Sunshine is a dilution that can lighten the coat, mane, tail and eyes of horses. The research towards sunshine is still ongoing, and its effects on different coat colors is still unknown. One copy of sunshine has no effect. Horses with two copies are expected to show a lighter coat, with lighter skin and eyes. It is thought to be similar to pearl.
Colors
Currently, we only know that one copy of sunshine has no effect, and what sunshine + cream looks like. We don't know yet for sure what horses with two copies of the sunshine allele look like, but it would likely be similar to a double dilute or pearl horse. This section will be updated once we have more information.
Hannelore Roodhooft
Gene
Hannelore Roodhooft
Presence in horses
The sunshine dilution was only very recently (2019) discovered in a Standardbred x Tennessee Walking Horse called Captain Sunshine. The color was also named after this stallion. He appeared like a double dilute horse, but only tested CR/n. This led to further research. So far, sunshine has only been found in horses related to Captain Sunshine.
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