Although some horse colors are obvious from a glance, such as bay and brown, others are more difficult to discern. Since colors in horses are not easy to predict based on genetics, it is almost impossible to determine the color foal a stallion and mare will produce.
Horse Color Genetics
There are only two base colors for horses: black and red. All horses have a combination of black and red horse color genes, many of which are modified to produce variant colors. For example, horse with a black base gene and an agouti modifier will usually turn out bay.
However, it is not essential to understand horse color genetics to identify different color patterns, and even horse breeders do not necessarily worry about colors when establishing covers for their mares.
Common Horse Colors
Some horse colors are more common than others, and it is easier to understand color patterns in horses when the basics are first understood.
- True Black: Refers to a horse with black coat, mane and tail, none of which bleaches to brown during the summer. This is a very rare color.
- Bay: A brown horse with black points (mane, tail, tips of ears, bottoms of legs).
- Dun: Tan, gray or rose color with a black dorsal stripe from withers to dock of tail. The legs are always darker than the torso in a dun, which makes the horse color pattern easy to recognize.
- Roan: A horse with a solid color (red, black, gray) interspersed evenly with white hairs. There are several horse color patterns common to roans, including red and blue.
- Buckskin: Similar to a dun, but without the dorsal stripe, and with black points like the pay. This is an intriguing color pattern, and can vary in darkness throughout the coat.
- Palomino: The palomino color pattern is characterized by a golden coat (which may be dappled) with crème-colored main and tail.
- Grulla: The grulla color (pronounced grew-ya) is very rare, and is characterized by a black horse bearing a dun gene. The black color is usually muddled with darker points and zebra striping on the legs, along with a dorsal stripe from the dun gene.
- Chestnut: Reddish-brown horse with body the same color as the mane and tail. In rare cases, the mane and tail may be flaxen, but not crème.
These are the basic color patterns in horses, and riders will find that there is room for error. The AQHA definition for a horse color, for example, may be different from that of the Jockey Club.
Breed-Specific Colors
In some cases, horse colors are determined by the breed of the horse. Two notable examples of this are the paint (or pinto) and the appaloosa.
There are two types of color patterns present in paint horses. The first is tobiano, which refers to a horse with white legs and belly and with smooth ovals or circles of color (black, brown or red, in most cases) throughout the rest of the body. An overo paint, on the other hand, usually has dark legs and jagged splashes of color.
An easy way to remember the difference is to picture a can of paint dumped over the top of the horse, which results in an overo.
Appaloosas, on the other hand, are divided into much more diverse color patterns. The appaloosa coloring is characterized simply by spots of color. Leopard appaloosas have small, dark circles of color on a white coat, while blanket appaloosas have a "blanket" of spots over the haunches. These are the most common color patterns.
Shades of Gray
Finally, there are several color patterns for gray horses. Some riders believe that there is no such thing as a white horse, except for albinos, but this is not the case. There is no such thing as an albino horse; purely white horses with pink eyes and skin pigment are actually called cremellos, and this horse color pattern results from a double-diluted crème gene.
Gray color patterns include dapple gray (dark gray coat with splashes of light gray throughout); light gray (very pale gray with darker muzzle, ears, legs, mane and tail); fleabitten gray (light gray body with dark flecks throughout); steel gray (very dark grey with darker shading); and rose gray (light or medium gray with flecks of rose, usually with dark grey points).
These are most of the color patterns in horses, though there are variations and very rare colors not mentioned.
Laura Thompson - Laura Thompson is a horseback riding instructor and freelance writer living in Houston, Texas. She is proud to be the feature writer for ...
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