Lois Williams of Wild Wish Farm offers a look at the abilities of solid mares to produce color in her breeding program. It is not often that a breeder will offer the public an in depth view of their breeding program. To absorb the knowledge of our predecessors and peers is a valuable tool. This article was originally published in the Sundance Newsletter, July-August 2001.

The Mentor

Many years ago, I was given the name of a man that I was told shared the same passion that I had-leopard foundation Appaloosas. After long phone conversations, pictures and letters exchanged, a strong bonded friendship was formed. I had found a mentor in Frank Scripter. I learned much from him, but like all good friendships, we did not always agree. Some heated discussions were enjoyed. Our biggest disagreement was two-fold-few spotted leopards and the use of solid Appaloosa-bred mares!

Angel Flair Spot and Sun Powder Spirit with 1999 foals

After years of studying several breeders, I believed that few spot leopards (true born) were color machines. I also believed that solid Appaloosa-bred mares were priceless in the right breeding program to produce colored foundation foals.These mares carried the same blood as colored siblings and could be bought for less than their loud colored siblings. Frank would not even call a few spot a leopard and considered few spots and solid fillies culls.

The Challenge

Since my life was a single mom, a small herd of Appaloosa mares and my leopard stallion, Cedar Ridge Spot, and a perpetually empty pocket book, the purchase of even one of Frank's spotted foals was only an impossible dream. During one long after midnight phone conversation, Frank offered me 3 of his new-born cull foals, two few spotted leopard colts (one by Solar Flair, one by Shyloc's Cody) for $100 each and one solid black filly by Solar Flair for $200. I scraped up enough money to go get them at weaning. I brought them home with a promise to meet Frank's challenge to "Prove it, Show me." He gave me 10 foals' time.

Unfortunately Frank passed over before I could complete my study. I still believed, so I continued. If there are any other doubters out there, here are my results. Let me "show you."

The Results

Solid x Leopard Cross

The first part are the results of using a strong foundation bred solid black non-characteristic mare in a program using a black leopard stallion. The second part is a comparison using that same mare's production with a few spot leopard stallion.

I registered this non roaning black filly from Frank as ApHC-N and named her Sun Powder Spirit. She was first bred to my black leopard stallion, Cedar Ridge Spot (to Golden Glo and Little Britches K on the top side and to Simcoe's Sarcee on the bottom side).

Sun Powder Spirit with Echo's Spot Perfection

The resulting 1993 foal was a heartbreaker to me. She was the blackest filly I had ever seen-not a white hair on her, no sign of mottled skin or sclera and black hooves. I called Frank and got an "I told you so!" I was still committed to my theory that the genes are in there the same as colored siblings. My Brooklyn Dodgers mentality said "Wait til next year!" This 1993 black filly was named Angel Flair Spot, registered ApHC-N, and did I have plans for her!

Then I waited until next year. In 1994 Spirit foaled a black roan filly. Well, a little better, but... Now Frank had a big smirk and told me "too bad horses didn't have litters so he could win quicker!" I sold this filly and she died tragically young, so I don't know if she would have continued to roan out. I had a long talk with Spirit and told her if the next Mr. foal was solid, I would sell her to the Amish!

On Mother's Day 1995, early in the morning, Spirit and her two year old black daughter walked over the hill out of the fog, with a tiny filly framed between the two black mares. I blinked, blinked again, and then howled "Holy Cow!" Spirit had foaled the loudest, craziest spotted black leopard filly I had ever seen. I named her Dazzling Vision Spot. Her photos to Frank brought the response, "No, I've never seen a leopard like her, WOW!" To this day we have not found a match for her!

Dazzling Vison Spots (Cedar Ridge Spot x Sun Powder Spirit)

Solid x Few Spot Leopard

Only nine foals for Frank but you can see the value of using these solid Appaloosa mares in a breeding program, especially when you use a true few spot stallion, where she has produced 100% loud, non-fading color. To continue a dynasty, the production of Spirit's first daughter, Angel Flair Spot, a black non-characteristic mare, produced a black blanket, black spots colt when bred to Ghost Wind's Echo.

Angel Flair Spot and Echo's Braveheart

Frank had suggested I breed Angel to her sire, Mr., to perhaps get a leopard Mr. 'look-alike' colt because we could see Mr. was failing. In 1997 Angel was bred to Mr. The result was a solid black filly, whom I said must have been planned to keep and mate with Echo, my few spot stallion.

Conclusion

I hope this, an accurate but small scale chronicle from a personal experience can prove the worth of the non-characteristic solid Appaloosa mare in a colored foundation breeding program. It also shows the true few spot is a color machine. I would love to do a large scale research involving other breeders that are using solid mares and few spots. We could publish a guide to give the public a factual statement on Appaloosa genetics and the non-characteristic solid colored mare and how they indeed can produce highly colored offspring. Spirit and Angel are living proof.

I know that a few old time Appaloosa people still think like Frank. Some of them just can't admit they are wrong when they flatly state, "Black horses, regardless of ancestry, are not Appaloosas" or "non-characteristic, solid horses will never produce Appaloosa color," or "all the good breeding in the world won't save you if the horse is solid colored." Horse feathers! How many Irish do you know without red hair or blue eyes, or Dutch or Swedes not blond, or Italians with blond hair? Try to tell them that their ancestry doesn't count and you'll likely end up with a black eye or worse! So how can someone dare say, 'horses' ancestry doesn't matter -- only the color of their hides? No matter what the coat color, the inherited genes are in there. The Appaloosa is a pedigree breed, not just a color breed and we cannot afford to waste foundation blood.

New Appaloosa breeders and lovers must take advantage of true statistics that some of us old breeders correctly recorded, without allowing unproven, personal opinions, faulty memory or secret 'culling' of solid foals to bias the results.