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Karen Dodge from Pittsfield, New Hampshire was awarded the NHHC 2011 Horseperson of the Year award during a ceremony at the Farm & Forest Expo on Friday evening February 3, 2012. Karen, a life-long horsewoman, lives, works and owns Chinquapin Hill Farm, in Pittsfield, New Hampshire. The farm is a boarding, breeding and training facility where the manure is conscientiously composted for recycling on the beautiful flower gardens planted and tended by Karen herself. Extra compost is distributed to local landscapers and gardeners. Chinquapin Hill clients range in age from five to over sixty-five. Disciplines include, but are not limited to: driving, pleasure showing, ranch skills, recreational riding, hunters, trail and dressage! As a result of this variety, Karen has versatile horses and happy clients from all over the country. A recreational rider or nationally recognized competitor both gain skills and confidence with Karen’s personal and special gentle “hands on” approach to learning.

Karen has always been an active rider and horse trainer in the Appaloosa Horse Club (APHC) and New Hampshire Quarter Horse Associations (NHQHA). She often volunteers her time with these Associations, hosting clinics at her farm and other venues. She is a long time NHQHA Platinum sponsor. Promoting the interest of youngsters interested in equines is very special to Karen. Karen also gives of her time and effort to a wide range of other types of horse events in New Hampshire; breed and open shows, fairs, clinics and recreational rides. And she also strongly encourages her students and clients to volunteer at events and shows as a way of “giving back” too. She has for many years been a contributor of WLNH Children’s Auction. Even in these difficult economic times, Karen does her part to support the equine industry in New Hampshire.

Over the years, Karen has held numerous positions on Boards and Committees at the State and Regional level. She is an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Professional Horseperson, and is involved in the show rules/regulations committee and monitors fair and humane treatment of horses at nationally sanctioned shows. Each year she volunteers her time, working with APHC and AQHA at the Massachusetts Equine Affair in November.

Karen works to maintain a good rapport with other industry professionals both locally and across the country. She encourages her students of all ages to “try everything”. She trains her horses to be versatile; taking pleasure show horses to ride on the beach, go on a trail ride, compete at a dressage schooling show, and even participate in a cow-working clinic! She invites other instructors to her farm for special sessions and continues to take lessons herself, updating her own informational base.

With Karen horses come first. She is “there” for the horse that needs extra attention at whatever time the horse may need it. Karen is the one who will be up all night with a mare and her new foal or a sick horse. In sub zero temperatures she will be out in the barn adding an extra blanket or extra shavings to the stalls. Often in mid-summer, Karen will drive at night to keep the horses cool while traveling to a show. Karen is that selfless person “behind the scenes” for so many other people’s personal success stories. As clients progress with their interest and skills, she travels with them to regional, national and world shows, where she has coached many successful rides. Recently a senior client who had been off horses for a year was patiently encouraged to ride after hip replacement. Karen is the trainer that makes the un-rideable Mustang able to trail ride with its owner. She is the teacher that empowers a student too scared to get back on her horse after a serious leg injury, not only to ride again, but to show and win many high point awards. Karen’s upbeat “can do” attitude and patience motivates an over fifty “mom” to go from the sidelines to riding and winning AQHA All Around High Point Award in two years!

Karen lives the life and the passion of horses! Her selfless devotion during a lifetime of work and accomplishments are the undeniable reasons for her being chosen as the 2012 NHHC Horseperson of the Year!

In the spring of 2001, The Appaloosa Project was begun with a two-part goal. The first was to discover the genetic mechanisms underlying appaloosa spotting (also referred to as leopard complex spotting) and associated traits. The second goal was to share this information in a manner that would help those folks that could apply the science we discovered—the breeders. To this aim we have developed an electronic classroom where subscribers can ask questions. These questions often guide us to create additional educational material. Recently we prepared a three part video series answering the questions we are most frequently asked. These videos were broadcast at Equitana in New Zealand and later shared with breeders on the Web. The Appaloosa Horse Club has asked us to translate these videos into written material for their subscribers. This article is the first in a series of three short articles we have written to explore these questions. Each gives detailed but easily understood answers.

Here are the questions the three articles will address:

1. “How can two loudly patterned Appaloosas produce a solid, non-characteristic horse?”

2. “How can two loudly patterned Appaloosas end up producing a foal with very little coat pattern such as just a few white flecks on its rump?”

3. “How is night blindness related to Appaloosa coat patterns?”

Before we begin to discuss the first question, we need to explain the way that we use the terms “Appaloosa” vs. “appaloosa.” When this word is capitalized, we are referring to the breed of horse known as the Appaloosa. When we use the same word without capitalizing (appaloosa) we are referring to leopard complex spotting. Since “leopard complex spotting” isn’t a familiar term to most breeders, we find that using “appaloosa” works better, even though this type of spotting occurs in other breeds besides the Appaloosa.

In this article we plan to address the first question represented in Figure 1—how can this mating produce a solid non-characteristic horse? The answer is in the genes. But we’re not talking about jeans you wear. Instead, we’re talking about genes—those that are inherited. A gene is best defined as a discrete unit of heredity. It is a piece of DNA that codes for a trait and is passed on from both the mother and the father to their offspring. This is represented in Figure 2.

A gene. DNA is the cell’s genetic material which folds tightly to form structures called chromosomes. Shown here is a single chromosome with one section that is unfolded and has been zoomed in on and highlighted in green to represent a gene.

The gene that most Appaloosa breeders are interested in is the LP gene. Also referred to as “the appaloosa gene,” LP stands for “leopard complex spotting.” Gene names are often presented as symbols and italicized. The LP gene is the one that determines if a horse will inherit one of the appaloosa coat patterns, and it controls whether or not any appaloosa characteristics are visible. Breeders and enthusiasts know that Appaloosas can have a wide variety of coat patterns, from horses with just a few white flecks on the rump, all the way up to an animal that is almost completely white. Sometimes these animals will have pigmented spots in the white areas, and sometimes not.


Figure 3: Appaloosa coat patterns. These patterns can range from horses that have white covering most of the body to horses with just a few white flecks on the rump, as illustrated in all three panels below. The bottom panel represents those horses displaying minimal white patterning known as “white flecks on rump.” Additionally, white patterned areas can have pigmented spots (middle panel) while others do not (top panel). All of these patterns are inherited by the LP gene.

In addition to the coat pattern the LP gene is also responsible for other pigmentation traits that breeders refer to as “characteristics.” Also known as “LP-associated traits,” these include striped hooves, white sclera, mottled skin, and varnish roan patterning, as seen in Figure 4. Sometimes horses are born with striped hooves, mottling, and white sclera but no obvious coat pattern. These horses will develop varnish roaning with age, though the amount varies from one horse to the next.

Figure 4: LP characteristics. (From top to bottom) Striped hooves appear as bands of unpigmented material on a pigmented hoof. Readily visible white sclera. Mottling is pink skin with spots of pigment occurring around the anus, genitalia, eyes and muzzle. Varnish roan patterning occurs when horses progressively lose pigment in the hair throughout the coat but retain pigment in the bony surfaces of the body. Areas of retained pigment on the hips, face, etc. are known as varnish marks.

As mentioned, it is the LP gene that is responsible for both the coat patterns and characteristics. Whether or not a horse has these traits depends on which version of LP the horse inherits. Thus the LP gene comes in two forms, or as called by geneticists “alleles.” One form is said to be dominant and we symbolize this allele with capital letters—LP. The other form is the recessive, which we symbolize with lower case letters—lp (See Figure 5a and 5b).


Figure 5: The LP gene comes in two forms. As in Figure 2 we see our gene being represented on a chromosome, additionally here we see the two forms of the LP gene. Alternative forms of a gene are called alleles and here are represented by different colors. The dominant form (LP) is represented in green DNA whereas the recessive form (lp) is represented in purple DNA.

Alleles, or alternative forms of genes, have different functions. In the case of LP, the dominant version (shown in green in Figure 5) allows for the presence of appaloosa spotting and associated characteristics, while the recessive allele (shown in purple in Figure 5) does not. Horses have two alleles for every gene—one that they inherit from their sire and one they inherit from their dam. Thus, there are three possible genotypes (or genetic makeup) with regard to the LP gene. A horse can inherit two dominant forms of LP (one from its sire and one from its dam) resulting in the genotype LP/LP, also known as homozygous dominant as each allele is the same (homo meaning same, so two of the same form of the gene). A horse can inherit two recessive versions of the gene, resulting in the genotype lp/lp, and be homozygous recessive. Finally, a horse can inherit one version of each form, giving the genotype LP/lp, which is termed heterozygous (hetero meaning different). The LP form is said to be dominant over the lp form because if both are present, the instruction to be appaloosa spotted and have characteristics is dominant over the instructions to be solid without characteristics.

Figure 6: The LP gene is an incompletely dominant gene. The left horse is homozygous for the LP mutation (“fully on”) and has few to no pigment spots in the white area. The horse in the middle is heterozygous (“partially on”) for the LP mutation and has pigmented spots in the white patterned area. The horse on the right (“fully off”) is homozygous for the recessive form.

To complicate things a bit further, LP is actually incompletely dominant, which means that the three possible genotypes each have a different appearance. Homozygotes (two of the same allele) can look different than heterozygotes (two different alleles). To think about it a bit differently, when a horse is homozygous for the LP mutation (genotype LP/LP) they only have the instructions to be appaloosa spotted—consider this to be the “fully on” state. Horses with this genotype have few to no spots of pigment in their white areas, Horses that are heterozygous for the LP mutation have one allele giving instructions to allow for appaloosa spotting and another allele giving instructions for being solid—think about this being the state in which the combined instructions are “partially on.” This results in a horse with pigmented spots in their white patterned areas. Horses with the genotype lp/lp are homozygous recessive, so they only have the instructions to be fully pigmented and thus will be solid and non-characteristic—their instructions are “fully off” for appaloosa spotting. Now that we understand the basics of LP as a gene, we can return to our original question—how can two loudly patterned Appaloosas produce a foal that is what we call a “true solid?” This is a horse with no Appaloosa traits and no coat pattern that remains normally pigmented for its entire life. Since both parents described have pigmented spots in their white patterned areas we know that each parent is heterozygous for LP, meaning they each have one copy of the form of the gene that has the directions to be appaloosa spotted (LP) and one copy of the directions to be solid non-characteristic (lp). So in this case the sire can produce sperm with the recessive version (represented as a solid black sperm in figure 7) and sperm that carry the dominant allele (represented as the leopard spotted sperm in Figure 7). The same is true for the dam—she can produce eggs with lp or eggs with LP.

Figure 7: Mating between two heterozygous Appaloosas (LP/lp). The sire and the dam of this cross are both heterozygous for LP, thus the sire can produce two types of sperm, one carrying the LP allele (leopard spotted sperm) and the other one having the lp allele (solid black sperm). Likewise, the dam can produce two types of eggs, either with LP, or with lp.

When this type of cross results in offspring that are solid and non-characteristic, as shown in Figure 8, it is because both the sire and the dam have contributed the recessive allele. At the moment of conception, a “true solid” foal will be formed, when a sperm with the recessive form of the LP gene fertilizes the egg that happens to also contain the recessive form of LP. The resulting foal will have two recessive copies of the LP gene, one from each parent, and be normally pigmented with no appaloosa traits or coat patterning. Our hope is that this example has helped you to understand a little more about the genetics of LP. Next month we will tackle trying to explain a little bit more of what we know about the genetics of the variation in the patterns when we answer the question, “How can two loudly patterned Appaloosas produce an offspring with only a few white flecks on his rump?”

Figure 8: A true solid offspring resulting from crossing two horses heterozygous for LP. In this example cross the horse inherited the recessive form of LP from both its sire and its dam. This type of cross has a 1:4 chance of producing a solid non-characteristic offspring every time the cross is made.

George B. Hatley, past executive secretary of the Appaloosa Horse Club and one of the breed’s most tireless supporters, died September 16 (2011) in Moscow, Idaho, of causes related to age. He was 87. He was widely known in the horse world as “Mr. Appaloosa” for his efforts to preserve and promote the Appaloosa horse, and is a member of the Appaloosa Hall of Fame.

Hatley was born July 18, 1924, to Ray and Neva Dole Hatley on the Hatley ranch south of Pullman, Washington. He attended elementary school at the Irene country school near Union Flat Creek, riding horseback to the schoolhouse. He was exposed to Appaloosas and stories about them at a young age. A great uncle had fought in the Nez Perce War of 1877, and a smattering of area farmers, cowboys, and native Americans still possessed the occasional Appaloosa.

In 1936 Hatley’s family moved to a farm west of Moscow, near the present location of the Appaloosa Horse Club. He graduated from Moscow High School in 1942. He acquired an Appaloosa stallion, Toby II, during this period, and after reading an article about Appaloosas in an issue of “Western Horseman,” joined the newly created Appaloosa Horse Club as member No. 45.

Hatley worked on the construction of Farragut Naval Training Station and later took basic Navy training there. After discharge from the Navy , he met ApHC founder Claude Thompson, who soon appointed him to be his assistant. Hatley took the reins as executive secretary in 1947, the same year he married Iola Golden. He attended the University of Idaho on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1950 with a bachelor of science degree in animal husbandry. The couple’s son, Craig, was born in 1955.

Hatley worked as executive secretary of the Appaloosa Horse Club for 31 years, the early ones without pay. He started the association’s magazine, “Appaloosa News” (now “Appaloosa Journal”), published its first studbooks, implemented the first National Appaloosa Show and Sale (held in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1948 and 1949), and started the Appaloosa Museum. He wrote hundreds of articles and several books, including “Horse Camping,” a classic now in its third printing.

He was instrumental in development of the Chief Joseph Appaloosa Trail Ride, and rode the 1,300-mile route of the Nez Perce War Trail twice. He also completed the 100-mile, one-day Western States Trail Ride, or Tevis Cup, across the Sierra Nevada. Hatley enjoyed horse racing and had two winning lines come from his breeding program. The Appaloosa racing stallion Double Patch won 22 races, and another stallion, Apache Double, won 18 races and went on to become an all-time leading sire.

He was a longtime cattleman who also enjoyed driving horses and collecting horse-drawn vehicles. He made his Deary, Idaho, ranch available for Pony Club, dressage and combined training, 4-H trail rides, and driving events. The Apalousey Trail Ride and Dutch Oven Dinner, a benefit for the Appaloosa Museum, has been held there the past 14 years.

Hatley received numerous honors throughout his life, including membership in the Idaho Hall of Fame and a showcasing in “Sports Illustrated.” In 2004, the United States Pony Clubs designated Hatley a legend for his efforts on behalf of USPC.

He greatly prized an honor presented to him during a Lewiston Roundup by the Nez Perce tribe, where he was presented with a pair of beaded buckskin gauntlet gloves and a Pendleton blanket.

Hatley is survived by his widow Iola at their Moscow home, along with son Craig and daughter-in-law Cheri Hatley in Deary, plus grandchildren Justin Hatley and Danielle Hatley Pierson (Derek), and a sister, Veletta Frink. He was preceded in death by his parents and by a sister, Berneda Hamilton.

Details of a memorial service are pending. Burial of ashes will be at the Hatley Cemetery south of Pullman. Hatley left an epitaph for his gravestone, which is to read, “He has returned to the hills he loved as a boy, and will be a part of them forever.”

Memorial contributions may be made to the Appaloosa Museum, 2720 West Pullman Road, Moscow, ID 83843, and the Hatley Cemetery, P.O. Box 1035, Pullman, WA 99163.

NOTE: A memorial service will be held in Moscow at the University of Idaho Administration Auditorium at 2:00 pm on Saturday, Oct 15th. A reception will follow at the University Inn Best Western at 4:00 pm.