HGG Community Forums

Before I start, I should clarify that I am by no means a scientist or a genetics expert. I just like to look at pretty horses and ask questions!

Ammit's question in the fb group about peacock spots and snowflake has had me paying extra attention to leopard complex horses lately - and I've been noticing what I think might be interesting interactions between dun or nd1 and Lp.

I've noticed a few horses with spotted blankets that are split down the back by the dorsal stripe. This example I would bet has nd1 as I don't see leg baring and I can see countershading on his dam at the bottom of the page. This one has more leg barring and shoulder striping going on so I would guess she carries dun. I haven't seen any solid blanket appies with a dorsal split like that, but I'm keeping my eyes open.

And then there are examples with higher dun factor that are just odd. Like this mule - after some internet ninja-ing I found her name - Rock N Easy Icing. Her spots look a little bit like peacock spots, but the ones on her shoulder seem to follow her shoulder barring.

My question is, are there any theories or studies done on the interactions between the dun complex and the leopard complex? Or is this all just coincidental and I'm way overthinking it?