COLOR Question about Mini Mules

[Jill]

I just have got it in my head that I want to know what color possibilites are there if you breed a cremello or perlino (double dilute) mare to a donkey? Would you get a palomino or buckskin mule foal?

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

I think when it comes to donkeys the genetics of color goes right out the window, and it is a luck of the draw as to what you will get. Maybe someone else has other opinions on this. Corinne

 

[minimule]

Corrine is right. When crossing, the color genetics mostly go out the window. The easiest way to find out is to try it and see. I've been trying to bring a buckskin mare into my program to experiment with.

My jack is a chocolate. He has bred an Isabella Palomino, Silver Bay, Sorrel Pinto (greyed), Silver Dapple. The results so far are this:

Palomino - BRIGHT sorrel

Silver Bay - Silver bay

Sorrel Pinto - 1. Sorrel pinto 2. Palomino

Silver Dapple - Black bay

The mare that was bred 2x is supposed to be homozygous. All her foals were pinto....up until last year.

:

This year we have the Sorrel pinto bred again (I hope!), a bay varnish pintoloosa, and the Isabella Palomino again.

 

[TinyMiteVillage]

My new mini mule is a silver dapple in the mini world I guess ( I just just think it is a chocalte dapple). But his daddy was black and his mama was a silver dapple and he came out silver dapple..........

 

[Erica]

Well Jill already knows this but - we will see what we get........

I have a two year old jack that I raised from weanling till now with his age mini mares (and I think in the future it will work) as he is very interested in them and they all treat each other as the same. One of these mares is a PERLINO pinto Bandito daughter (this jack is a DARK gray dun - mom gray dun and sire black) - the other two mares are a sorrel pinto and a black with socks. Will be interesting to see if the dilute comes through on the Perlino.

 

[Jill]

I can't wait to see those results! I was telling Erica, I don't know much about donkeys, but when I saw the pictures of her mini mule program jack, well, that is an Erica Donkey with his neck set, refinement and action. He looks so neat!

 

[RJRMINIS]

I think when it comes to donkeys the genetics of color goes right out the window, and it is a luck of the draw as to what you will get. Maybe someone else has other opinions on this. Corinne

Yep, totally agree. I know there is research being done one the genetics with donkeys....But so far donkey genes are totally different than horses!!!

 

[just_4_kixx]

I raise full size mules, and it depends on the color of the jack, what his colors are in his background, and what the mare has. If you breed to a red roan jack, the gene color is the most dilute. The theory is the color of the mare will over ride the color of the jack and come out on the off spring. I bought a red roan for that reason. I'm trying to breed and raise appy mules. The one on the left is my mini spotted mule. He's out of a red roan jack and a spotted Shetland mare, or really tall mini mare. He's 39†The other thing to know about breeding donkeys is your off spring will almost always be taller then the jack. Many don't worry about the size of the jack, because the off spring will be at least the size of the dam, if not taller.

My guess to get a colored mule out of your mare, I would breed to a mini red roan jack, and make sure he is red roan for a few generations on his papers. Roan Jacks aren’t like horses, they don’t pass on the “roan†factor. You won’t have the worry of if it’s going to be roan. The difference between a red roan jack and a sorrel jack, truly is color. Sorrel jacks will produce almost 80% sorrel, at least from what I’ve heard. Sorrel look like a sorrel horse, and the red do look more red, but will start to roan out as they get older, so they almost look pink. Many people try to pass off their sorrel jacks as red, but check your colors before you breed to them. Make sure you are breeding to the color you want.

Best of luck.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

From what I was told about color, breeders are having alot better luck breeding color into standard size donkeys then in the mini field. My last hinny, is out of a dunaloosa stallion, and a gray jenny, both minis, ---he is a VERY dark bay, almost looked black when he was small. Corinne