tiger eye

I had noticed that several of our Paso Fino horses have very interesting eyes. Distinctly amber or lighter.

Here is a picture of Zara (AuSome Zarzuela by Don Cristobal Mako out of La Tentacion Mako), taken by Yvonne in December 2010:

The next photo shows Guajira (AuSome Guajira by Don Cristobal Mako out of Guanatanamera de la Raza). She was with us to be started under saddle a few years ago, when Yvonne took this picture. Guajira is now in NZ.

We have couple of other mares with similar eyes. It has always struck me as unusual and interesting. By coincidence (I was flogging google for other information), I came across an article about "Tiger eye" on a NZ website. It describes how "A researcher in the US has received a grant to study the genetics of "tiger eye" in Paso Fino horses". Quite interesting.

It is mentioned that tiger eye has a recessive pattern of inheritance. I have too small a sample of horses to draw any useful conclusions in that respect, but my observations agree with this this. Zara's sire Cali had dark eyes, so did her dam. Her full sister also has normal eyes. Two halfs sister out of another mare, however, have the tiger eye, and you can also see it in their dam. Some eyes are not as obviously yellow, but rather more like a dark amber, but close up, it is still pretty distinct.

I will see if I can find more photos with interesting eyes.

no more Cali kids

Yesterday I heard of the loss of a great little horse. It made me sad. Only a day before, we had gone out riding on three of the Cali kids.



Cali was a brown Paso Fino stallion who came to Australia in about 2000. He was registered with the Paso Fino Horse Association (USA) as Don Cristobal Mako. He was the stallion chosen by my friend Jorge de Moya to be part of the foundation of the first Paso Fino stud in Australia.

I spent much time with Cali when I ran Jorge's stud. Cali was a wilful, opinionated brown horse, and he wasn't always the easiest horse to handle. There was something about his personality though which I liked. Although I was fond of calling him a "little brown shit" and "the CRAB" (and a few other less polite things), I actually had a pretty good relationship with him. So I started riding him.

He was a handful under saddle as well, especially in the beginning, and we had a few adventures. But I really enjoyed the rides and he grew on me even more.

I was in the lucky position to have some good mares so I used the opportunity to breed them to Cali. And now, years later, we have sold a lot of horses and yet somehow have kept some of the Cali kids. They proved to be pretty easy to start. Both his purebreds back at Jorge's stud while I was still there, as well as the crossbred ones I bred.

 

Photo by Greg Lehey

It was only a few days ago, when we enjoyed three of the Cali kids out on a ride. Left to right: Carola (visitor from Austria) on Bluey, myself on Carlos and Yvonne on Carlotta. I mentioned yet again how it was funny that we were finally taking out a bunch of Cali kids and how great they were. We often joke how much they remind us of Cali, with a certain head toss, a look or a set of three wrinkles around the nostril to show disdain. Also of course, their beautiful gait.

Yes, it was pretty sad to hear that Cali is no longer around.

I am so fortunate. I have a purebred Paso Fino son and daugher of his as well as some really good crossbreds. The colt and the mares are now integral part of my Paso breeding program. And in that way, the opinionated little brown horse lives on.