HGG Community Forums

I have been working for months to bring the merle gene to the game, including a beta test last month because the gene is so complex. It is now ready to go fully live. Thank you to everyone who helped us out by participating in the beta test.

Merle gene is an allele (different mutation) of the silver gene. Like silver it dilutes black pigment and will not show on ee horses.**


Key Info about Merle
-All merle genes will have a number, written Mrl(#). The number is the SINE length. Bigger number = more dangerous.
-Merle does not care about being homozygous or not. Combined SINE numbers under 80 are safe. Over 80 and you start getting health problems. Too high and the foal dies.
-You can max ability a merle foal with health problems to get a health foal.
-Silver can be dangerous combined with higher SINE numbers. Mix at your own risk.
-All new merle creates will have a SINE length between 55 and 68. This is the classic merle pattern.
-SINE lengths are unstable. They will spontaneously shorten or length during breeding.
-SINE lengths can not be editing in the GMT lab and will never change via GMT lab edits.
-If you can breed SINE numbers small enough you can get healthy homozygous merles.
-Very small SINE numbers stop showing as merle all together.

A full in-depth guide to merle can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-8pySjDUlRj_UDyIfPyc2YZlwtW8lzaxg2Qm4FXaklM/edit?usp=sharing

Is this guide missing something? Please let me know so I can add it.

**While the merle pattern won't be seen on ee horses it can still cause blue eyes on all colors. As merle reaches dangerous lengths it can also turn off all pigment resulting in white areas. Merle can still impact health and even be lethal on ee.

Merle is available for 38 USD for the entire month of October!