breeding palomino horses

The scheme below shows what happens when two palominos are bred together. There’s a 25% chance of a chestnut foal and a 25% chance of a cremello (cream) foal. There’s a 25% chance of a palomino foal inheriting the dilution gene from the mare and a 25% chance of a palomino foal inheriting the dilution gene from the stallion, giving a 50% chance overall of a palomino foal.

Palomino breeders often cross palomino and chestnut horses together to avoid the possibility of a cremello foal. In this case it doesn’t matter whether the chestnut is the stallion or the mare. Again the chances of a palomino foal are only 50%:

As we have seen breeders producing palominos using this strategy would do well to pick red chestnuts for the chestnut parent. Chestnuts with light manes and tails (flaxen chestnuts) are preferred, especially ones with no dark hairs and no dark “smut” marks on the body. Similarly golden palominos with no dark hairs are best if the breeder wants to produce foals the same. The Shulay stud used to be a producer of some of the UKs most beautiful and successful palominos. If you look at the photos above (and also on the palomino horses main page) you'll get an idea of what a good palomino color is. You'll also see Eldyr, a chestnut stallion who sired National Champion palominos.

The only guaranteed way of producing palominos is to use one cremello parent and one chestnut parent. Again the chestnut should ideally be a red one with a light mane and tail and no dark hairs. It would also be useful to see the cremello’s own parents and/or offspring before deciding whether to use it for breeding palomino horses.

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