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DESCRIPTION OF COLOURED HORSES RAISED IN TURKEY1

Orhan YILMAZ2, Mehmet ERTUĞRUL

3

2Iğdır University, Agriculture Faculty, Department of Animal Science, 76100, Iğdır.

3Ankara University, Agriculture Faculty, Department of Animal Science, 06100, Ankara.

Corresponding: zileliorhan@gmail.com

Office: +90-4762261314-Ext:2015

ABSTRACT

Even though coloured horses are very rare in Turkey, there is a group of such

horses in a small region in the east of the country. This study was undertaken to

verify, by analysing sex, coat colour, and morphological dimensions and

comparing these with other Turkish horse breeds, whether this group of coloured

horses is a crossbreed or a separate breed. In this study, 42 male and 35 female

horses were divided into four age groups (1-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-18 years). The

frequencies of body coat colour of the sampled horses were predominantly bay on

white 55.2%, predominantly gray on white 17.2%, predominantly white on bay

8.6%, predominantly white on buckskin 8.6%, predominantly black on white

6.9%, and predominantly white on black 3.5%. Descriptive statistics gave the

following means: withers height 134.5 cm, height at rump 135.3 cm, body length

138.2 cm, heart girth circumference 153.2 cm, chest depth 61.0 cm, chest width

39.4 cm, cannon circumference 17.6 cm, head length 54.6 cm and ear length 13.4

cm.

Keywords: piebald, skewbald, morphologic traits, coat colour

1 This research has been published in Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology

(2011), 3 (3): 203-206.

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TÜRKİYE’DE YETİŞTİRİLEN ALACA ATLARIN TANIMLANMASI

ÖZET

Alaca atlar Türkiye’de nadir bulunmasına rağmen, Doğu Anadolu’da küçük bir

bölgede Alaca at yetiştiriciliği yapılmaktadır Çalışmada Alaca atların don ve

çeşitli vücut ölçüleri tesbit edilerek, bu özellikler bakımından diğer Türkiye yerli

atları ile karşılaştırmak suretiyle kökeni hakkında ön bilgilere sahip olunmasına

çalışılmıştır. Çalışmada dört farklı yaş gurubundan (1-3, 4-5, 6-8 ve 9-18) 42

erkek ve 35 dişi at incelenmiştir. Don renginin dağılımı; doru % 55.2, kır alaca %

17.2, alaca doru % 8.6, alaca kula % 8.6, yağız alaca % 6.9 ve alaca yağız % 3.5

olarak belirlenmiştir. Vücut ölçülerine ait tanımlayıcı istatistik değerler ise; cidago

yüksekliği 134.5 cm, sağrı yüksekliği 135.3 cm, vücut uzunluğu 138.2 cm, göğüs

evresi 153.2 cm, göğüs derinliği 61.0 cm, göğüs genişliği 39.4 cm, ön incik

çevresi 17.6 cm, baş uzunluğu 54.6 cm ve kulak uzunluğu 13.4 cm olarak tespit

edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: alaca, morfolojik özellik, vücut rengi.

INTRODUCTION

The horse is a large odd-toed hooved (ungulate) mammal in the family Equidae.

Most scientists believe that the Central Asian steppes, the original homeland of

the Turks, are almost certainly one of centres of origin of the domestic horse

(Düzgüneş 1946, Yarkın 1962). In Central Asia horses have been used for

millennia for warfare, personal transport, and agricultural operations as well as to

provide food for their owners who are nomadic herders (Wilson 1999). In the

1950s and 1960s working horses were almost completely replaced by tractors, so

that horses lost their importance to general human life in Europe and to a certain

extent also in Turkey (Herold 2001).

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The colours of horses have fascinated human beings throughout recorded history.

Especially nowadays, more and more horses are valued for mainly aesthetic rather

than utilitarian purposes. It is a human idiosyncrasy that most people tend to

choose a horse of a colour that appeal to them, when all other things are equal

(www.apha.com 2011, www.horsecolor.com 2011). Horses display a different

array of body coat colours and some distinctive markings. It may be noticed that a

horse is generally first described by its coat colour rather than by value, breed or

sex (en.wikipedia.org 2011).

The main Turkish horse breeds are the Anatolian Native (Anadolu Yerli), Midilli

of Ayvacik (Ayvacık Midillisi), Kula of Camardi (Çamardı Kulası), Canik,

Çukurova, East Anatolia (Doğu Anadolu), Kolu Kisa of Hinis (Hınısın

Kolukısası), Karacabey, Karacabey Nonius, Malakan, Rahvan, Rumeli (Trakya),

Turkish Arab, Turkish Throughbred and Uzunyayla (Batu 1962, Sönmez 1973,

Arpacık 1996, Emiroğlu 2010, Güleç 2005, Kırmızıbayrak 2004, Bayram 2005).

Even though there are a few scientific contributions on horses in Turkish

literature, there is none specifically on ‘coloured’ horses, i.e. those that have

colours mixed with white, such as in piebald or skewbald combinations. In

existing contributions, withers height (WH), height at rump (HR), body length

(BL), heart girth circumference (HGC), chest depth (CD), chest width (CW),

haunch width (HW), limb length (LL), cannon circumference (CC), head length

(HL) and ear length (EL) were measured.

In Turkish horses the most common coat colours are bay and gray. The rarest

horse colours are pinto, isabelline and buckskin, as seen in Table 1. In addition to

the information given in this table, some further remarks may be made.

According to Yarkın (1962), in Turkish Arabian horses bay, gray and chestnut

coat colours are the most common and are preferred. Black is seen rarely. Arpacık

(1996) reported that, in pure-breed Arabian horses, between 1940 and 1980

frequencies of the chestnut colour increased two fold, gray colour decreased 7-8

fold and the bay color was stable.

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Table 1. Body coat colour distributions of horse breeds.

Breeds Gray

(%)

Bay

(%)

Chestnut

(%)

Black

(%)

Isabelline

(%)

Buckskin

(%)

Dun

(%)

Piebald/

Skewbald

(%)

Anadolu

Native1

44.7 37.3 14.2 2.9 0.9

Malakan2 23 52 25

Uzunyayla2 12 48 19 21

Turkish Arabian3 5.5 19.7 74.5 0.3

Anadolu Native4 41.5 41.5 12.2 2.4 0.8 1.6

Anadolu Native5 38.4 31.9 16.2 4.2 0.9 0.9 7.4

Anadolu Native6 37.8 27 29.7 5.5

(Said 1940)1 (Arıtürk 1956)

2 (Arpacık 1996)

3 (Kırmızıbayrak 2004)

4 (Bayram 2005)

5 (Alarslan

2009)6

In the Midilli of Ayvacik breed the most common coat colour is bay. The roan

colour can be seen, but rarely. However, Batu (1962) reported that the Midilli of

Ayvacik are commonly bay, and Yılmazer (2007), in an MSc thesis on the same

breed, reported only a chestnut coat colour for those horses.

Aral (1974) has reported that the bay colour is common in Uzunyayla horses.

Black and gray colours also could be seen, but the chestnut colour is disliked by

owners. Batu reported that gray, bay, chestnut and black colours were common in

Turkish Native horses, and buckskin and other colours could be seen. Batu also

reported that Malakan horses are commonly black. According to Emiroğlu (2010),

Uzunyayla and Canik horses generally were of a bay colour. In the Kolu Kisa of

Hinis breed, each coat colour could be seen, but bay was the most common.

The Turkish Coloured horse has a mixed colour pattern controlled by a dominant

gene. One parent must therefore be a ‘coloured’ horse for the pattern to occur. The

‘colour’ gene produces white-haired, pink-skinned patches on a base coat colour.

There are various terms for this combination in the literature, depending on the

size, distribution and proportion of the colours as they relate to the white areas.

For simplicity, the terms ‘piebald’ and ‘skewbald’ are applied here, and this

general type of horse will be described as ‘Coloured’.

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The skin underlying the white spots is pink and under the coloured areas it is

black. The spots are generally regular and distinct as ovals or round patterns

(en.wikipedia.org 2011, www.vgl.ucdavis.edu 2011). Usually, all four legs are

white below the hocks and knees. The pattern is clearly marked and characterized

by white across the spine that extends downward between the ears and tail. The

coloration is present from birth and does not change throughout the horse's

lifetime.

Figure 1. An example of Coloured Horse Figure 2. An example of Coloured Foal

Figure 3. Coloured Foal and Mare Figure 4. Coloured Horses

In 1940s an Armenian citizen brought a Coloured filly from a village located in

Armenia to an adjacent Turkish village. Later this filly was sold to another horse

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breeder who lived one of villages in Kars Province. When the filly matured, all

her offspring were Coloured foals. Those Coloured horses became famous, and

were used by other horse breeders. Later in the century, some horse breeders in

Ardahan Province had them (pers. comm.). Nowadays these horses breed widely

in Ardahan and Kars Provinces. Beside their colours and characteristic

morphology, they are calm, quiet and obedient horses (pers. obs.).

The aim of this study is to determine whether Turkish Coloured horses are a

separate breed or only a colour variety.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Experimental animals

In this study a total 77 Coloured horses, 42 males and 35 females, was analyzed in

Göle (40047’N; 42

036’E), Arpaçay (40

051’N; 43

020’E) and Susuz (40

047’N; 43

0

08’E) in the Northeast of Turkey (www.googleearth.com 2011). The horses were

aged from 1 to 26 years, grouped into four age groups of 1-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-18

years respectively.

Measurements

The study was carried out from October to December 2010. Withers height (WH),

height at rump (HR), body length (BL), chest depth (CD), and chest width (CW)

were measured using a measuring stick. Heart girth circumference (HGC), cannon

circumference (CC), head length (HL) and ear length (EL) were measured with a

specially graduated metal measuring tape (Sönmez 1973). Ages were determined

from the horse owners. Body coat colours were classified according to whether

the white area was bigger than the coloured area or not. For example, for the

‘piebald’ coat colour, if the white area was bigger than the black area it was

classified as ‘predominantly white on black’, and vice versa is ‘predominantly

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black on white’. For the bay colour, properly skewbald, if the white was bigger

than red area it was classified as ‘predominantly white on bay’, vice versa was

‘predominantly bay on white’ (Yarkın 1962).

Statistical analysis

Data were analyzed with Minitab 15 statistical software program. Descriptive

statistics for body dimensions were analyzed using ANOVA and Student’s t-Test

that also determined the impact of sex, region, body coat colour, and age group on

the response variables of WH, HR, BL, HGC, CD, CW, CC, HL and EL

(Anonymous 2011).

RESULTS

The frequencies of body coat colour were as given in Table 2. More than fifty

percent of horses had bay in their colouring. One tenth of the horses were piebald

and rest of them were skewbald.

Table 2. Distributions of body coat colour of Coloured horses in Turkey.

Piebald Skewbald

Pre

do

min

antl

y b

lack

on

wh

ite

Pre

do

min

antl

y w

hit

e

on

bla

ck

Pre

do

min

antl

y b

ay

on

wh

ite

Pre

do

min

antl

y g

rey

on

wh

ite

Pre

do

min

antl

y w

hit

e

on

bay

Pre

do

min

antl

y w

hit

e

on

bu

cksk

in

n 4 2 32 10 5 5

% 6.9 3.5 55.2 17.2 8.6 8.6

As seen in Table 3, between male and females horses there was no significant

difference for morphological dimensions except for the leg and ear lengths.

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Table 3. Descriptive statistics and comparison results of the phenotypic traits

overall and in different sexes in Coloured horses (cm).

Groups

WH HR BL HGC CD CW CC HL EL

Overall

(n=58)

137.9

± 0.55

138.1 ±

0.45

143.9 ±

0.96

158.9 ±

0.92

63.5

± 0.48

40.7

± 0.39

18.2

± 0.14

55.9

± 0.34

13.6

± 0.15

Female

(n=24)

137.5a*

± 1.05

138.2a

± 0.77

146.6b

± 1.41

161.4b

± 1.56

64.0a

± 0.85

41.8b

± 0.68

18.0a

± 0.22

56.1a

± 0.52

14.0b

± 0.23

Male

(n=34)

138.3a*

± 0.59

138.1a

± 0.55

141.9a

± 1.21

157.2a

± 1.03

63.2a

± 0.57

39.9a

± 0.43

18.4a

± 0.17

55.7a

± 0.46

13.3a

± 0.19

a, b: P<0.05.

* There were no significant differences between means showed in same letters of alphabet in same

column and factor group.

DISCUSSION

Descriptive overall means for these horses were as follows: withers height 137.9

cm, height at rump 138.1 cm, body length 143.9 cm, heart girth circumference

158.9 cm, chest depth 63.5 cm, chest width 40.7 cm, cannon circumference 18.2

cm, head length 55.9 cm and ear length 13.6 cm. As seen when compared with

Table 1, the results from this study did not agree with any of the reported results

from other researchers. So these results suggest that Turkish Coloured horses in

almost all body dimensions are smaller than Karacabey Yarimkan (Batu 1931),

Arabian (Düzgüneş 1953), and Uzunyayla (Arıtürk 1956), but larger than Turkish

Native (Said 1940), Turkish Arabian (Said 1940), Cukurova (Said 1940), Canik

(Yarkın 1962), Central Anatolian Turkish Native (Sığındere 1977, Kırmızıbayrak

2004, Alarslan 2009), Rahvan (İnal 2004), Ayvacik Midillisi (Yılmazer 2007).

Arabian is a race breed, and normally it is larger than the Turkish native horse

breeds (Yarkın 1962). On the other hand, Ayvacik Midillisi is actually a miniature

horse breed in Turkey (Yılmazer 2007), so their dimensions could be expected to

be smaller than those for Coloured horses. From the results obtained, Coloured

horses were larger on some traits and smaller on other traits compared with the

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Malakan and East Anatolian horses. The Malakan horse is the only draught horse

breed of Turkey, and it is anyway generally larger in size than other Turkish horse

breeds (Arıtürk 1956).

Table 2 gives the results obtained from a related study which provided additional

information on the coat patterns of the Coloured horse.

The present data demonstrate that Turkish Coloured horse is smaller in body size

than most of the Turkish native horse breeds. On the behavioural side, these

horses are also different to other Turkish Native horses. Turkish Native horses are

cautious, suspicious and alert to the presence of strangers, whereas Coloured

horses are more placid. One point should not be ignored: the female ancestor of

these horses was from Armenia, implying they could be seen as a separate breed.

In the USA there are two coloured horse associations, the American Paint Horse

Association (APHA) (www.apha.com 2011) and the Pinto Horse Association

(PtHA) (www.pinto.org 2011). Coloured horses are accepted as a separate breed

by both associations. In order to decide whether the Turkish Coloured horses are a

new breed or crossbreed, there should be DNA analysis carried out on these

horses.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully thank Prof. Dr. Fırat Cengiz (100. Yil University), Prof. Dr.

Ensar Başpınar (Ankara University), Prof. Dr. İbrahim Zafer Arık (Akdeniz

University), Prof. Dr. Gürsel Dellal (Ankara University), Prof. Dr. Saim Boztepe

(Selçuk University), Prof. Dr. Aşkın Kor (100. Yıl University), Assoc. Prof. Dr.

Yalçın Bozkurt, Ertuğrul Güleç (Freelance writer) and Dr. Peta A. Jones (Donkey

Power-South Africa) for their constructive comments, careful scientific revision

and English edit.

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