Leopard Patterns - Information and open discussion

[Silverine]

Thanks for the agouti gene set. Sometimes I can figure it out, sometimes I can't (I talk myself out of what I know at times).

Isn't that the way it goes? For the past "ten" years on here, I've been getting about 70% colts. I've barely been getting by with fillies aging up in time before I risk loosing some of my stallions. Actually, I think ten is a little slim. I might be pushing fifteen now. And it's not that the fillies are born with worse patterns or HGP, I just don't seem to get many of them anymore.
Be great if I were in the business of selling show geldings! Hah!

At first it was pretty even for me between colts and fillies with maybe a slight edge on the fillies, now it's more than 80% colts and it's getting really flippin' aggravating.

[BlackOak2]

At first it was pretty even for me between colts and fillies with maybe a slight edge on the fillies, now it's more than 80% colts and it's getting really flippin' aggravating.

I could generally tell which lines would offer which sex of foal. A lot of my bloodlines were like that. Then suddenly I got into a really bad filly surplus that I had to use stallions multiple times that I didn't really want to and after that a huge colt surplus were I was faced with the opposite issue.
Now I went through a purposeful reduction and am faced with an acceptable amount of colts... with no fillies.

You know... I'm really hoping our competition buggy-ness of the past week isn't a sign of an internal problem that's begun to snowball. I can't help but think that sometimes, especially when things were going good. People started to find their horses weren't getting appropriate championship titles and now comps aren't running at all. I just wonder if they're related and what else we might be overlooking.
I worry a bit because I know I'm not the only one that really likes this game and I certainly don't want to loose it.

... Okay, now that I've said that, maybe I'll stop thinking it...

[Silverine]

I could generally tell which lines would offer which sex of foal. A lot of my bloodlines were like that. Then suddenly I got into a really bad filly surplus that I had to use stallions multiple times that I didn't really want to and after that a huge colt surplus were I was faced with the opposite issue.
Now I went through a purposeful reduction and am faced with an acceptable amount of colts... with no fillies.

You know... I'm really hoping our competition buggy-ness of the past week isn't a sign of an internal problem that's begun to snowball. I can't help but think that sometimes, especially when things were going good. People started to find their horses weren't getting appropriate championship titles and now comps aren't running at all. I just wonder if they're related and what else we might be overlooking.
I worry a bit because I know I'm not the only one that really likes this game and I certainly don't want to loose it.

... Okay, now that I've said that, maybe I'll stop thinking it...

It's possible it's related, but I think if it was a bug we would ONLY be getting one gender and not the other. I've read elsewhere that some people think some stallions prefer to throw one gender while other stallions prefer the other. That could very well be the case. (Some hidden genetic thing maybe?)

[BlackOak2]

It's possible it's related, but I think if it was a bug we would ONLY be getting one gender and not the other. I've read elsewhere that some people think some stallions prefer to throw one gender while other stallions prefer the other. That could very well be the case. (Some hidden genetic thing maybe?)

The more I play many games, the more I think that it's either programmed that way or because of achieving the same result time and again, we may be able to 'trick' the program to offer us something more often. In the past, the other games I wasn't able to prove the 'trick' of the program (but only because I got tired of trying to play a game that I only found half interesting).
For this game, I am apt to believe that there's a lot more genetics programed in to the base of horses than 'we' as players could realize.
However, we were told by admin (at some point) that although there is a slightly higher chance of colt over filly, they're about equal and a flip of the coin.

Whenever I think about coin flipping, I am always reminded that if you flip a coin 20 times, you have just as equal a chance of coming up all heads as you do a mix of heads and tails.

So I do believe that there are lines that prefer one sex over the other. But why or how that came about, whether it is, indeed just program 'trick' or whether there is some genetics involved, I don't know if we'll ever know.

What I do know is that in real life there is a LOT more to what sex you'll get than a flip of the coin. And that this game has a lot of basis in real life genetics.
Other than that... it's all theory.

[Raikit]

Those are some truly gorgeous horses right there. I'm almost drooling over that brown dun. Congrats! And I wish you luck figuring out the cause.

[Silverine]

Those are some truly gorgeous horses right there. I'm almost drooling over that brown dun. Congrats! And I wish you luck figuring out the cause.

Thanks. I really like him, too.

@BlackOak2: I'd gotten a few fillies from your boy, but now I finally have one with neck coverage!

[Silverine]

And one of my blanket mares finally decided not to throw her own Lp around and gave me this little spotty boy. So your boy can throw neck coverage outside of the snowcaps as well. (Oh, and he's one of the few babies to be horse-type rather than pony-type. XD)

[Silverine]

So my first colt by BlackOak's wonderful stallion has just had his first batch of babies. I wanted to share the results with everyone.

Here he is:


And here are the mares and their offspring. (My thoughts on these were written the first time I saw the foals. I wrote this post as I clicked through them. They are recorded in the order that I saw them.)

SVA Seven Seas Thoughts: Though it no longer shows in her breed mix, this mare is a continuation from my line of Caspians. She is the only horse currently in active use in my program with Caspian in her and is also the only horse so far to throw this much white coverage on the neck. Perhaps Caspians have neck genes but are missing the 'on' switch for them?
As for the filly herself she offers a lot of nice coverage on the neck but if you compare her foal picture to her sire's the area where the top of the neck meets the top of the shoulder has a bit less coverage than her sire. It's possible that this is just because of the way the more white on top is displayed but interesting all the same.


SVA Crux Thoughts: No link for this colt because I rehomed him. His white coverage was about the same as the horses in my herd before bringing in genes from BlackOak's boy. It's possible coverage could have reappeared if bred to a filly from similar lines, but as he had nothing new to offer I couldn't afford for him to be taking up space.


SVA Roasted Red Pepper Thoughts: Again no link because he was rehomed. I would have kept him if he'd been a filly, but I have way too many colts. Once again, regression of coverage and nothing new to offer elsewhere.


SVA Weakness Thoughts: Wowza! Look at that neck white! Pretty little girl. And no Caspian in mom, so that's not where the extra white came from (at least with this one). And the more closely I look the more coverage this filly has compared to the other filly. Her neck is almost half white!


So both of the offspring with extra neck white were also dun-diluted. I have yet to get a non-dun horse with any sort of white on the neck beyond snowflakes. Perhaps they're related? It's really too early to draw a conclusion, but I'll do my best to get more non-dun horses and see what happens.

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Edited to add more babies.


SVA Midnight Daughter Thoughts: Another non-dun with severely regressed coverage. This could be due to his mother, though, who has much less coverage than most of my horses. His snowcap areas do perfectly line up with his mother's blanketed areas.


SVA Home Again Thoughts: No real thoughts on this one. Rehomed because colt and lack of coverage.



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Edit 2: Rehomed a couple that weren't worth mention, then got this colt.


SVA Wolfship Thoughts: I thought he was pure black at first, but he's possibly a very faint grulla. I'll keep an eye on him and try to figure it out.

[BlackOak2]

Wonderful foals! I am liking those brown & patterned horses myself. It has to be the difference in colors, but for some reason they just come off as more elegant than the bays, blacks and chestnuts.
Just about when I was reading your mention of the dun, Silverine, I had that thought... could it be connected to dun? Almost my entire herd carries dun and purposefully (I want those wild stripes).

I have a mare that is very closely related to Commonality and a full brother. I will be using those two to help define where that gene might come from.

I have a lot more foals to go through it seems; there is another batch of breedings and I really want to keep up with what he produces.

He is throwing some cute offspring.

[Silverine]

If my last foal ends up being just black and not dun, then that could mean that it's not related. But he's only three months old right now so I can't yet tell with all of the white on him. I'll keep an eye on him through his first year and let you know my conclusion once his foal coat is fully blown.

And personally I prefer the blacks over the others, but that's my personal preference.