Pedigree Query

Interesting case, albeit he was not included in the database of the book “Sires of American Thoroughbreds” published by The Blood Horse in 1968. But his sire Tamerlane (1952) appears registered, as well as his broodmare sire, Fairford (1934), as well as his second broodmare sire, Knight of the Garter (1921).

From the photo he doesn’t look buckskin yet he looks rare. His pedigree can be seen at both databases but he didn’t sire any Thoroughbred but appears as the sire of circa 170 products, mostly Holsteiner. Apparently his trace was zero among Thoroughbreds.

Let’s see what else appears.

http://www.pedigreequery.com/marlon
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/marlon

If he was foaled in the 1950s, would he have been registered as a buckskin? Most likely, he would have been registered as a bay, especially since the darkening color modifiers in TBs tend to make most buckskins look like light bays.

There are people who change horse colors on the All Breed DB because they assume that so-and-so was a particular color because a descendent is that color, even if the horse has been dead for half a century, there's no pictures of it, no definitive proof from its offspring that it was a particular color, and they never saw the horse themselves.

MARLON, 1958-1981 Br 164cm Thoroughbred. [210385058]. (IE). Was purchased to improve the Holsteiner studbook. At stud in Holstein, Germany 1965-1981. His immediate progeny were highly successful in all three sporthorse disciplines. 29 approved stallions. Has significantly influenced Holsteiner female lines. Sire: Tamerlane, Dam: Maralinni.

From Wikipedia, excerpt from the book "Stallions of the Century": Marlon xx (1958–1981) dark buckskin Thoroughbred, 164 cm (Tamerlane xx - Fairford xx - Knight of the Garter xx)
Bred in Ireland. Marlon xx sired horses that were structurally correct with great gaits, with tough, competitive characters and mental endurance. He was an especially good sire of Eventing horses, including Madrigal, who at the Montreal Olympics garnered an individual bronze medal and team silver medal. His grandsire Persian Gulf xx is half-brother to Precipitation xx, the sire of Furioso xx. His son Montevideo was a member of the gold medal dressage team at the1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Marlon xx was a very, very dark buckskin, and was known for producing palomino and buckskin offspring.[21] He left 43 States Premium mares among countless broodmares, and 21 approved sons including Dutch sire Kommandeur (formerly Manchester) and Danish model sire Martell.[22]


Check out www.gatewoodfarms.com. They have some fantastic info on the TB's bought to breed into the warmbloods to improve their books. Has the same photo of him as a the allbreed site though.

On their site also, check out Arcticonius...no way thats a standard brown horse!

The Holsteiners favorise black, black bay and brown colors, no chestnuts or maybe a handful. Marlon bred ONE chestnut mare and she had twice a Palomino foal. No need to say more. All others are dark as night mainly so the gene could have hidden underneath. There would be need to find some offspring to test them for the cream gene if they have golden muzzles or light flanks and eye areas

His face looks buckskin to me, just the shading of it does. Looks very similar to my buckskin mare. Most people mistake my mare for a brown or bay.

yes the head looks like a dark buckksin's head may look

Color,

I too noticed that there were two palomino foals out of the same chestnut mare. Have you considered that the mare was a dark palomino? So that cream came down from the female side?

no the mare was definitely a chestnut, there was no cream dilution in her breeding

color wrote:The Holsteiners favorise black, black bay and brown colors, no chestnuts or maybe a handful. Marlon bred ONE chestnut mare and she had twice a Palomino foal. No need to say more. All others are dark as night mainly so the gene could have hidden underneath. There would be need to find some offspring to test them for the cream gene if they have golden muzzles or light flanks and eye areas

Alas there seem to be no picture of that palomino-producing mare. Here is a key element that may help unfold the true genotype of this sire. Interesting topic. Why there was no apparent interest among Thoroughbred breeders like it happened with Milkie, etc.?

More on Marlon ---albeit, nothing on being a buckskin!
http://www.holsteiner.com/ImpulsionIssues/Fall2002.pdf
pages 6 and 7

Very nice article. The buckskin discussion only came up the past years when people knew more about horse color genetics and were questioning how a chestnut mare could have had diluted foals by Marlon several times.

color wrote:Very nice article. The buckskin discussion only came up the past years when people knew more about horse color genetics and were questioning how a chestnut mare could have had diluted foals by Marlon several times.

Seems to me like there are strong indicators suggesting his link with
a dilution coat color. Hmmm, would really like to explore more this angle.

Wish we could know how many dilutes he did produce. He looks like a seal brown buckskin.

summerhorse wrote:Wish we could know how many dilutes he did produce. He looks like a seal brown buckskin.

According to many sources, including the sport horse database and the all-breed database, Marlon sired the following dilutes.

out of Diane - (chestnut Holsteiner) Hetman x Gluecksperle
Haide F buck 1971
Ma Soleil F pal 1975
Martaloc C buck 1976

Out of Goldmarie (pal Warmblood) Notal x Hvezda:
Ontaria F pal 1977

Out of Ruth (Br. Holsteiner) Harras x Imposante (had 3 other foals by Marlon, all named Martell - 2 ch. 1 br; was also the dam of Hetman (by Heidekrug), sire of Diane, above)
Martell II - C pal 1968 Holsteiner - sired several palominos.