Equine Color Genetics

Rating:
Summary: Exactly what the title says.
Review: A fascinating book for the REALLY committed enthusiast of this subject, but a complicated read - especially the sections about genetic control. Extensive and interesting text which could have been improved by the addition of more coloured photographs of better overall technical quality. I do not agree with some of the listed genotypes, which I think many people could find most confusing. There does not appear to be a list of gene designations, which would have been very useful if only to explain them more clearly.

The bibliography is excellent, but, unfortuately, this book does not contain an index. I think that this is a serious omission.

Rating:
Summary: Highly reccomended for all equine enthusiasts
Review: Easy to understand, authoritiative, from one of the best experts in the field of genetics. Comprehendable, thorough discussions and plenty of beautiful pictures. Highly reccomended for anyone interested in learning the basics of equine color genetics.

Rating:
Summary: A good start but still not perfect
Review: For the most part, this book is full of excellent information and pictures. It does, however, contain some clearly outdated information, the worst of which is the continued perpetuation of the notion of the dominant white (W) gene. It simply doesn't exist, and I was very disappointed to see that this theory was still being presented as fact.

Rating:
Summary: Equine Color Genetics
Review: I have the 1st edition. It was my main tool in figuring out the Grullo color genetics. There are some minor inaccuracies in color theory, but this is the best single color book that I know of on the market. For a more complete picture of color genetics I recommend, in addition, Equine Genetics & Selection Procedures, published by Equine Research, they are on the web if Amazon don't carry their books. As an example of the differences between the 2 books, Equine Genetics discusses the Isabella color which Sponenberg omits. I don't know about the genetics of Isabella, but it is real, and I can now spot them easily. Isabellas are dark yellow, with little or no white, there manes are often yellow too. Palominos have as much white as sorrels.
Sponenberg does an excellent treatment of the champayne color, it is very rare in Quarter horses, but Sponenberg tells you how to spot them. I have since seen several.
If you are only going to get one color book, get this one.

Rating:
Summary: THE best book on color genetics for horses
Review: If there was any one good book focusing on the genetics of horse color, this book is it! It's the best and most accurate book I have found on the subject, and it covers all equine colors from the basics to the more rare colors. A must have for anyone intersted in horse color research! It even includes donkey colors. HIGHLY RECCOMMENED!

Rating:
Summary: Note SECOND edition
Review: Note that this new SECOND edition published in 2003 is a completely different book than the first edition referred to by some earlier reviewers.

Dr. Sponenberg is a leader in this field and does a great job of bringing the latest in color genetic theory to the lay horseman.

Rating:
Summary: Sponenberg Makes Easy a Complex Topic
Review: The topic of horse coloration has confounded breeders for centuries. Phil Sponenberg has taken a very complex topic and has broken it down into easily understood parts. The pictures grab you by the eyes and inspire equine artists as well as breeders. The various modes of inheritance were well explained and easily understood. The photos allow the reader to distinguish even fine points of difference between two animals. This book is a must for the serious horse person.

Rating:
Summary: Equine Color Genetics
Review: This book is excellent! It describes in detail the genitics associated with different horse coat colors as well as the likelihood for achieving those colors when breeding horses. If you are breeding for color, this book will give you the possibilities of getting certain coat colors from your particular dam and sire. It cannot predict what you will get, but it can tell you not only what colors are most likely to get, but those colors that are least likely, and those that just cannot happen with the color horses you are breeding. I have now gotten 3 buckskins on the ground because I bought this book...and I had a lot of luck as well. But being new to breeding horses, this book allowed me to delve past all of the wivestales and get to the facts so that you can, at the very least, have the best possibility for the coat color you prefer. I recommend this book highly!!! I have given them to friends in who have been in the horse business forever and they have learned a great deal from this book! Everyone I know is very impressed. It is easily understood, even if you are not a geneticist. I am definately not either and I understood every word.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding discussion and pictorial of equine coat color
Review: Very thorough review of horse coat colors with many color pictures shown with the probable genotype listed below. I do not agree with every picture discription, but this book by far is the most comprehensive and easy to understand I have run across. Paints and Appaloosas are touched on, but are a little out dated with the new tobiano testing available. Excellent examples of dilution fators (dun and palomino) and how they interact with other genes. A great reference any horseman will treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Informative book for horsemen, laymen, and equine artists?
Review: Yes, this book is very informative on inheritance of color in the equine and is complete with a small section of color photos of both horses and donkies for examples. However, being an equine artist and horsewoman myself, I find this author's discussion of each color unclear, somewhat disorderly, and contradictive of itself. Many of the photos are of horses 'out of coat' and showing winter color rather than their true late spring/early summer coats that experts agree are best for examination of hair and patterns. Looking at the descriptons for some of the coat colors illustrated contradicts what the author himself has stated as being true for identifying certain colors, particularly as concerns the horse's points. He also uses out of date and vague terminology for roan colors and overo patterns. Although a great debt of thanks is owed to Dr. Sponenberg for his research in this relatively new area of study, I fear there are more readable authors (with more and better photo examples & detail shots) who are up to date on the research being done in this field today.