W13 is a dominant white gene that was first identified in a Quarter Horse x Peruvian Paso horse in the USA. But this guy – Sweetwater Picasso Painted Wild, born in 1983 in the USA and imported to Australia – was found to carry W13 too. Does W13 come from a common ancestor a very long time ago? Or did he independently develop the same W13 mutation, which is possible but (theoretically at least) extremely unlikely? We would love to know. Please please please contact us if you know of the same gene in Miniature Horses in the USA.
Unlike most W13 horses, Sweetwater Picasso Painted Wild was not completely white. In fact he has the least amount of white for any W13 horse we’ve seen so far.
Sweetwater Picasso Painted Wild passed on his W13 to some of his foals and it is now an established colour gene in Miniatures Horses here in Australia. Many thanks go to Schona Ball for bringing her W13 mare Mackawee to our attention!
