ebony TOV

[halfstache]

I was reading one of the other threads a while ago about mosaics and got to thinking about my own eventual goal of having extreme mosaics some day. Anyhow I'd heard that breeding a white to a black velvet, and then taking that offspring and pair it with an extra dark ebony would produce extreme mosaics.... The question I had though doesn't really have to do with breeding, otherwise I'd have posted in that section, but I was thinking it would eliminate a step by having an extra dark ebony TOV to pair with a white. So that brings me to my question, what does an ebony TOV look like in comparison to just a dark ebony? I've always kind of thought that velvets fur on top feels different than the rest of their fur, but maybe that's all just in my head.

 

[Riven]

TOV fur has a different look and feel IMO.

When thinking about breeding for "extreme mosaics" I guess the first thing ( in any breeding plan ) is quality. I don't personally see a lot of use for white ebonies, unless you're into ebs, and it seems that it's not the easiest getting nice ebonies. I've had a lot of "extremes" born here, one is a pink white male born to two parents no eb anywhere in the lines, he's now in breeding at Jim Ritterspach's... certain lines will give you more markings than others. My personal experience with the white ebs I did work with was that the white ebs tend to be more silver than "extreme". I don't know if this was just the lines I was working with, but I don't see a lot of benefit in my personal experience with using a TOV or ebony over a heavy marked white line and a really dark standard.

As for your actual question, unless it's a "homo" or extra dark ebony, you can tell the difference. A TOV eb can have a dark back, but will have a lighter belly. If you have an extra dark TOV, you may not know until you get offspring.