Download Rabicano revealed

Rabicano revealed
By Irene Stamatelakys
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
While this test may work with birds, it doesn’t always apply to horses. Although your horse
may look roan or sabino, and be registered roan or overo, it may actually be something
entirely, genetically, different—a rabicano.
Rooted in the Spanish language, rabicano is a combination of two words: rabo or tail and
cano or white.
Translated by early-day Western horsemen as “cane-tailed,” it was subsequently
Americanized into “coon-tailed.” And, to this day, coon-tailed is the term most often
associated with the pattern.
Another unique aspect of the pattern is a white “ticking” or “ribbing” effect that is oftentimes
apparent on the barrel of the horse.
Like many horse people, Thea Vanderway had never heard of rabicano before she actually
saw her first one.
“I was looking at purchasing a mare that had the characteristics of a roan but didn’t quite look
like a roan. She had some flecking, but she wasn’t a true roan,” said Vanderway, who owns
Sagebrush Paints in Kuna, Idaho, with her mother Shelly Paulsen. “That’s when I did some
research and discovered rabicano.
” While it’s not a Paint “pattern” like tobiano or frame overo, it is strikingly beautiful. And in
some cases, more “extreme” rabicanos display enough white hair over unpigmented skin that
qualifies them for the Regular Registry.
Vanderway eventually purchased a rabicano mare, and this year, she had her first rabicano
colt, One Bad Hombre, by Barlnk Macho Too and out of Ladys Obvious Tribute. Registered
as a chestnut overo, “Newt” actually expresses both the sabino and rabicano phenotypes.
His dam, Ladys Obvious Tribute, is a rabicano, as was her Quarter Horse dam.
“[Rabicano] is very hard to find in Paints,” Vanderway said. “I have looked and looked and
very few are true rabicanos.”
Characteristics
In terms of color genetics, rabicano is a pattern of white hairs occurring on a base color,
putting it in the same category as gray, roan and frosty. Also known as white ticking, this
uncommon roaning pattern is generally found on the barrel, flank and the base of the tail,
featuring scattered white hairs over a darker base coat.
Rabicanos are easily confused with true roans and sabinos, but they do differ. First, let’s look
at the specific traits that make it easier to identify real rabicanos.
White hairs interspersed with the horse’s base color at the flank is a prime rabicano
characteristic. This roaning or flecking can extend forward over the barrel, and the white
hairs may clump together to form vertical stripes. In some cases, roaning can be seen on the
chest, between the front legs, over the withers, on the buttocks and between the hind legs.
Another characteristic rabicano feature is the cane tail, also called the coon, skunk or squaw
tail. In some cases, the white hairs growing in the tailhead and tail itself are mainly on the
sides of the tail—hence the term skunk tail. In others, they are clumped in horizontal bands,
and with a bit of imagination you have a raccoon’s tail. This trait can range from minimal—
with just a few white hairs—to extensive.
Rabicanos have frequently been misregistered as roans. Perhaps the most famous example
of this was the AQHA Hall of Fame stallion Go Man Go, a chestnut rabicano registered as a
red roan. True roans usually have a more extensive and uniform sprinkling of white hairs
throughout the body, except for the head, mane, tail and lower legs. In rabicanos, those
white hairs are concentrated in the midsection and the tail area. True roans also do not have
white striping.
Differentiating between sabinos and rabicanos can be tricky because they both exhibit
interspersed white hairs on the midsection. It helps to recall that the sabino pattern is
characterized by white patches with irregular borders on the face, lower legs and belly, as
well as the roaning (see “The Science of Sabino” in the August 2007 issue of the Paint Horse
Journal). Of course, a horse could be both—sabino and rabicano.
Expression of the rabicano pattern ranges from minimal—with just a scattering of a few white
hairs—to extensive, where the bands of white striping blend together with underlying
unpigmented skin. It is believed that the rabicano pattern can occur on any color, although
those familiar with the pattern say that it seems to be most prominent or expressed
extensively in chestnuts and sorrels. However, this could simply reflect the fact that those
colors are most prevalent in the stock horse breeds.
With practice, it becomes easier to spot a rabicano, except when the expression is minimal
or when there are multiple white patterns. In those cases, the rabicano characteristics could
easily go unnoticed or be covered by other white patches.
One example of a horse clearly expressing two patterns is FWF Ima Docr Pepper, owned by
Tracy Darby of South Lyon, Michigan. This mare is undoubtedly a bay tobiano, but look
closely and you’ll see faint white striping on her barrel and white hairs interspersed with the
bay on much of her midsection. However, since she has a white patch around her tailhead,
the coon or cane tail is difficult to see.
Rabicano Paints
Certain Paint bloodlines tend to produce more rabicanos than others. Like the tobiano gene,
rabicano is believed to be a dominant trait. This means that approximately 50 percent of the
offspring of a horse with one rabicano gene will inherit that trait.
According to equine historian and author Frank Holmes, many of the rabicanos found in the
stock horse breeds trace back to one influential broodmare.
“You can trace that whole rabicano line in the Paints to Santa Maria,” he said. “Santa Maria,
a 1938 Quarter Horse by Plaudit, was an original coon tail, classic, gorgeous rabicano.”
Santa Maria was bred by the Philmont Ranch of Cimarron, New Mexico, and later purchased
by Hank Wiescamp who made her into a legendary broodmare, producer of 11 foals.
Wiescamp’s 1960 stallion, Skip 3 Bar AQHA, a grandson of Santa Maria, is perhaps one of
the most memorable early rabicanos from his breeding program. Registered as a red roan,
this AQHA Champion and Superior halter horse was actually a chestnut rabicano.
He and other Wiescamp-bred horses have had an enormous impact on all three stock horse
breeds, and their popularity has increased the infusion of the rabicano pattern into the Paint
Horse breed.
According to Holmes, one of the most prolific sires of Paint rabicanos was Silent Print, whose
final owner was John Vargo of Salem, Oregon. By Skippa Company AQHA and out of Skippa
Season AQHA, the 1983 chestnut overo stallion won a reserve national championship in
halter before siring 135 foals, who earned more than 10,000 APHA points.
“He’s probably more of a sabino,” said Holmes, “but he absolutely is a rabicano and sired
tons of rabicanos.”
One such example is his son Surenuff Silent, a 1996 sorrel overo rabicano stallion owned by
Ivor and Wendy Bradshaw of Rollover Ranch in La Sal, Utah. And he’s continuing the family
tradition of passing on the rabicano pattern to his offspring.
“In the nine years of breeding Surenuff Silent we have had 50 percent rabicano,” said
Wendy. “We have had rabicano markings on sorrels, chestnuts, palominos, red roans and
red duns. We find that breeding rabicano to rabicano sometimes enhances the amount of
white.”
Bradshaw says that they’ve had so many rabicanos that she sometimes forgets most people
are unfamiliar with them. They find themselves repeatedly explaining the pattern to their
potential customers who are seeing a rabicano for the first time.
“They’re flashy, and of course these are good conformation horses too,” said Bradshaw.
Another example is Silent Print’s daughter Silent Emotions, a 1989 mare registered as red
roan. But more than likely, she’s a sorrel sabino/rabicano combination, as evidenced by her
high stockings and wild roaning.
Surenuff Skip was a 1984 chestnut overo by Surenuffskippa AQHA and out of Ida Mae Skip
AQHA. A rabicano with Santa Maria on both sides of his pedigree, the stallion was an APHA
Champion with Superiors in halter and Western pleasure.
Tracing back to Santa Maria on the topside of his pedigree, there’s Skipa Heathen, a 1990
sorrel stallion by Sullivans Heathen and out of Skip A Mita AQHA. He’s a combination
rabicano/wild sabino that has had a major impact on the breed. A world champion himself
with Superiors in halter, Western pleasure and hunter under saddle, two-thirds of his 274
foals have earned more than 16,000 APHA points.
But the rabicano pattern is not limited to those Paints with Wiescamp bloodlines. There are
some that seem to pop out of the blue, either because the pattern had been misidentified in
the past or previous generations were minimal rabicanos.
Julia Lord of Liberty, Indiana, never expected a rabicano when she bred Ever Beautiful, a
2006 black overo mare. Her sire, Poison Whiskey, a palomino tovero, is most likely the
source of her rabicano pattern. He has a typical palomino white tail and carries three
patterns—splash overo, frame overo and sabino—so he has a great deal of white that masks
the rabicano characteristics. Of his 37 registered foals, Lord’s is the first known rabicano.
Another case in point is Miss Big Time Fancy, a 2006 chestnut sabino/rabicano by R Big
Time Fancy and out of Plain Proud JC. According to owner Nicole Dalton of Waddell,
Arizona, the rabicano trait comes from her paternal granddam, Sweet Celebration, a sorrel
cropout rabicano mare.
Crossing Tribute To Sierra with Obessions Empress resulted in a two-time world champion
halter mare—My Lady Di. The 2005 sorrel rabicano mare was bred by Double C Acres of
Morganton, North Carolina. Interestingly enough, none of the mare’s three full siblings are
rabicano.
Our final example is R Spiten Image, a 1984 extreme rabicano/sabino sorrel mare by Sonny
Sides Image and out of Tiger’s Sugarita, an extreme rabicano/sabino cropout. Registered as
a red roan, R Spiten Image won world and reserve national champion titles in 1986 while she
was owned by Gregg Reisinger of Eldora, Iowa. She in turn passed on the trait to her
daughter, R Spiten Teddy, also registered as a red roan overo.
Searching for rabicano
Although rabicanos can be found in nearly every modern horse breed, they are rare. But
because no thorough studies have been done, we have no idea just how rare they are. There
is hope, however, that geneticists may soon begin searching for the gene or genes that
cause the rabicano pattern.
Cecilia Penedo, PhD, of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California–
Davis is currently working on the roan gene. Penedo says she may extend her research to
rabicano if she can find families segregating for rabicano.
Until a genetic test becomes available, breeders will have to rely on visual identification and
pedigree analysis to identify rabicano Paints.
Correctly classified or not, rabicanos have had a significant impact on the Paint Horse breed
throughout the association’s history, through their successes in the show ring and as
influential sires and dams.
“As it applies to Paint Horse genetics,” Holmes said, “the rabicano pattern is not a particularly
widespread one. This fact notwithstanding, it is an extremely attractive and interesting
pattern.
“Standing alone or paired up with any and all of the other Paint patterns, the rabicano
variation is both an important tool that breeders can use to increase color production and an
added hue to the unique color palette that the breed enjoys.”