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Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows the genetics of a Norwegian fjord? We call them dun, but they are lighter than "normal" duns... Do they have cream? Or is that only the yellow duns?
The fjord horse is always dun, and they have five different base colors, black(gråblakk/grey dun), brown(brunblakk/brown dun), red(rødblakk/red dun), yellow(gulblakk/yellow dun) and white(ulsblakk/uls dun or white dun). I know that if you cross two yellow duns or two red duns, you can get a cremello/perlino foal(which is not wanted in the fjord world), this is because of cream right? But what about the other three colors? Do they have cream too? What makes them so light?
And I'm also wondering what it is that makes them have their eel, the zebramarkings on their legs and the tail feather? I know they're "ancient markings", but why are they so prominent in the fjord breed? Especially the black line in the mane, with the thick white on eiter side. We cut their manes to better show off the black marking, and to enhance their necks, but why doesn't other duns have that much white in their mane?
Does anyone else know of the fjord breed? Tell me about your meeting with them! :D I own a fjord mare, and she's awesome :D Really sporty, slim and tall, with long legs :) She's a big mare too, a little over 150 cm(which is pretty tall for mares here in Norway :) ) She's a brown dun, but she's really light :) She doesn't quite match all the criteria for the fjord breed, her long legs and sporty look is one of them, but she is still perfect to me :D <3 Edited at December 13, 2017 12:10 PM by Stutteri Bergstaden
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I don't know about the genetics, but I love the Fjord! I live in the Southern US, and am friends with the only owners of "registered" Fjords in the state. They're really nice, and their horses are so cool.
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Regarding Fjord's, and all dun horses, it is important to remember that dun is a modification gene, and not a base gene. The modification gene has to act on a base that is already present, like black, bay, or chestnut. The different shades of dun are merely the dun gene acting on different base colours, not differences in the dun gene itself. What most people consider to be a 'typical dun' is bay dun, or dun acting on a bay base coat.
Red Dun = Chestnut + Dun Grullo / Blue Dun = Black + Dun Bay Dun (or just Dun) = Bay + Dun
Fjords do carry Crème as well, and you can get what most people call Dunskin and Dunalino.
Most Fjords are just regular bay duns, or brown duns, as they call them. They aren't, as a whole, lighter overall than other bay duns. There's as much variation in the colour of bay duns as there are in bays themselves. Fjords just seem to tend more towards being a lighter shade than a darker shade.
Regarding the manes, I do not know. Most Fjords haven't had a whole lot of genetic typing done on them, but I would suspect that it is a completely separate gene from dun, although it is possible that it is related to the gene that causes frosting in some duns.
As far as the primitive markings, those come from the dun gene (the dorsal or eel stripe, the leg bars, shoulder bars, etc.) The only reason that they are so prominent in Fjords is that Fjords are almost universally homozygous for the dun gene. If every horse carries the gene, then every horse will exhibit the markings.
Also, just as an aside, if you cross two Red Duns or a Red Dun and a Dunskin or Dunalino (what the Norwegians call Yellow and White Dun), you will never get a Perlino or Cremello foal. Perlino and Cremello require two copies of the crème gene, and Red Dun carries none of them. Two Dunskins or Dunalinos could produce a Perlino or Cremello, but Red Dun crossed with anything never will.
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Oh okay :D I already knew that dun isn't a base color, but it's nice to know why they always seem lighter than other duns :p My brown dun mare is probably the lightest brown dun I've seen, almost white in the winter :D I've actually seen darker fjords from Germany and America :)
Then it was uls I thought of, not red dun :) I knew that two of them base colors can make cremello/perlino :)
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I love Fjords, they are one of my favorite breeds.
I agree with you Fjords are a much lighter dun color in general then regular horses. I suspect his has to do with them having Pangere as well.
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I loveeee Fjords! <333 They are the best. I don't know anything about genetics, but I do know that there are grey looking Fjords as well. :P
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.Nvaynne. They are so much fin :D
Liberty Rocks- They really are ;) The grey ones are what we call grey dun or gråblakk in "fjord language", but as Anglachel Acres explained, they are simply just grullos :D Black with a dun modifier :)
I really want to share a picture of my mare with you guys, how do I do that?🙈😂
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