Horse Color Explored Over 160 Breeds, Types and Variations Explained

Horse Color Explored is an up-to-date reference demystifying horse coat colors, patterns, and markings. Beginning with a clear explanation of basic genetics author Vera Kurskaya quickly moves to the main theories of horse color inheritance. 168 color photos guide the reader through basic colors followed by diluted colors–the cream, dun, and silver genes, and rarer colors such as champagnes, pearls, and flaxen. White patterning is covered extensively, which defines the markings for such breeds as American Paint Horses and Appaloosas. Common head and leg markings are joined by intriguingly named, less common ones such as tetrarch spots, bird catcher’s ticking, and bloody shoulder. The book concludes with seven handy appendices encompassing colors specific to particular breeds, equine hybrid colors, and a case study on how to calculate horse color inheritance, among other indispensable knowledge for horse owners, breeders, and enthusiasts.

Vera Kurskaya holds degrees in philosophy and jurisprudence and since 2006 has worked as a researcher on the genetics of equine color. in 2013 she became a liaison between Russian horsemen and the University of California DNA laboratories for genetic testing of Russian horses. She is a journalist working as an editor and translator for the Russian horse magazine "Konnyi Mir" (The Horse World).

Dr. Prochazka’s career spans over 25 years of working in the area of molecular genetics, with the focus on human diseases, mutation detection, development of animal models for selected disorders, and genome analysis. He earned his MD degree at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and subsequently received most of his postdoctoral training at the Jackson Laboratory, a world-renowned genetics research center in Bar Harbor, Maine. During his subsequent staff geneticist position at the Phoenix Branch of National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Heath (NIH), he conducted studies of heritable factors predisposing to the high incidence of Type-2 diabetes in Native Americans in Arizona. In 2004, Dr Prochazka founded Pet DNA Services of AZ, a lab service offering DNA tests for animals, as well as conducting R&D to develop new assays for selected gene mutations. Dr Prochazka is an author or co-author on 67 peer-reviewed publications.