This is a non-commercial, independent website, owned and written by Nancy Kerson, for the benefit of actual and potential adopters of BLM Mustangs and Burros and similar animals.
DVD or VHS (2-DVD or 2-VHS set) almost 3 hours of instruction!
$39.95 plus $5 shipping/handling = $44.95 total
Lesley Neuman: The First Touch Gentling Your Mustang $45.00
Lesley works with 3 wild horses at a BLM adoption, and very clearly explains what is happening, what she is doing, & what she sees in each horse as it progresses. Study this video and you can learn "pressure and release" gentling techniques to gentle your own new mustang!
Help for Burro adopters! Crystal Ward Donkey Training
All the basics of gentling, handling, and training. A MUST for new burro adopters! Good for domestic donkeys, too!
Eumelanin, which isBLACK (or brown, depending upon environmental or genetic modifications) and is Dominant
Chemically, all horse colors are made up of two chemicals: Phaeomelanin or Eumelanin.
Genetic modifiers work on these two pigments (eumelanin and phaeomelanin) to create all the variety of colors and patterns that we see in horses. See HOW GENES WORK
There MAY be a third base color - Dominant White, but this is very rare if it exists at all. Recent research throws the existence of a separate White gene in doubt, although many textbooks still include it.
Most White is the result of genetic modification that blocks or removes the base color.
One-spot Appaloosas (where the "spot" is small and not obvious)
or very pale Cremellos Gretchen, a dark-eyed, pink-skinned white mustang adopted by Gwilda Byrd. Dominant White? Maximum Sabino? Few Spot Appaloosa? No one knows for sure. With dark eyes, she is not a cremello.
What About ALBINOS?
In horses, no true Albino (an individual lacking any pigmentation) has ever been found. If you stand a so-called Albino horse next to a pinto, you will see the difference. The "Albino" is usually the pale cream of Cremello, whereas the white on a pinto is pure white.
Maximum Sabinos or Maximum Toveros are true white and can have blue eyes and mostly light skin, but they are not albinos. Usually there will be at least one small dark spot in the skin or at the tip of the ears. And their eyes are blue or brown, not red or pink.
Dominant White horses are also pure white, but they, too, are not albinos.
A true albino would have no pigmentation at all - uniform light pink skin, white hooves, red/pink eyes.
Left: "White" horse at a BLM adoption - probably a Maximum Sabino Right: Cremello mustang (blue eyes reflecting the camera's flash)
Science: HOW BASE COLORS ARE DETERMINED
The Base Color is determined at the "Extension" locus (locus means, literally, "place") on the DNA strand. The dominant form of the Extensionlocus, "E"allows both black and red, although in reality (unless other genetic factors, such as Agouti are present) a horse with "E" will have a black base color, since black is dominant.The recessive extension "e" allowsonly red.
Color genetics are the same for all horses, regardless of breed or ancestry.
Since this is a Mustang website, I use and prefer pictures of wild, or formerly-wild horses wherever possible.
copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Nancy Kerson, all rights reserved - I'm happy to share, just need to be asked and have credit given where due.
Disclaimer: Horses are inherently dangerous. Use the information contained within this website at your own risk.
Many people speak of BAY as a base color. 
