Splashed white

Blue eyes are a hallmark of the pattern, and splash may account for otherwise "solid" blue-eyed horses.

Splashed white occurs in a variety of geographically divergent breeds, from Morgans in North America to Kathiawari horses in India.

Discreetly marked splashed whites are responsible for some families of cropout American Quarter Horses.

[7] Both patterns can be present on the same horse, but splashed white markings are crisp and blocky, and horizontally distributed.

In particular, the face markings of splashed whites are straight-edged and bottom heavy, whereas those of sabinos are often tapering or feathered, and often vertical in orientation.

[4][5] In the Gypsy horse, the pattern called "blagdon" is described as "a solid colour with white "splashed" up from underneath.

"[9] Potential health concerns involving splashed white are deafness and, for some rare variants, embryonic viability.

In white-coated cats and dogs with deafness, an absence of melanocytes in the inner ear leads to death of the hair cells, which are necessary for perceiving sound.

[5][12] The splashed white pattern was first studied in Finnish Drafts and Welsh ponies by Klemola in 1933.

His splashed white appears to be describing only the more extensive form of the pattern seen when two copies of SW1 are present.

Originally believed to be very rare outside of Europe, splash is turning out to be more common than previously thought, possibly due to the pattern's tendency to masquerade as modest markings.

For example, minimally marked splashed whites have been responsible for cropouts among American Quarter Horses.

In addition to breeds identified as carrying the SW1, -2 or -3 alleles, color patterns described as splashed white but not yet verified via genetic testing have also been identified in American Saddlebreds, Shire horse, Clydesdales, and the Irish Tinker or Gypsy horse.

[5] The genetic mechanisms behind certain traits, such as blue eyes in a few Arabian horses with otherwise minimal markings, have yet to be identified, though there is speculation that splash genes could be involved.

[2][4][18] Another allele of splash informally called "Macchiato" has only been found in a single Franche-Montagne horse, probably a spontaneous mutation, and that individual was sterile.