddiction said:


> Im with Dona, Magic I think your silver horses are actually Sabino's, that colt looks just like my Sabino colt from last year.




I agree that my silver horses are sabinos, but I know for certain that the appaloosa gelding carries silver, since he produced a silver colt out of a black mare. The silver colt is absolutely silver, there is no doubt. The fillies I would have to have tested to be sure, but they are both related to the gelding (one is his daughter, the other is his half sister, out of the same silver-carrying dam).





*Edit* Ok, I've reread this thread, looked at all the pics, and I am NOT sure of anything anymore, lol!

I guess the only way to go is to test and find out for sure.


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## Crabby-Chicken

I have one,,, and usually silver is my least favorite color! But he loved me at first glance and I loved him! I think he may be going grey like his sire. Oh well. This is my boy Mister.


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## wpsellwood

Well where have I been??? I love silver!


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