🧬 Genetics

• 🐴 Base Colors
• 🎨 Modifiers
• 🧪 Dilutions
• 🪽 White Patterns

🐴 Base Colors

EquestriCraft Color Genetics Guide

EquestriCraft's genetics system is based heavily on real horse coat color genetics, with a few simplifications made for our audience. Most colors, dilutions, patterns, and breeding outcomes follow real world inheritance, while some areas have been simplified to provide more variety and easier gameplay.

When breeding, foals inherit genes from both parents. Some genes are dominant and only require one copy to be visible, while others are recessive and require two copies. This guide explains how colors are created, how they pass to foals, and what combinations are possible within EquestriCraft.

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Base Coat Genetics

All horse colors begin with two primary genes:

Extension (E)

Controls whether a horse can produce black pigment.

Agouti (A)

Controls where black pigment is placed.

Base Colours

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Bay Variations

EquestriCraft simplifies bay shade genetics, any bay horse may randomly generate as:

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Standard Bay

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Blood Bay

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Dark Bay

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Seal Bay

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Mahogany Bay

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Chestnut Variations

Standard Chestnut

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Sandy Chestnut

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Red Chestnut 

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Dark Chestnut

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🎨 Modifiers

Color Modifiers

Modifiers alter the appearance of the base coat but do not dilute it.

Flaxen (F)

Flaxen is a recessive modifier that lightens the mane and tail of chestnut horses. 

Inheritance

Because flaxen is recessive, a horse must inherit a flaxen allele from both parents in order to visually express it.

Expression

Flaxen only affects chestnut horses. Bay and black horses may carry flaxen but will not visually express it.

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Silver (Z)

Silver is a dominant modifier that affects black pigment. It lightens the mane and tail while having no effect on red pigment.

Inheritance

Only one copy of silver is required for expression.

Expression

Chestnut horses may carry silver but will not visually express it because they do not produce black pigment.

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Sooty (Sty)

Sooty is a dominant modifier that adds dark hairs throughout the coat. Expression can range from subtle dark shading to heavy darkening across the entire body.

Inheritance

Only one copy is required for expression.

Expression

Sooty affects bay and chestnut based horses but any color can be a carrier. 

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Sooty Bay

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Sooty Dark Bay

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Liver Chestnut

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Sooty Buckskin

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Chocolate Palomino

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Gray (G)

Gray is a dominant modifier that causes progressive depigmentation over time.

A gray horse is born its original colour and gradually lightens as it ages.

Inheritance

Only one copy is required for expression.

Expression

Gray can occur on any base colour.

Examples:

• Black → Gray
• Bay → Rose Gray
• Chestnut → Rose Gray
  

The horse's original color remains genetically present underneath the graying process.

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Black Base Graying Process

                                    

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Bay Base Graying Process

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Chestnut Base Graying Process

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Gray Final Forms

🧪 Dilutions

Dilution Genes

Dilution genes lighten or alter the base coat color.

Cream (CR)

Cream is an incomplete dominant dilution. One copy creates a single dilute, while two copies create a double dilute.

Single Cream

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Double Cream

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Palomino Variations

Standard Palomino

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Dappled Palomino

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Light Palomino

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Buckskin Variations

Standard Buckskin

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Golden Buckskin

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Dark Buckskin

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Light Buckskin

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Dun (D)

Dun lightens the body while leaving primitive markings visible. Primitive markings include dorsal stripes and leg "zebra stripes"

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Primitive Markings

A horse may display primitive markings without being fully dun.

The Dun locus has three possible alleles:

Dominance order:

D > nd1 > nd2

This means Dun overrides both nd1 and nd2, while nd1 overrides nd2.

Non-Dun 1 (nd1)

Non-Dun 1 is incredibly interesting because it is basically a "partial remnant" of the original Dun gene.

Horses with nd1 are not diluted, but they may still display primitive markings.

Genotypes

Traits:

• Dorsal stripe
• Leg barring
  

However, the body color remains undiluted.

Non-Dun 2 (nd2)

Non-Dun 2 is what most modern horses carry.

Genotype

These horses:

• Are not diluted
• Do not naturally display primitive markings
• Cannot pass Dun unless bred to a horse carrying D

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Champagne (CH)

Champagne dilutes both red and black pigment while creating lighter eyes and mottled skin.

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🪽 White Patterns

Tobiano (TO)

Tobiano is a dominant white pattern gene that creates smooth, rounded white patches that often cross the topline.

Inheritance & Expression

Characteristics

• Rounded white patches
• White legs
• White crossing over the topline
• Dark head with normal facial markings

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Splashed White (SW)

Splashed White is a dominant white pattern that creates crisp, bottom-up white markings, often giving the appearance that the horse walked through white paint. It commonly produces high white legs, wide facial markings, and blue eyes.

Characteristics

• Crisp-edged white markings
• High white legs
• White underside
• Blue eyes are common

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Sabino (SB)

Sabino is a dominant white pattern that produces irregular white markings with roaned or jagged edges. It commonly causes high white legs, extensive facial markings, belly spots, and scattered white hairs along the body.

Characteristics

• Jagged, irregular white markings
• High uneven white legs
• Wide blaze or extensive facial white
• Brown eyes are common

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Frame Overo (O)

Overo is a dominant white pattern that creates irregular, horizontally oriented white patches that rarely cross the topline. It typically leaves the legs dark and is often associated with bold facial markings.

Characteristics

• Irregular, jagged white patches
• White rarely crosses the topline
• Small leg markings are common
• White is concentrated on the sides and neck

Since O/O is lethal, there is no expressive category for homozygous horses because they won't survive.

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Tovero

Tovero is not a separate allele, but rather the result of a horse inheriting both Tobiano and Overo pattern genes. This combination produces a unique blend of characteristics from both patterns, often including large tobiano patches with overo facial markings, blue eyes, or irregular white markings.

Characteristics

• Combination of tobiano and overo traits
• White crossing the topline
• Irregular body markings
• Blue eyes are common
• White is concentrated on the sides and neck

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Leopard Complex (LP)

Leopard Complex (LP) is a dominant pattern gene responsible for Appaloosa characteristics. On its own, LP may produce only minimal characteristics

Inheritance

PATN Modifiers

PATN1 is a dominant pattern modifier that works with the Leopard Complex (LP) gene to increase the amount of white and spotting across the body, producing patterns such as blankets and leopard spotting.

PATN2 is a dominant pattern modifier that works with the Leopard Complex (LP) gene to expand Appaloosa white patterning. It typically produces more white expression than PATN1.

Example Outcomes

LP Status	PATN2 Status	Outcome
LP/n	n/n	Minimal Blanket
LP/n	PATN2/n	Blanket Appaloosa
LP/LP	PATN2/n	Snowcap Appaloosa
LP/LP	PATN2/PATN2	Leopard or Fewspot

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KIT White (W20)

KIT White, also known as W20, is a white-enhancing gene that influences the amount of white a horse displays. In EquestriCraft, W20 works alongside facial markings, leg markings, and white pattern genes to determine overall white expression.

Unlike Tobiano, Sabino, or Splashed White, W20 does not create a specific pattern on its own. Instead, it increases the amount of white that may be expressed throughout the horse.

Inheritance

Genotype	Expression
W20/W20	Extensive White
W20/n	Medium White
n/n	Minimal White

Expression

n/n (Minimal White)

Horses without W20 will typically display only small amounts of white.

Examples:

• Star
• Snip
• Crescent
• Coronet bands
• Pasterns
  
• None

W20/n (Medium White)

Horses carrying one copy of W20 may display moderate white expression.

Examples:

• Blaze
• Stripe
  
• Strip
• Socks
  
• Moderate body white

W20/W20 (Extensive White)

Horses carrying two copies of W20 may display extensive white markings.

Examples:

• Bald face
  
• Large Blaze
• Stockings
• Large belly spots

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Roan (RN)

Roan is a dominant pattern gene that mixes white hairs evenly throughout the body while typically leaving the head and lower legs darker.

Inheritance

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Rabicano (RB)

Inheritance

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Texture Layering

Unlike many horse games, EquestriCraft doesn't limit horses to a single coat pattern. Every genetic trait is rendered as its own texture layer, allowing any genetically possible combination of alleles to appear together.

This means horses can display combinations such as:

• Tobiano + Appaloosa
• Rabicano + Roan
• Sabino + Splash White + Overo
  
• ...and countless more.

Because every base coat, modifier, white pattern, hair color, and eye color is layered independently, the number of possible appearances becomes extraordinarily large.

With the current genetics system, there are approximately:

1,610,343,593,388,568,719,021,488,209,920,000

(≈ 1.61 decillion unique horse appearances)

No two horses are guaranteed to look alike, even if they share the same breed. As new patterns are added over time, this number will continue to grow, making every horse feel truly unique.

if a genetic combination can exist, your horse should be able to wear it. Texture layering allows us to create the incredible variety seen in real horses while ensuring every horse in EquestriCraft has the potential to be one of a kind.