registration details of all 2,431 horses registered with the british palomino 
 society were collected for the period 19832007 inclusive . of these animals , a further 207 animals were 
 removed from the analysis as the true coat colour described for one or more parents was 
 impossible to identify from the colour supplied . a further 39 animals ( shaded in grey in 
 table 1table 1.colour combinations which have produced a registered palomino in the society 
 within the last 25 years ) were removed from the analysis since parents with these combinations of 
 details can not produce palomino offspring ( e.g. chestnut  chestnut ) . however animals where 
 there was ambiguity regarding the exact colouration ( e.g. grey which could be represented by 
 one or more recognised coat colour ) , were kept in the analysis , provided they could be 
 explained by one of the possible sources of palomino offspring listed in . details 
 of the animal s name and the coat colour of both parents were collated . throughout the year the society hold shows varying from small county shows to a large 
 annual national championship . many classes at local shows may only have one or two horses 
 exhibited . to ensure that the results were comparing like with like , the data analysed 
 focused entirely on the british palomino national championship show , where each class 
 generally has more animals exhibited than would be the case in local shows . at this show there are two major categories ( ridden and in - hand ) with in - hand classes placing more 
 emphasis on colouration of horses ( 80% of available marks ) . since the national championship 
 has the greatest number of exhibitors and the emphasis on colour is greatest for in - hand 
 classes , the investigation into show success was restricted to animals placed in the in - hand 
 classes at the national championships in the following nine categories : under 148 cm 
 stallion , mare , yearling , 2 & 3 year old ; over 148 cm stallion , mare , yearling , 2 & 
 3 year old and geldings 4 years and over . registration details for all animals placed ( i.e. top four prizes ) in 
 any of these classes were consulted from the database . in the first instance , this analysis 
 took no account of which prize an animal won and also took no account of how many times an 
 animal won a prize ( e.g. in consecutive years ) . it also meant that any animal which had been 
 placed but did not fall into the group of 801 ( e.g. one of the 1,630 animals where both 
 parents could not be identified ) were not included in the analysis of prize winners . the 
 relative distribution of parental coat colours between all 801 animals registered and the 90 
 which had been placed at shows was calculated . analysis was performed to compare relative values of parental coat colour 
 between those animals registered with the society , and those placed at the national show . 
 those combinations for which the expected value was less than 5 were treated as a single 
 group in analysis , meaning that five groups were used : chestnut  cremello ; chestnut  dun ; 
 chestnut  palomino ; palomino  palomino ; and all others . due to certain factors having expected values which were low , this analysis was repeated 
 using fisher s exact probability test . table 1 shows that the largest number of 
 registered palominos in this work , where the coat colour of both parents could be 
 identified , came from a chestnut  cremello mating , which is the only parental cross which 
 guarantees a palomino offspring . since 356 of the animals ( i.e. 44% ) in this study were this 
 type of cross , these data are supportive of the hypothesis that a large proportion of 
 palominos registered with the society were intentionally bred for their colouring . table 2table 2.colour combinations which have produced a prize - winning palomino at the society s 
 show within the last 25 years shows that the largest number of the palominos placed at least once at the 
 national championships also came from a chestnut  cremello mating . hence of the 90 
 ( following removal of 1 animal shaded in grey ) animals placed during this time , 60 ( i.e. 
 67% ) resulted from the only mating type guaranteed to give palomino offspring . both tables show that a large number of animals either registered with the society or 
 placed at the national championship are the result of a chestnut  cremello mating . moreover , the percentage of horses resulting from a chestnut  cremello mating is higher for 
 animals placed at the show than it is for the list of animals registered . given this 
 observation a  calculation was performed to determine if the number of chestnut 
  cremello animals which were placed at the national championship was significantly higher 
 than the figure based on that expected from registration details . since the expected number 
 of some parental combinations was low ( i.e. less than 5 ) the only pair - wise combinations 
 which could be used to derive an expected value were : chestnut  cremello ; chestnut  dun ; 
 chestnut  palomino ; and palomino  palomino . all other combinations where an animal had 
 been registered with the society ( e.g. bay  palomino ) were treated as a single expected 
 value . this resulted in the two datasets being different ( p=2.8  10 ) with 
 proportionally more of the chestnut  cremello matings being successfully exhibited relative 
 to those registered . when the analysis was repeated using fisher s exact probability test to 
 compensate for the fact that certain expected values were low , this also suggested that the 
 differences between the populations was significantly different ( p=4.5  
 10 ) . it is also interesting to note from table 2 
 that every single animal which was placed at the show over the last 25 years whose parents 
 coat colours could be identified had at least one parent which was a palomino , a chestnut or 
 a cremello , and 77 of the 90 had both parents falling into one of these colourings . when the analysis was restricted to only those horses which won first prize in a particular 
 class at the national championships , only 35 horses could be identified where the 
 colouration of both parents had been recorded ( table 
 3table 3.colour combinations which have produced a palomino which won first prize in its 
 class at the society s show within the last 25 years ) . of these animals 22 ( 63% ) the 
 remaining animals were chestnut  bay ( 4 ) ; palomino  palomino ( 3 ) ; chestnut  palomino ( 2 ) 
 and 1 each of black  palomino , chestnut  dun , chestnut  skewbald and cremello  grey . thus the values for considering chestnut  cremello animals winning first prize versus those 
 for any of the four places , are relatively similar ( 67% versus 63% ) . the second category investigated was one which extended beyond the national championship , 
 and looked at a points scheme , whereby horses are awarded a certain number of points every 
 time that they are placed at any show at which points are available . here analysis was 
 restricted to horses which finished in the top eight for their cumulative score for any 
 particular year . this allowed only 22 horses to be studied where the colouration of both 
 parents could be identified . of these horses , 13 ( 59% ) were the product of a chestnut  
 cremello mating with the remaining horses being palomino  palomino ( 5 ) ; chestnut  palomino 
 ( 2 ) ; and cremello  bay ( 2 ) . however , interestingly of the 7 horses which won the annual 
 points scheme ( with one of the horses winning it in two consecutive years ) , only one horse 
 ( a chestnut  palomino ) was not the result of a chestnut  cremello mating . this work is constrained by some potential limitations in terms of conclusions which may be 
 drawn . for example , judging of animals always has a degree of human subjectivity associated 
 with it . moreover , many animals which are registered with the society may never be 
 exhibited . hence it is possible that some of the animals which could have been prize - winning 
 stock were not given the opportunity to fulfil their potential . in addition , due to 
 restricted information being provided to the society by owners at the time of registration , 
 only around a third of horses registered with the society met the criteria regarding 
 parental information needed for inclusion in these analyses . despite these possible 
 limitations , one observation is very interesting , that the showing success achieved by the 
 only possible parental combination which guarantees a palomino foal is disproportionally 
 larger than that seen for registration of foals with the society . this is true for all 
 definitions of success investigated : horses winning any prize at the national championship ; 
 horses winning first prize at the national championship ; horses which finished in the top 8 
 of the annual points scheme ; and horses which won the annual point scheme . the reasons for this are uncertain , as there are a range of shades which are acceptable for 
 society membership and a range of parental combinations which can achieve a palomino 
 offspring . this is 
 true for both the initial inspection at the time of society registration , and also for 
 horses being exhibited at shows . part of the reason for this is that the colour of the horse 
 can vary ( e.g. bleaching of hair colour following periods in the sun ) . however , it appears that the possible 
 shade , or shades , of coat colour resulting from chestnut  cremello matings are also those 
 which are most likely to appeal to judges at shows . this in turn poses an additional 
 question ; has the society s ideal colour definition been influenced in favour of matings 
 which are most likely ( or even guaranteed ) to produce a palomino foal ?
although various combinations of parental coat colours can produce a palomino foal , 
 examination of records of the british palomino society suggest that many animals 
 registered with the society resulted from matings which maximise the likelihood or even 
 guarantee a palomino foal . 
 when show records were examined , it was clear that the 
 colouration preferred by judges corresponds to that of the only pair - wise parental 
 combination guaranteeing a palomino foal .