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Ok, thanks :) i thought that since it is a rare gene, that maybe it could pop up every once in a while. (Like snowflake or somethin')

I didnt know splash affected the color of the mane and tail, also.. huh. Thats kind of interesting :)

And on the note of DP - you actually can't tell if a horse has it by whether or not they carry sooty. You can, however, tell for certain if they're a palomino or a chestnut, and their color name is "liver chestnut" or "chocolate palomino". That means they have at least three darkening genes.

Sooty is a darkening gene, and DP is a darkening gene. A horse can either have 0, 1, or 2 copies of any gene. They need a minimum of 3 darkening genes to be "liver" or "chocolate" if they're a chestnut or palomino. That means either 2 sooty and 1 DP, or 1 sooty and 2 DP. They can also have all four, so 2 sooty and 2 DP, and they'll be even darker than a horse with 3. A chestnut with all four darkening genes will look black until you test them and they read off "liver chestnut", which is why a horse that's hom sooty and hom DP can be called a "black liver".

Any other horses, however, don't have a change in their color name, nor will a chestnut with only two darkening genes, for example. The way you pick out DP is visually - it's a darkening gene, and horses with it look darker than those without. A chestnut with one DP and no sooty will look about as dark as a chestnut with one sooty and no DP, while a horse with hom DP and no sooty will look about as dark as a hom sooty.