Why test for roan?

Roan is a coat pattern where white hairs are mixed with coloured hairs over most of the body. It is different from grey in a few ways: roan horses are roan from their first foal shed, and unlike greys don't become progressively lighter as they age. The head and points are generally solid coloured without the even mixture of white hairs seen on the body, and in many cases roaning on the legs ends with a distinctive upside-down V on the front of the knees. Roan summer and winter coats can appear quite different from one another.

When roan horses get skin injuries on their bodies, the scarred area grows back in their base coat colour without roaning, leaving visible marks.

Our test for roan is only a "marker test", meaning we test for a DNA sequence variant that is present in most (but not all) roans. Horses can be roan but test negative for this marker. We will keep working to make a better test for roan, and let you know when any improvements are up and running.

Which breeds?

This roan test works well for most pony breeds.

This test does NOT work for the following QH roan bloodlines:

• Chips Blue Stock
• Royal Blue Boon
• VS Code Red

It does however work for horses with roan descended from Sir Cool Skippin.

This roan test is also NOT an indication of roan status for the following breeds:

• Thoroughbred
• Shetland Pony
• Belgian Heavy Horse