Sample genetic recipe: Cremello X bay; buckskin X any color; palomino X bay; black X bay (black parent needs to have a recessive cream gene).
Sample variations on color:
- Dusty buckskin: a dark shade of brownish yellow.
- Golden buckskin: a dark shade of gold.
- Silvery buckskin: the lightest shade of buckskin, so light as to look almost silvery.
- Sooty (or smutty) buckskin: dark shade of buckskin due to a sooty effect (see "Glossary").<
- Yellow buckskin: a medium shade of yellow; the "standard" buckskin color.
Grulla: This is a dun dilution of black or seal-brown hair that results in a slate-gray or mouse color. Look for a dark or black head, black primitive markings and dark eyes.
Sample genetic recipe: Grulla X any color; any dun X black; any dun X bay (if bay parent carries a recessive black gene).
Zebra dun: Horses are similar in body color to buckskin, but with primitive markings. They tend to be more of a tan shade than the lighter, clearer yellows of most buckskin horses. These are the most common group of linebacked duns (see "Glossary").
Sample genetic recipe: Zebra dun X any color.
Sample variations on color:
- Coyote dun: black shading over the withers, back and hips, resembling a coyote's coat; hence the name.
- Dusty dun: a rare beige body color that's nearly grulla but lacks that color's black or dark head.
- Golden dun: a deeper yellow shade.
- Peanut-butter dun: tan body color in a peanut-butter hue.
- Silvery dun: the palest shade of zebra dun.
Non-Black-Point Colors
Just as you can identify certain base colors via the existence of points, you can visually segregate the following by their lack of black points.
Champagne: This is a recent term for a dilution gene that affects hair and skin pigment. It causes red hair to go gold and black hair to become chocolate-colored. So while your horse may genetically carry the black factor, the champagne gene turns it to brown! (To help you visualize this effect, picture a chocolate Labrador Retriever versus a black Lab.) As a point of identification, keep in mind that the champagne gene always results in lightened skin that lacks black, and in amber-colored eyes (which can darken almost to brown with age).
Sample genetic recipe: Champagne or any champagne variation color X any color.
Sample variations on color:
- Gold champagne (genetically chestnut): golden-yellow body and legs; red/gold or white mane and tail. For years, these were called--and registered as--light-skinned palominos. Particularly light-colored horses in this shade can resemble cremellos, but the amber eyes tell the true story.
- Amber champagne (genetically bay): gold body; chocolate mane, tail and legs.
- Champagne (genetically black): khaki-colored body that can have almost greenish highlights; mane, tail and legs are chocolate. A strain in the Tennessee Walking Horse breed is famous for this color.
Chestnut/sorrel (see "Sorrel Versus Chestnut," below): Reddish or copper-reddish body and legs are representative of the red factor. Mane and tail can be the same color, flaxen or almost black; dark eyes. In North America, chestnuts/sorrels are generally named by body shade only, ignoring mane and tail color. The exception is "flaxen chestnuts."
Sample genetic recipe: Any color X any color (except cream colors).
Sample variations on color:
- Dark (or liver) chestnut: a liver- or chocolate-brown body, mane, tail and legs. Shades can vary within this subgroup and are sometimes referred to as "dark liver chestnut" and "light liver chestnut."
- Flaxen chestnut: a chestnut body with a flaxen mane and tail.
- Light chestnut: also called "sandy chestnut"--a sand-colored body, mane, tail and legs.
- Red chestnut: copper-penny-colored or redder body, mane, tail and legs.
Cream or cremello: This double dilution of chestnut/sorrel results in a color so light as to be almost white. In many cases the coat is described as ivory; mane and tail are white or nearly so; skin is pale pink; eyes are always blue.
Sample genetic recipe: Palomino X palomino; palomino X buckskin; buckskin X buckskin; black X palomino; black X buckskin; black X black (in each case, black parents must have a hidden cream gene).
Sample variations on color:
- Perlino: same as cremello, except that small amounts of color (cream or coffee-colored) are retained in the mane, tail and lower leg. (Perlino is a double dilution of bay.)
- Smoky cream or smoky perlino: same as perlino, except that even more pigment is retained in mane, tail, lower legs and (in many cases) on the body.
Red dun: A dominant dilution gene results in tan to reddish-brown to yellow-colored horses that could be confused with chestnuts except for the presence of primitive markings (most commonly a dorsal stripe, or "lineback," hence the general term "lineback duns") and dark points. However, they lack the black points of a buckskin, grulla or zebra dun--a key point of differentiation. Mane, tail and legs can be darker than the body color; dark eyes.
