Champagne coats
Amber champagne
An amber champagne horse has golden to tan hair on its trunk and neck. Its mane, tail and lower legs are brown rather than black. Skin develops dark freckles and eyes are often amber.
Amber champagne: how the color works and is inherited
Amber champagne is Champagne on a bay base. The SLC36A1 variant lightens reddish body pigment toward gold and black mane and tail pigment toward brown.
One Champagne copy is sufficient. The foal also needs the variants producing a bay base to be amber rather than gold or classic champagne.
Amber champagne: origins and the role of breeding
Champagne comes from a naturally occurring SLC36A1 variant whose role was identified in 2008. That is the date of the scientific discovery, rather than the birth of the first champagne horse: the variant’s original appearance has not been dated. The same variant is inherited in several breeds, including Tennessee Walking Horses and Quarter Horses.
Amber and gold champagne share the same Champagne variant. Their difference comes from the bay or chestnut base inherited alongside the other coat-color variants.
Amber champagne: photographs of horses
An amber champagne with brown mane and golden coat.
An amber champagne foal grazing with adult horses.
A young amber champagne with a golden-tan coat.
An amber champagne foal with large white patches.
Tombstone Justice’s amber eye and freckled skin.
Tombstone Justice, an amber champagne pinto in motion.
Photograph credits
Photographs have been resized. Photographs within scientific figures have been separated by cropping. Colors are preserved.
- An amber champagne with brown mane and golden coat. — Cook D, Brooks S, Bellone R, Bailey E. · CC BY-SA 3.0
- An amber champagne foal grazing with adult horses. — Kumana @ Wild Equines · CC BY 2.0
- A young amber champagne with a golden-tan coat. — Kumana @ Wild Equines · CC BY 2.0
- An amber champagne foal with large white patches. — Kumana @ Wild Equines · CC BY 2.0
- Tombstone Justice’s amber eye and freckled skin. — Carrot Mama · CC BY-ND 2.0
- Tombstone Justice, an amber champagne pinto in motion. — Carrot Mama · CC BY-ND 2.0
Amber champagne: telling similar coats apart
Buckskin usually keeps a black mane and tail, whereas amber champagne has brown points. Freckled skin and amber eyes also help identify Champagne’s effect.