This message is from: "ruth bushnell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This message is from: Jean Ernest In looking up the pedigrees of all the white duns in the NFHR I noticed that every one of them traced back (to two) >>>>>Also very interesting is the increasing popularity of the white and yellow duns....
Just a comment on the changing ideas. Jean THAT IS A VERY interesting connection for color you point out, and an astute observationon trends from a longtime Fjord person, thanks Jean.>>>I am not a color genetics evolutionary expert, Jamie's the pro in that department, but as a "population genetics" scholar I believe it is a very good thing that we have white Fjords down to this day, same as the inherited Njal mark. Both inheritable occurences are visual marker indications for the authenticity of having two original lineage bloodlines remaining in the breed. There are no doubt more, but none we can identify without DNA mapping. Maintaining original bloodlines on down through the Fjord genome is vital toward preserving genetic purity, and avoiding genetic drift. It would be a great loss if the breed no longer had the white marker, or the Njal marker, because that would mean that both of those particular bloodlines were gone from the gene pool, never to be recaptured, and all the wonderful other characteristics that went along with them. By the same token, if either of those markers became overly prevalent, that would indicate they were crowding out other unidentifiable bloodlines, through artificial selection. (diminished genetic diversity) Since we don't yet have DNA mapping in the Fjord genome, we are fortunate to have at least two visual markers for bloodlines that we can observe. Yes, interesting stuff, Jean. Ruthie, nw mt US The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
