HGG Community Forums

@ObsidianKitsune, How do you know what W the horses have? Is the WF the W?

If you look at your horse’s genetic test results you will see the Kit genes towards the right side of the list.

White spotting kit genes are written w#, so just plain w for W1, and then w2, w3, w8, w20 etc. Your mare is Kitw20 and your stallion is Kitw20 Kitw2.

The WF is White Factor. It’s the right most part of the genetic testing and will be anything from None to Extensive. The higher a White Factor a horse has, the more it will express its patterning genes (Appaloosa is not affected by white factor and is governed by a whole different set of genes).

The more white a horse has on its body, the more “broken” it’s genes are. This is why in real life, animals that are white or mostly white are more likely to be deaf, or get certain cancers, or to have other disorders of the way processes and molecules work in their bodies. Many of these sorts of genetic disorders result in the Baby not making it to birth in the first place and instead being stillborn or simply dying in early pregnancy.

Horses in the game that are mostly white are likely to have a combination of pattern genes and high white Factor that make them risky to breed to. In this case, I think you just got really unlucky, as the foal must have had similar genetics to its sire.

Unfortunately, luck definitely plays a role in the game and in real life breeding. I would have made this cross without blinking, as it really is a relatively low risk cross. I’m sorry you had bad luck this time.