What Color Was That Horse?
There are a total of 39 genes in horses which can appear in many combinations. These genes are responsible for each individual horse's characteristics, including the color of its coat. A grey gene will dominate over black, bay and chestnut, bay dominates black and chestnut is recessive to all other colors. A foal from one grey parent and one bay parent will be grey due to the dominant gene. A bay crossed to a chestnut results in bay progeny. But that foal will produce sex cells, half containing bay genes and half containing chestnut genes. A mating of two such horses could produce a chestnut if two chestnut genes were united, thus producing a chestnut offspring. As a result, horses of chestnut coloring must posses two chestnut genes in each cell, and the mating of any two chestnut will always produce a chestnut foal.
Foals will not always have a constant color as they age. For example, a Lipizzan is born black, and matures to white. A doubtful case is decided by the color of the hair on the foal's muzzle. In describing horses, coat color is included in identification, along with white markings on the body and other natural or acquired markings.
Horses of more than one color are called "part-colors" in Europe, and Pintos or paints in America. They are distinguished in having two coat colors. Horses with patches of more than two colors are called odd-colored, and the colors may merge. A horse with white as its basic color is referred to as a Tobiano. Tobianos of the southwestern United States are believed to possess the more dominant gene. Either type may have dark or blue eyes.
Acquired markings which are included in identification of individual horses are usually brands, though saddle and girth marks also are used and they appear as white hair. A positive identification can be made of animals which are branded. These brands usually comprise of a herd or stud mark and often they contain a number of that animal within a herd. Another form of positive identification is the freeze mark. These are used as a precaution against theft and animals bearing them can be easily identified by the number.
Areas of white hair on the face and legs comprise the most common form of natural markings, however "flesh marks" will also occur on the underside of the belly, flanks, and so on. Typical facial markings are a star, stripe, white muzzle, white lips, blaze, or interrupted stripe. A horse with white hairs covering the forehead and front of the face, extending laterally towards the muzzle is referred to as "bald-faced." A bald-face marking may encompass the muzzle and lower ear. There are three main types of leg markings. A white coronet with black markings on it is referred to as "ermine." White coloring anywhere up to the knee is called a sock, and over the knee, a stocking.
Some horses have zebra bar markings on the leg, which are a primitive camouflage. These are found in the ancient breeds such as the Norwegian Fjord and Highland Pony. A dorsal eel-stripe is another primitive marking and it is usually in conjunction with dun coloring. The dorsal eel-stripe occurs in such breeds as the Tarpan and the Mongolian Wild Horse. There are variations in hoof color which are also incorporated in identification purposes. Hooves can be blue or black, and may be vertically striped, or they may be light colored or white.
Following is a basic general description of horse colors. There will be further discussion about each group of colors later.
Grey
Black skin with a mixture of white and black hairs. "Grays are usually born dark brown or black. White hairs begin to appear as the animals become older and they may eventually become almost pure white. Some grays breed true and others have mixed color heredity. In the latter case, gray to gray matins produce about three-fourths gray foals and about one-fourth other colors." (Simpson 73)
Fleabitten
Brown flecks of hair on an otherwise grey coat.
Dapple Grey
Dark grey hairs form distinct rings on a grey base.
White
"Very pale color or absence of any pigment in the hairs of the coat is designated white, but in reality there are several quite distinct sorts of white in horses and the different whites do not behave in the same way in color heredity in breeding. Many whites are simply old grays, in which the white hairs increasing with age (as they do in most men) have practically replaced the black hairs with which these horses are born. horses that are born very pale or white are called albinos by most breeders and may now even be officially registered as such. In the strictest technical sense, there are probable no true albino horses. An albino in this technical usage is an animal that is by heredity unable to produce any pgiment whatever in hair, skin, or eyes and that cannot pass on to its offspring the ability to produce pigment. As far as known, all 'ablino' horses have some pigment or have a factor for pigment that can be passed on to offspring. Three distinct sorts of 'albino' or pseudo- ablino horses, called 'Albino A, B, or W,' have been definitely identified and others are possible. 'Albino A' has the body ivory, mane pure white, eyes blue ('glass'), and skin pink. 'Albino B,' apparently very rare, has the mane buff, slightly darker than the body. 'Albino W' has pure white hair and pink skin, but usually has brown eyes. 'A' and 'B' breed true, and 'W' tends to do so but does occasionally produced colored foals. Extreme roaning or extreme white spotting (see below) may also produce horses that are mainly or nearly white. White stockings, blaze, or spots are not, as many horsemen have thought, 'the beginnings of albinism.' They are separate hereditary characters entirely distinct from white color of the coat as a whole."" (Simpson 72-73)
Palomino
Gold Coat, white mane and tail, and a minimum of black. "Palominos have flaxen or silvery manes and tails combined with golden coats, varying from tich reddish or bronze to pale yellow or dark cream, resembling the lighter shades fo chestnut or sorrel, ranging into diluted sorrel. An old Spanish name for these color combinations is ysabella or isabel. Palominos at present do not breed true for color, introducing a problem that will be discussed further along in this chapter." (Simpson 71-72)
Cream
"Very pale diluted sorrel or yellow color may best be called cream or cremello, although some consider it an extremely pale palomino or ysabella and others classify it as the extreme of dun. The color may be nearly white and called pseudo-albino or albino ('Albino A,' see
'white,' ... ), although it is not true albino. The color usually breeds true." (Simpson 72)
Chestnut
Various shades of gold from pale gold to a rich, red gold. "Chestnut horses are shades of flat brown, red brown, or golden, without the black points of bay. Dark shades are liver chestnut. Lighter red or golden shades are usually called sorrel. Chestnuts usually breed true, that is, mating chestnut to chestnut almost always produces a chestnut foal." (Simpson 71)
Liver Chestnut
The darkest of the permissible chestnut shades.
Bay
Reddish coat with a black mane and tail and points. "Bay horses have black mane, tail, and (usually) stockings. The main coat color presents shades of brown, red brown, or tan, varying from dark (mahogany bay), sometimes difficult to tell from brown as defined above, through medium red shades (blood bay) to pale (sandy bay). Bay is generally considered a basic color, but in a sense it is a pattern, since it may differ from shades of chestnut only in the presences of the black points. Bay can be fixed so that it breeds true, but some bays have mixed color heredity and can produce chestnuts or other colors." (Simpson 71)
Brown
Mixed black and brown in the coat, black limbs, mane and tail. "In horses, 'brown' does not cover the same range as in common speech. It applies to horses that are black or nearly so, except for lighter areas around the muzzle and eyes and on the legs. In breeding, brown is a rather tricky and unpredictable color. It is not always correctly distinguished from black, and true brown usually acts in breeding as if it were dark bay or dark chestnut." (Simpson 71)
Black
Black pigment throughout with an occasional white mark. "This means true black as ground color throughout, although white blaze and stockings may occur. Black breeds true, but black to black matings occasionally produce a bay foal, suggesting that there may be two kinds of black horses as regards their heredity." (Simpson 71)
Roan
"Roan is not a base color but an effect produced by a rather uniform sprinkling of white hairs mixed with other colors. Blue roans are roaned blacks, usually with some red or yellow hairs in addition to black and white. Red roan is roaned bay, and strawberry roan is roaned chestnut or sorrel. In breeding, roan acts like a gray; some breed true and some produce about one-fourth unroaned foals." (Simpson 73)
Strawberry Roan
Chestnut body color with a percentage of white hair.
Blue Roan
Black or brown body color with white hairs interspersed.
Dun
Yellow, blue or mouse, in tone, dependent on diffusion of the pigment. "Strictly speaking, dun is a dull grayish or yellowish color, the the name may be applied to a diluted or smoky effect on any of the basic colors. Usage differs somewhat, but dun in horses usually also implies the pressence of a black stripe down the back, often with other black points or stripes across the withers or on the legs, on a washed-out base color. Many descriptive names are somewhat unsystematically applied to variations: mouse dun, coyote dun, buckskin dun, et cetera. From the breeding point of view, more than one type of color is involved in dun. Most duns do not breed true." (Simpson 72)
Pinto
"Pinto is becoming the preferred name for a variety of spotted patterns of white and any other color, which have also been given a number of other names: paint, calico, pied, piebald, skebald, parti-colored, et cetera. Piebald strictly means spotted white and black and skewbald white and any other color but black. The Pinto Horse Society rejects these names and distinguishes overo and tobiano, names borrowed from the Argentine. On overos, the white spreads irregularly upward from the belly, the base color is frequently roaned, back, mane, and tail are usually dark, the legs seldom all white, and the face is commonly bald. On tobianos, the white spreads down from the back, its borders are usually clean-cut, mane and tail may be white spotted or white, white stockings are usual, and the head is colored but may have a blaze. In heredity, there seems to be several types of pintos but these are not very well worked out at present. Some breed true but others may not." (Simpson 73)
Spotted
Often referred to as Appaloosa coloring. "This [appaloosa] is also a spotted pattern, sometimes included under pinto but apparently distinct. The usual character is a white patch over the hips and loin with scattered dark spots. The skin itself is particolored and the hoofs are striped. Other details are extremely variable." (Simpson 73-74)
Skewbald
A British term for large patches of white on another base color.
Piebald
Another British term, referring to usually irregular, large patches of white and black.
Intense Colors. These have an abundance of pigment and darkness to the hide. This group includes bay, black, brown, grey, and dun. An intense color can withstand more abuse from the trapping of man, as harness and saddles, than any of the lesser colors. The only real objection to intense colors is that some pigment patterns are inclined to absorb heat and refract and absorb light. Thus they tend to fade some from intense heat and excessive secretions from the sweat glands. The saline content of a horse's sweat glands dries the outside shaft of the hair wall, which causes fine crack in the hair. These cracks run parallel with the shaft and are detectable only by the best microscopic lens. The cracks allow the sweat to enter the shaft, and thus allow the sweat to cause dullness to the pigmentation. This occurs in the colors black, brown and dark bay, and is often observed in summertime and in hot climates. Color fading caused by saddles, harness, and other man-made contraptions comes from sweat and pressure. This is often referred to as "sunburn."
Self Colors. Since they are recessive to all intense colors, self colors generally will not produce intense colors when bred back to each other. Lighter self colors, when bred to each other, tend to produce a certain percentage of dilutes. There is a certain degree of ruggedness and resistance in the hair and hide of these self colors when compared with intense color from which each is derived. Chestnuts, sorrels, and buckskin are all self colors.
For more information on coat color genetics, visit:
Published February 1998 in North West Breyer Horse Club Newsletter (em)
© 1997-2019 NW Breyer Horse Club
& Refiner of Gold Creations
Equinealities in place since 1997, Section in place 2001, Updated 1/27/2019
