Colours
There are more than 40 different coat colours and patterns. Some are solid, some are multi- coloured some are spotted, some are even mutated.
THE SOLIDS
Chestnut/Sorrel
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color.
Black
Must be completely black(aside from white markings).
Bay
characterized by a reddish brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Bay is one of the most common coat colors in many horse breeds.
Seal Brown
Seal brown is a hair coat colour of horses characterized by a near-black body color; with black points, the mane, tail and legs; but also reddish or tan areas around the eyes, muzzle, behind the elbow and in front of the stifle.
Dun
Yellowish or tan coat with primitive markings, sometimes called "dun factors": a darker-colored mane and tail, a dorsal stripe along the back and occasionally faint horizontal zebra striping on the upper legs and a possible transverse stripe across the withers.
Buckskin
a tan or gold colored coat with black points (mane, tail, and lower legs).
Cremello
creamy white coat color in horses; result of dilution of a yellow color. Like chestnuts cremellos are homozygous; heterozygotes are palominos.
Champagne
The most distinctive traits of horses with the champagne gene are the hazel eyes and pinkish, freckled skin, which are bright blue and bright pink at birth, respectively. The coat color is also affected: any hairs that would have been red are gold, and any hairs that would have been black are chocolate brown.
Grey
characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes.
Roan
a horse coat colour pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "Points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are mostly solid-colored.
Other
These are colours that generally are rare. They can only fit into their own category because they don't meet the criteria of the other colours in the equine world.
Paint/Pinto patterns
Tabiano
Tobiano traits generally include the following:
- White legs from the hocks and knees down
- White crossing the back between the withers and the dock of the tail
- White is arranged in a vertical pattern
- Facial markings are similar to those of a traditionally solid-colored horse. i.e. star, snip, strip, or blaze. Extreme white facial markings suggest the presence of additional color pattern genes beyond Tobiano
- White patches which are usually rounded or oval in shape, rather than jagged (see Overo)
- Dark color extending down the neck, giving the appearance of a shield
Overo
white-over-dark body markings in horses. Overos can be devastated with a gene called "lethal white". This occurs more often when two heterozygous frame overo are bred together.
Sabino.
belly spots, white above its hocks, a chin spot and wide white facial markings.
Appaloosa
have colorful spotted coat patterns, striped hooves, mottled skin and white sclera visible around the iris when the eye is in a normal position.
Equine colour genetics
The simplest genetic default color of all domesticated horses can be described as either "red" or "non-red", depending on whether a gene known as the "Extension" gene is present. Without the extension gene a red horse would be a standard chestnut. As well, a black horse would be just a standard black horse.
The three base colours are bay, black, and chestnut. There are dilution genes that act upon these colours, that change the pigment of the skin, eyes, and sometimes produce patterns and markings. The grey gene lightens the coat colour over the horses lifetime.
The three base colours are bay, black, and chestnut. There are dilution genes that act upon these colours, that change the pigment of the skin, eyes, and sometimes produce patterns and markings. The grey gene lightens the coat colour over the horses lifetime.