BZD Silvr Shado Dancer, a paint horse yearling owned by Fallbrook’s Valerie Jump, won all three of his classes at the June 25 horse show in Norco and also won grand champion halter honors for all breeds. But his success at shows is not what makes Dancer unique.

Dancer is the first paint horse ever to be confirmed by DNA testing as being silver dapple, a color not currently recognized by the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) but reflective of the silver dilute gene present in Dancer. Although he is registered as a black and white overo by the APHA, Jump is petitioning the APHA to recognize the silver black, silver bay, and silver dun colors.

"It’s a dominant gene, so he will reproduce it," Jump said.

Dancer’s dam, Silvr Salt, was foaled in South Dakota in April 1992. Jump purchased Silvr Salt, also called Sky, from Pat Jensen of Garretson, SD, in 2000 after seeing the availability of the pregnant 8-year-old horse on the Internet. "They were selling her really cheap," Jump said.

Jensen indicated to Jump that she was willing to sell Sky for such a low price because she often ran the herd away from the barn at night. "The mom was kind of wild. She wasn’t used to people," Jump said.

Jump shipped Sky to Fallbrook and broke her while she was pregnant. After Sky gave birth Jump sold the filly for the purchase price. That gave Jump a free mare. Jump rode Sky for three years and wanted another foal from her. She searched for a stallion and found Bug Zappers Design in New York.

The owner of Bug Zappers Design, from whom Dancer obtained the BZD in his full registered name, requested $600 to breed him. Jump reserved his services with a $150 deposit. Jump obtained the artificial insemination two and a half years later; by that time Bug Zappers Design had become a three-time all-around champion but Jump had locked in the initial $600 stud fee before that price escalated. Jump provided the rest of the money and the insemination was flown from New York to California.

The pregnancy took easily, but the normal 11-month gestation period lasted nearly 12 months. "My mare was late," Jump said.

Jump’s boyfriend is a general contractor and had a monitor installed in a room in their house so that they could watch for the delivery. Jump and her daughter, Brittany, took turns staying up to watch the monitor. The birth was filmed on tape when Dancer was foaled the night of March 25, 2005.

"When he was born he didn’t look normal," Jump said. "He had a colored tail."

Bug Zappers Design is registered as a black tobiano. Silvr Salt is registered as a sorrel overo. Jump called the owner of Bug Zappers Design, who told Jump that the foal’s mane and tail would turn black.

"As time went on that’s not what happened," Jump said.

Dancer’s tail developed a dark gray hue and his mane and tail turned white rather than black. Jump once again called the sire’s owner, who could not provide an explanation. Jump searched the Internet and came across the term "silver dapple." The explanation stated that black manes and tails turn white to silver with that dilute gene.

Dancer’s color even reflects purple in certain sunlights. "It’s an amazing color," Jump said.

Jump turned to the veterinary genetics laboratory of the University of California, Davis. Becky Ewalt-Evans conducted tests and notified Jump that Dancer’s coat color test results were consistent with a black frame overo horse without cream dilution. Ewalt-Evans noted that a genetically black horse with a phenotype of a brown body color and a flaxen mane and tail is consistent with the presence of the silver dilution gene.

The APHA still wanted to register Dancer as a chestnut or a chocolate palomino. "I had to send in many, many photos," Jump said.

Jump is a lifelong horse owner. She grew up in Sam’s Valley, OR, and her first horse was a mustang. Jump was nine when she broke that mustang. She moved to Fallbrook from Dana Point in 1998. "I wish I had been here longer," she said. "I did not do well in Orange County."

Jump, who moved to Fallbrook because of its resemblance to Oregon, rented before purchasing her property in the Santa Margarita area in 2001. She began building on that property in 2001.

Jump, who works full-time as an insurance investigator, is also a licensed American Rabbit Breeders Association judge but had not shown horses before Dancer was foaled. She had not even intended to show Dancer. "All I wanted was my trail horse. That’s all I was planning on doing," she said.

Dancer’s color and conformation convinced Jump to show him. His first competition was January 28 in Norco, and he won the grand champion stallion award. In February he was named grand champion at the Chino Hills show, and at a Norco show in March he was also named grand champion stallion. A La Mirada show saw him earn reserve champion, but both the reserve champion and the champion enter the grand champion halter competition for all breeds. When the champion acted up Dancer ended up as the grand champion halter.

Dancer was given a break between April 30 and June 20 and stayed with Jump before being shipped to Riverside trainer Dana Cole.

More than 80 horses competed at the June 25 show in Norco. Dancer won the yearling class from among seven horses, the color class from among 14 horses, and the light horse class from among 11 entrants. He also won grand champion halter.

"It’s been an experience," Jump said of showing a horse.

Owning a stallion is also new to Jump; her previous horses have been mares and geldings. "I’m getting used to it," she said.

Jump still owns Silvr Salt and plans to breed her to Bug Zappers Design for another foal. "It was a good cross. You don’t find that very often," she said.

Bug Zappers Design measures 16 hands, so Dancer is likely to become a tall horse himself. His more immediate future plans are contingent upon the APHA joining the Tennessee Walker registry in recognizing the silver dapple color.

"I just think it’s really cool that Fallbrook was lucky enough to have a horse like that born there," Jump said.