International Buckskin Horse Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 268
Shelby, Indiana 46377
www.ibha.net
Brindle and Striped Equine International
11819 Pushka
Needville, Texas 77461
www.geocities.com/sbatteate/brindlehos/
The brindle color pattern consists of a watery- or drippy-looking striping, or sometimes just partial striping, over the body of an animal. It is most commonly seen in dogs or cattle, but in horses, the pattern is extremely rare. For this reason, many consider the Brindle horse as a curiosity and quite unique, which is better than the discrimination horses of unusual colors have received in the past.
“I bought my Brindle horse just because the coat pattern was so wild and eye-catching,” says Denise Charpilloz of Washington. “I have always been attracted to colorful horses. The brindle pattern is so rare people would approach me to ask, ‘What is that?’ Also, people would point out my Brindle horse to each other, even if they didn’t always come up and speak to me directly. More often than not, old-timers will tell me they have been breeding horses for more than thirty years and had never seen anything like that!”
Expert horse people can live a lifetime and never see a Brindle horse.
Most people say they never knew anything like it existed in horses. After Brindle horse owner J. Sharon Batteate picked up one of her Brindle mares from Texas in an open stock trailer, when she stopped to refuel at various gas stations, people came up and peered in the trailer and exclaimed they had never seen anything like it.
A magnificent Brindle stallion. The stripes look like they are dripping off the horse. Carole Dunbar
Some Brindles were sold without papers because they were not considered a “correct” color for their breed. This happened not only to Brindles, but also to palomino Thoroughbreds, crop-out Paint and Quarter Horses, and others. Fortunately, the climate is much more favorable for unusually colored horses today and the Brindle has experienced much interest.
Brindles stand out from other types of horses and can have various shades of stripes. Denise Charpilloz
Brindle coloring has occurred in such diverse breeds as Arabians, Thoroughbreds, mustangs, Quarter Horses, Tennessee Walking Horses, German and Bavarian warmbloods, Russian horses, and Spanish horses, as well as donkeys and mules.
History
The first record of the brindle pattern in horses seems to be by J. A. Lusis in the publication Genetica, volume 23, in 1942. In the article entitled, “Striping Patterns in Domestic Horses,” he details a brindle Russian cab horse from around the 1800s that was preserved and put in a museum. Reports of brindle or brindle dun patterns from the 1860s to 1870s in the Criollo horses of South America have been documented by writers such as Marrero, Pereyra, Solanet, and Odriozola.
The term “brindle dun” has existed since 1971 as the description for a horse with striping all over its body, and the International Buckskin Horse Association information booklet used this name as a classification to describe horses with striping in 1977. The booklet described it as “a different and unique body coloration with stripes appearing over the barrel of the body and most, if not all, of the dun factor characteristics. Brindle duns show up in the Netherlands and [is] referred to as an ancient dun color. The peculiar body markings can appear in the form of teardrops or zebra stripes.”
In 1988, Mary Jagow of Silver Cliff, Colorado, began organizing the International Striped Horse Association to collect information on various striping patterns. She noticed four basic types of striping: dun factor striping, bay striping (renamed countershading striping), roan striping, and brindle. This organization is no longer in existence.
A website was established for Brindle horses in 1997 by J. Sharon Batteate to provide information on the rare equine brindle coat color, locate other brindle-colored horses, and assemble information on them.
In 1998, Anita Garza began a new registry, the Brindle and Striped Equine International. It accepts horses, ponies, donkeys, zebras, and their hybrids with the brindle pattern. The registry also accepts those with heavy and/or unique dun factor markings and animals with the “netting” pattern.
The February 2006 edition of the American Quarter Horse Journal, ran an article on Brindles entitled, “One in a Million,” by Christine Hamilton, stating that there finally was verification of the chimera origin (mixed genotypes in the coat from various causes), in two Quarter Horse Brindles. The testing was done at the University of California, Davis. One of the horses was a mare owned by Denise Charpilloz; the other was the stallion, Dunbar’s Gold, owned by Carole Dunbar. Thus, it would seem that the brindle pattern is not just some random oddity or abnormality, but before drawing too many conclusions about the pattern, there is a need to locate more examples for study.
Further information about inheritance in Brindle equines was expounded in an article by Tom Moates entitled “Horses of a Different Stripe,” Horse Equus magazine, (November of 2006).
Dunbar’s Gold was registered in the Brindle and Stiped Equine International as number 1 for Brindle horses in 2000 (he was the first horse entered into the registry). He is a strongly brindled horse—dark red dun with liver chestnut colored stripes, similar to the color of Hershey’s chocolate syrup dripping over his coat.
Brindle Basics
Little is currently known about the genetics of the brindle pattern in equines. Previously it was thought to be a random mutation or coat developmental variation that was probably not inheritable, yet examples of Brindles have been found dating back more than one hundred years. Also there are known Brindles that have passed on the pattern to their young, especially with coat texturing.
While dogs are known to have partial brindle patterns, it is not known if the partial striping patterns seen in Brindle equines are the result of partial brindling (as with dogs), or just coat developmental variations that are not inheritable.
Many people confuse the brindle pattern with dun factor markings (stripe down the back, barring on legs, and occasional regular-spaced striping down the ribs). At one time, it was even thought the brindle pattern was just a variation of dun factoring. Indeed, there have been many examples of horses that were probably carrying both dun factoring and brindle coloring. However, numerous photos reveal that many Brindles do not have any dun factor markings whatsoever, indicating the two patterns are probably distinct genetically.
Brindle horses also have texturing in their coat similar to that seen in some Appaloosa horses. Sometimes the pattern seems to be inheritable, especially in terms of coat texturing, but the expression of the darker or more intense pigment that makes the pattern visible is highly variable and changes even with individual horses seasonally and/or yearly. Sometimes the pattern seems to be composed of dark hair (black or brown), or white hair (roan or gray). Stripes on a foal usually grow with it, like spots on a Pinto, but some can shed out a little differently each year.
Information collected since 1990 on Brindle horses is bringing some light on the pattern. It now appears there may be two ways in which a Brindle phenotype (outward appearance) can occur. In some horses, the pattern has not been inheritable, pointing to a possible mosaic or “chimeric” origin, as seen in tortoiseshell cats. In other horses, the pattern has been shown to be inheritable; however, there could be several genes involved in producing similar patterns much the same as pinto/paint spotting can result from several different genes.
Indeterminate patterns are those found in horses, donkeys, or mules with some sort of streaking or texturing that resembles and thus could be the result of brindling, but could also be the result of some other pattern. Some streaking on a brown horse could truly be due to brindling, or it could also have come from dappling breaking up countershading. Another example would be of an animal that supposedly has brindling, but photos do not show the pattern clearly, or it was photographed at a time of year (usually spring) when even normally colored animals will show variations in hair as they shed. Also, it isn’t known if some streaking seen on the ribs of a dun horse is actually the result of brindle plus dun, or just extensive dun factor markings.
These eye-catching mares have unique-looking, rare brindle striping. Denise Charpilloz
When looking back at the earliest reports of what is currently called the brindle dun color by the International Buckskin Horse Association, it is speculated that although brindle has often been associated with dun since the first reports of this rare and unusual color, there might actually be two separate components. It now appears to be composed of both factors—brindle and dun—and the combination of both produces the classic brindle dun horse.
However, there is a wide variation in expression of dun factor markings, and some horses considered to be brindle duns might only be the maximum expression of dun factor markings. Others that are “very highly marked” dun factor horses could have resulted from the combination of brindle and dun factors. Additionally, some of the brindle duns are examples of the brindle pattern without any accompanying dun factor markings whatsoever. Since a “heavily marked dun factor” horse, however, would visibly resemble a “brindle plus dun” horse, it will probably always be difficult to distinguish exactly which pattern is shown.
What is known is that chimerism is not the only source of the Brindle pattern in all Brindle horses. Batteate has had two lines in which the pattern was inheritable: her mare Brenda Batty Atty, had three brindled offspring (three brindled out of five total foals), and the mare, Im A Star Moon Bar, had three brindled offspring out of five, plus one carrier. Her son, Ima Star Brindle Bar, sired five brindled foals from seven breedings.
Also Dunbar’s Gold has a full brother who has the brindle pattern, his daughter is a Brindle and also his great aunt is a Brindle. Beside these lines, there have also been reports of Brindle offspring from others.
However the brindling occurs, there is much interest in continuing this marvelous and unique color in horses. “I want to try to breed for more Brindles and perhaps restore this ancient coat pattern to the equine world as a viable choice, just like duns or Paints are,” says Denise Charpilloz. “I believe this is a potentially important contribution for all horse enthusiasts. I hope others are able to join me in pursuing the Brindle coat pattern.”
Credit: J. Sharon Batteate