An attempt at tracing the origins of the Champagne color gene

The Palomino Horse magazine excerpt that Carolyn mailed me:

"Hanoverian Royal Creams are sometimes mentioned in connection with Palominos, although any close association is now doubtful. The Hanoverian Royal Creams were brought to England from Prussia by George I in 1714, but it is generally believed they originated in Spain. (Although John Lawrence, writing in 1809, says these animals 'may not improbably be of Persian origin'). Some say Prussian nobles received such horses for services in the Spanish army."

"Hanoverian Royal Creams were a coach breed, more buff or ivory than golden, with light but not white mane and tail. They had pink skins and eyes with white irises and red pupils, and often had coarse heads with Roman noses, so would not be admired by modern Palomino breeders."

"From 1724 to 1921, with few exceptions, these horses were always used on State occasions, such as the opening of Parliament. They were bred at the royal stables at Hampton Court. They dwindled in numbers until in 1921 the remaining Royal Creams were sold, and no longer used by British royalty. Most of the animals went to circuses, but a few were purchased by Sir Hugh Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, who is trying to preserve the strain."

Julia's notes from an older book called "America's Horses and Ponies", published in 1969.

Under "Color Breeds" they have "Albino", "Palomino", and "Buckskin".

Here is a quote Julia sent from the book:

"There is another kind of palomino, and although the PHBA does not register it, the PHA does. The difference between the two is that the second kind has a pink or yellow skin instead of black. The coat of the light-skinned palomino stays gold the year around, with the winter coat slightly darker, but the dark-skinned palomino's coat may turn cream or white in the winter, only regaining its golden sheen when the winter coat sheds out."

(My note: this is a very good differentiation of Gold Champagne from cream-gene-based Palomino)

Another quote from the same book, on the American Cream Draft: "To get the proper shade of cream each time, only horses with pink skins are used, for dark-skinned creams have changeable coat colors. The eyes are amber, an unusual color and a shade peculiar to the American Cream.  The young foal's eyes are almost white, but as the animal matures they gradually darken until a deep honey color is reached."

(Again, my note:  I have found this to be true of the ACDH's I have seen and heard about, and also -- of course -- of GOLD CHAMPAGNES.)

The Royal Office of Master of the Horse

by M. M. Reese
Threshold Books, London, 1976 (out of print) 

All graphics and information (not direct quotes) in this box are from that book.  Click on the thumbnail pictures to see the full sized ones.

	How Hanoverian Creams got to England in the 18th century; some horse color lore; and how they came from Spain to Hanover, as "Isabels", in the 15th century.
	The caption from the book says a lot.  Look closely to see the rumps continue all the way down the row of stalls.  They all matched, and they bred true to color.
	George III used this "Cream" as his personal charger when it turned out to be not strong enough* for coach work.  Note the amber color of the iris and the "swirled" pattern in the leg color, both common Champagne traits.
	"Pistachio", "a Cream stallion".  Photo taken at the Royal Mews (stables).
	What became of "the creams"?  Here is all we know so far.
	This event (with "eight creams") is described by Queen Victoria in her diary, which I found here: oops, sorry, that site has been redesigned and the link is now bad.  Please be patient while I repair these diary links.

 Wellington, Napoleon's British arch-enemy, from internet military-art-sales site, on a cream or gray.  Click to enlarge a bit.

An enlarged antique postcard, from http://www.eBay.com , I believe.  Click to enlarge.  I cut a lot of it off, but it's still pretty big.  Looks like the Napoleon toy figure is mounted on a Cream.  There is a patriotic quote written on it in French.

The Queen Mum's coach, from this book.

The coronation of George V, coach pulled by "creams", from a postcard, provided by Carolyn Shepard.  Click to enlarge.

Notice these interesting excerpts from the

Palomino Horse Association History

"The Palomino Horse Association is the Original Palomino Registry incorporated in 1936. Today's Palomino Horse Association is the continuation of the registry which officially began in California in 1935, when Dick Halliday registered the golden stallion El Rey de Los Reyes to begin the records of his envisioned true Palomino Breed.  Mr. Halliday researched the golden horses for many years. He started writing magazine articles that brought the Palomino into public attention. His articles created a great deal of interest in the Palomino, and within a few years, hundreds of breeders were specializing in the production of this color."

"The Palomino has come down through the pages of history. There are stories of the Golden Ones linked to the Crusades; the mail-clad Crusaders saw them on the battlefield when they fought the desert chiefs of Saladin who rode them. You will find stories about them among the Arabs and the Moors. During the days of the Crusades the Emir Saladin presented Richard-Coeur-de-Lion with two splendid war horses, one was a gray and the other a Golden Palomino. The place of origin of the Palomino probably never will be conclusively determined. Myths and legends of various countries shroud the beginnings of the golden horse which is no modern phenomenon. The golden horse with ivory-colored mane and tail appears in ancient tapestries and paintings of Europe and Asia, as well in Japenese and Chinese art of past centuries."

"Nowhere has the history of the Palomino been recorded, but most horsemen agree that all light bodied horses have descended from the Arab and the Barb."

"These splendid golden horses were favored by her Majesty Ysabella de-Bourbon, that beloved queen who pawned her jewels that the expenses of the expedition which discovered the New World might be paid. In the Remuda Real of Spain, Queen Ysabella kept a full hundred of these animals and as the chosen favorites of the crown, only the members of the royal family and the nobles of the household were permitted to ride them. A commoner might not even own one. It is recorded that Queen Ysabella sent a Palomino stallion and five mares to her Viceroy in New Spain, which is to say Mexico, to perpetuate the golden horse in the New World. From this nucleus, the blood spread into Texas plains, and from Texas it came to California."

(My note: the golden horses of Queen Isabella are said, in the "Master of the Horse" book, to be foundation stock of the Hanoverian Creams.  Today, the AFCCC, the French champagne horse registry, describes a dark pointed horse in their brochure as "Isabelle + champagne = ivory". )

The word "Palomino" is a Spanish surname. Many feel that Palomino is only a color and not a breed, which is true in that the color of Palomino comes in all breeds, but the Palomino of Spanish times, the Golden Dorado, was as close to being a breed as any strain of horse. The Dorado was of Arabic-Moorish-Spanish blood and breeding, closely akin to the Arabian and the Moorish Barb.  The Palomino of Spanish times was not bred by being crossed with sorrels. The Spanish had many shades of golden horses, and when they did use "Corral Breeding", a light color Palomino mare would be mated with a very dark-colored Palomino stallion. This point has been noted in an old book and printed in Barcelona in 1774."

(My note: this is the way one would expect GOLD CHAMPAGNES to be bred.  Cream-gene-based Palominos would produce cremellos and chestnuts if bred this way!)