Silver dapple gene makes horse’s mane and tail turn grey or even white, while legs remain black. This gene affects only on black colour, so it can be well hidden in chestnut horses (flaxen is not silver) and pop out suddenly when a chestnut and black or bay horse are bred and produce a black or bay foal. This colour was registered mistakenly for a long time, so there is no certainty how common this colour has been before. With modern gene testing technology and knowledge about horse genetics, silver dapple bays and blacks can be produced systematically if desired. Pony-sized finnhorse breeding section seems to be the strongest one with registered silver gene carriers, but as said, in a mostly chestnut population it can still pop out somewhere unexpectedly. (Source)
List of silver gene carrying horse families (Johannan suomenhevossivut)
Ahonkukka, photo wikimedia commons
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