White horses - one ancestor. Facinating.

**ChrisH** · 07-21-2008, 05:14 AM

Why every white horse can trace its roots back to just one ancestor thousands of years ago

**Karen** · 07-21-2008, 06:07 PM

How interesting! And they come in so many sizes and shapes now ...

**Suki Wingy** · 07-22-2008, 04:16 PM

I was so confused when I saw the picture in the article of a GREY horse, but then I read on true white is very rare.

**IRescue452** · 07-22-2008, 05:25 PM

There are a few exceptions. Horses can also be born white, but more often than not this leads to megacolon and death due to what is commonly known as lethal white foal syndrome. White foals can survive if they only carry one copy of the lethal gene. That is your rare white horse. Albinism is also a different mutation from that mentioned in the article and albino horses cannot be traced back to a similar ancestor so easily.