HGG Community Forums

Its been a small side project of mine to breed a non-varnishing line of appys, but I have not got very far yet. When I've finished my practicum I may expand this project because I want to see what I can accomplish with it!

I have an extreme love/hate relationship with snowflake. I don’t breed leopards, but I’ve found most of my snowflakes tend to be white by age 10-12. I would say it might be better to put your colorful genes, like plaid or watercolor, on someone that doesn’t have snowflake just on the off chance they do white out early. My Hidden Gates snowflake boy was completely white by 8 and I was devastated.

Thank you, everyone, for your great advice!

@BlueValley, that project sounds fantastic! Please let me know if you ever have extra stallions for sale. I understand heavy varnish is an aspect of snowflake, but for my non-snows, I prefer as little varnish as possible. I really do not like when they lose all their appy color in their teens.

Maria, those foals are adorable! I could not decide who to put Plaid on, so I did not pick it up yesterday. I hope it comes back around again this month.

Fallen, that is my worry. I don’t want to be in love with this gorgeous horse, and only get to visually admire him for a few months. I also don’t want all his colorful foals to have a boring-looking sire in their pedigree!

Ren, you got it exactly! I am asking about his tiny spots, not the snowflake. I have unwillingly accepted that his snowflake varnish will “melt off,” I just want to make sure it doesn’t take the leopard dots along with it. For the same reasons as you stated, that is why I keep most of my snowflake herd ECA3P+. In fact, while I believe him when his RS says he has snowflake, if I was just shown a picture of this horse, I would not assume he had snowflake. I can’t really see it unless I look very carefully at his fuzzy little head.

Y’all have been very helpful. Thanks again!