The Drabardi Donkey

Body markings

The Drabardi donkey has two main categories of white pattering; spotted and roan. There are two varieties of spotted and three of roan, plus one special 'combination pattern' caused by an interaction between spotted + roan.

Roan Roan in the Drabardi donkey is quite different from roan in horses. The head is not darker, and the legs are white. Roan evenly distributes white hairs throughout the base coat, covering all parts of the body, head, legs, mane and tail. Left: Medium roaned donkey (nRn) Right: Maximum roaned donkey (RnRn)

Above: Minimum roaned donkey (nRn)

Dappled Roan In this variation of roan the face/legs remain light but the body is marked with "reverse" dapples, i.e. dark spots on a light background. They resemble an inversed version of the dapples seen in horses, which are light spots on a darker background (note that normal horse dapples do not occur in the Drabardi donkey). The homozygous (dominant) dappled donkey is often paler on the body than a heterozygous dappled. Dapple roaned donkey (nDRn)

Frosted Roan This type of roaning is usually called Frosting or Frosted Roan. It progressively whitens the body over time (similar to ageing grey in horses) and can eventually produce white donkeys with dark skin and eyes (see maximum to the right, only [FRnFRn] donkeys). In some cases patches of color will still remain amongst the roaning (see minimum and medium below). Left: Minimum roaned donkey (nFRn) Right: Medium roaned donkey (nFRn)

Above: Maximum roaned donkey (FRnFRn)

Spotted Frosted Roan This pattern is produced by an interaction between spotted and frosted roan. Roaning will appear and intensify with age just like a normal frosted, but it will only show in the patches or areas where you would normally see white caused by spotted. Drabardis with this pattern can throw both spotted and frosted roan foals. Left: heterozygous donkey (nSFRn) Right: homozygous donkey (SFRnSFRn)