Breeding colorful horses, especially with various white markings, seems to breed good business without raising significant health concerns, according to Swiss researchers.

Representing the primary breed of the Swiss national stud, 974 Franche-Montagne horses were evaluated for the effects of their colors and white markings on their health and marketability. Breeders and buyers were also interviewed to better understand the commercial importance of these criteria, according to Muriel Federici, DVM, MSc, a researcher and equine clinician practicing in Switzerland and France, and primary author of the study.

What Federici found was that the two top purchasing points for most buyers (non-professional riders) were disposition and healthiness. Color was of less importance, although the presence of white markings clearly made the horses more attractive to the buyers, she said.

The study also revealed that the basic color and the white markings had no effect on the presence or severity of sarcoids, sweet itch, mycosis, summer warts (papillomavirus), or abnormalities of the hooves or flexor tendons, Federici said. However, pastern dermatitis ("scratches") did appear twice as often in horses with white legs