Few Spot

Appearance

Foals		Foals are usually born with their few spot pattern. Their spots may become more apparent with age, while other remaining color can fade. Foals can already show mottled skin, striped hooves and white sclera.

Few spot horses have a (nearly) fully white coat filled with only a small number or no spots. They may retain some color on the flanks, neck, and head, which may fade as they age. Horses have mottled skin, striped hooves and white sclera.		Adults

Genetics

Few spot is the result of two copies of the LP allele, with two copies of PATN1 or other modifying alleles. LP is a dominant allele of the LP gene.

Some horses only test positive for LP, without any PATN1, yet they have a few spo pattern. There are likely (many) other alleles that affect how spotted patterns are expressed we haven't identified yet.

Few spot:
LP/LP
LP/LP + PATN1/patn1
LP/LP + PATN1/PATN1

Articles

1. Bellone RR, Holl H, Setaluri V, Devi S, Maddodi N, Archer S, Sandmeyer L, Ludwig A, Foerster D, Pruvost M, Reissmann M, Bortfeldt R, Adelson DL, Lim SL, Nelson J, Haase B, Engensteiner M, Leeb T, Forsyth G, Mienaltowski MJ, Mahadevan P, Hofreiter M, Paijmans JL, Gonzalez-Fortes G, Grahn B, Brooks SA; Evidence for a retroviral insertion in TRPM1 as the cause of congenital stationary night blindness and leopard complex spotting in the horse; PLoS One (2013); Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078280
2. McFadden A, Vierra M, Martin K, Brooks SA, Everts RE, Lafayette C; Spotting the Pattern: A Review on White Coat Color in the Domestic Horse ; Animals (2024); Doi: 10.3390/ani14030451
3. Terry RB, Archer S, Brooks S, Bernoco D, Bailey E; Assignment of the appaloosa coat colour gene (LP) to equine chromosome 1; Animal Genetics (2004); Doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2004.01113.x

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