Appearance
Also known as Somatic, occlusion allows fully or partially hiding any other traits except other non-heritable traits. If a gene has been fully occluded then it is essentially "hidden" and does not show at all, while still remaining in the genotype and can pass to offspring.
You are free to chose which genes are occluded, and to which degree. Multiple genes can be occluded at the same time, including the extension gene (EE, Ee, ee), which means a chestnut (ee) can have black spots, a black (Ee or EE) can have chestnut spots, and different bay variations can have occluded red pigment resulting in black areas, or occluded black pigment resulting in chestnut areas.
Essentially, occlusion only turns off genes (fully or partially), it doesn't turn on genes that aren't already present.
Occluded areas will behave as if the gene was not there at all, for example a cremello which has blue eyes and light hooves/horns will have brown eyes and dark hooves/horn where the cream was occluded.
Occlusion can not change how a trait behaves:
- If occlusion hides for example a white marking in an area, the affected areas will simply have no white present at all. Horns, hooves, mane, or tail can not be lightened where it is absent.
- Any trait that is still present and not occluded will still behave normally, including affecting the hooves, mane, and tail as it usually would.
In other words, occlusion can remove or reduce the trait's presence, but it cannot "turn off" the trait's existing effects.
