A Study In Blonde: the Flaxen Gene

[BlackOak2]

Flaxen is recessive. This means you need two of these for the horse to show flaxen. Flaxen also will only show when paired with chestnut. This means two things. First, blacks, bays, wild bays and browns will never show flaxen, regardless if they have it or not. And second, two flaxen chestnut horses will always have a flaxen foal.

Why do I make a point of saying something as seemingly common sense as 'two flaxen chestnuts will always' throw a flaxen foal? Because like other genes we have, here on HWO, sometimes flaxen can appear to not exist.

So, what did I learn from this exploration? First, that it does appear that flaxen and the different styles can be bred for. Second, like some other genes, it can be difficult to keep just the type of flaxen you want. And finally, third, when you're looking for a very specific trait, like flaxen that is NOT also expressed on the legs! -_- You can't find it, especially on AC stock. So, keep in mind that although every example in this study has flaxen leg flushing, the flaxen gene can display with leg flushing or without leg flushing.

Also, as another side note to leg flushing. It appears it is partially affected by the strength of the flaxen, insofar as the stronger the flaxen is (the brighter it displays), the stronger the flushing also is. Although it appears that different strengths of flaxen offers different heights of flushing on the leg, this appears to be mostly illusion. The leg flushing is limited by the strength of the flaxen gene itself, however, the interesting side note to this, is that the strength that's flushed by flaxen on the legs IS slightly offset from the flaxen in the mane and tail. What does this mean? Two identical horses with identical genes could have slightly different leg flushing strengths.

Now the basics are over. I'll continue.

As an introduction. This is a flaxen foal:


And this one, is not:


But from my exploration of the gene, there appear to be two basic types of flaxen. One that still has it's red hues and one that displays more cream.

Red Hue:


Cream Hue:


Now, these two may be so similar that you can't tell the difference between them. Perhaps it's easier to see it in their feathers.

Red Hue:


Cream Hue:


Thinking, perhaps, those flaxen-colored legs are hiding something? Here they are.

Red Hue (without feathers):


Cream Hue (without feathers):


Although... it gets increasingly more difficult to tell the differences between the red hue and the cream hue as the flaxen brightens.

As for that part, how bright can the flaxen get? Well, I didn't answer that one. Purposefully left unanswered. But I did certainly breed some very bright flaxens.

There is one other thing I came across when conducting the study. Although, as you should already know, the sooty gene can and will affect the flaxen as it affects the entire body, there does also appear to be a natural darkening gene related solely to flaxen itself. It also does appear to have two separate states, just like the sooty gene, a static state and a progressive state. And this, too, can be bred for. The example will appear at the end of the other examples.

Please note, I specifically chose pictures of mane already flopped over, so some of these are of yearlings that are older than a year, but are still under two. And, although these first versions you may certainly think are not flaxen, all of these examples below, came from flaxen-expressing parents.

Dark Versions
Newborn "Dark"

As a yearling


Newborn "Dark Two"

As a yearling


Medium Versions
Newborn "Medium"

As a yearling


Newborn "Medium Two"

As a yearling


Bright Versions

Newborn "Bright"

As a yearling


Newborn "Bright Two"

As a yearling


Newborn "Bright Three"

As a yearling


Silver Versions
*Please note, the word silver is a definition of the brightness and not the color.*

Newborn "Silver"

As a yearling


Newborn "Silver Two"

As a yearling


Darkening Silver Version
*I thought I had two of these, but one never started to darken.*

Newborn "Darkening Silver Two"

As a yearling


Closeup of head for gradation of darkening through select years.

Yearling


At Three Years


At Six Years


On this horse, it seems to've stopped darkening at six.

Final Note

So, as you can see, the newborn does generally tell the tail of flaxen or not flaxen. But, at least until the foal blows it's newborn coat, it can certainly lie about if it exists and even which adult flaxen will eventually be revealed. Also, as a last side note to the darkening gene, it appears it's either on or off. Although I didn't investigate it extensively, I have had foals born from both one and two darkening parents that didn't have it at all. As well as the static version being fairly easy to breed out, when I wanted to offer flaxens without any change to their hues.

Hope you enjoyed!



Edit: September 2024

Turkmene's may be the AC breed that delivers the non-flaxen-flushed feet. Also, in a strange observance, this breed appears to throw flaxen foals regularly when paired with flaxen horses, so though this breed isn't supposed to be flaxen, perhaps they're flaxen carriers? See this post, second page, Arctictea's reply

[Gabby_Woodlark]

...

This is so in depth, yet easy to read. I, myself, was confused a lot with the different types of flaxen shown on my herd. One horse was a barely noticeable flaxen, the other a bright silver flaxen. This guide is really helpful, I thank you very much for taking the time to write it

[BlackOak2]

...

This is so in depth, yet easy to read. I, myself, was confused a lot with the different types of flaxen shown on my herd. One horse was a barely noticeable flaxen, the other a bright silver flaxen. This guide is really helpful, I thank you very much for taking the time to write it

You know it!

My next guide, I think, will likely tackle pangare... but it'll be a bit before I get into that one.

[Gabby_Woodlark]

This is so in depth, yet easy to read. I, myself, was confused a lot with the different types of flaxen shown on my herd. One horse was a barely noticeable flaxen, the other a bright silver flaxen. This guide is really helpful, I thank you very much for taking the time to write it

You know it!

My next guide, I think, will likely tackle pangare... but it'll be a bit before I get into that one.

Yup

Oo, that'll be a hard but very useful one. I don't think I've seen any guides about pangare yet... Good luck

[BlackOak2]

[EclipticEnd]

Here's a question: Would this be an example of Flaxen leg-flushing on a Palomino?

[BlackOak2]

Here's a question: Would this be an example of Flaxen leg-flushing on a Palomino?

Although this is an old question (don't know why I didn't see it! Apologies about that), this is a good addition to this guide, so I will answer it, even though quite late.

Yes, I would agree that this horse has flaxen leg flushing.