What is the Champagne horse?
Originally written by Karen Malcor-Chapman You can see more of this artical along with other champagne information on http://www.champagnehorses.net/ Champagne is ONE of the FOUR known dilution genes in horses! The others are Creme (that makes Palomino, Buckskin, etc.); Dun; and Silver Dapple. Champagne as a color gene has been around for a long time – but it’s only recently (the past decade or so) been named and understood to be a separate gene. The American Cream Draft Horse breed seems to have begun in 1911 with a light Gold or Ivory Champagne mare. In the 1940’s, there was printed speculation that the “pink skinned palominos” might have different genetics than regular Palominos. Champagne is currently found primarily in Tennessee Walking Horses, Missouri Foxtrotters, American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses – also in crosses and related breeds (Appaloosa, Paint, Part-Arabians, etc.). Champagne is a simple dominant dilution GENE… dominant means that if a horse carries one copy of t
