Chongtor Dun Bloodline

The Chongtor dun bloodline is the group of Chongtor horses with dun coats, recorded as a color line by the Chongtor Studbook Registry. Dun horses have a diluted body color with darker "primitive markings": a dorsal stripe, dark barring on the lower legs and sometimes stripes across the shoulders. The coloring is caused by variation in the TBX3 gene.^[1] Herders associate dun coats with hardiness and with the horses of the epics, but the registry notes that coat color has no known effect on performance. The best-known dun Chongtor is the stallion Almanbet.^[2]

References

1. ^ Imsland, F., et al. (2016). "Regulatory Mutations in TBX3 Disrupt Asymmetric Hair Pigmentation That Underlies Dun Camouflage Color in Horses." Nature Genetics, 48, pp. 152–158.
2. ^ Chongtor Studbook Registry (2023). Annual Register and Breed Standard.