Cream-diluted coats
Smoky cream
A smoky cream horse has very pale cream hair, pink skin and usually blue eyes. Its mane and tail may retain a slightly stronger tint. The horse’s original black color is strongly lightened.
Smoky cream: how the color works and is inherited
This coat combines a black base with two Cream variant copies in SLC45A2. One copy changes black little; two copies strongly lighten black pigment, including the mane and tail.
The horse receives one Cream copy from each parent and passes a Cream copy to every foal. Base color and the other parent’s variants also contribute to the foal’s coat.
Smoky cream: origins and the role of breeding
Cream coats come from a naturally occurring variant of SLC45A2. Ancient DNA shows that this variant existed almost 3,000 years ago, including in buckskin horses from Siberia. Identifying the genetic mechanism in 2003 explained a color that had already existed for a long time.
All three double-Cream coats follow the same natural inheritance. Breeders can select parents to obtain them without creating a new genetic variant.
Smoky cream: photographs of horses
A smoky cream mare that also has white patches.
The blue eye and pink skin of a smoky cream horse.
A smoky cream horse working at Covarrubias, Spain.
The same smoky cream horse rearing.
A smoky cream horse photographed during a demonstration.
A smoky cream horse’s very pale coat at Covarrubias.
Photograph credits
Photographs have been resized. Photographs within scientific figures have been separated by cropping. Colors are preserved.
- A smoky cream mare that also has white patches. — Ejnot · Public domain
- The blue eye and pink skin of a smoky cream horse. — Ejnot · CC BY-SA 3.0
- A smoky cream horse working at Covarrubias, Spain. — Fco. Javier Cid · Flickr
- The same smoky cream horse rearing. — Fco. Javier Cid · Flickr
- A smoky cream horse photographed during a demonstration. — Fco. Javier Cid · Flickr
- A smoky cream horse’s very pale coat at Covarrubias. — Fco. Javier Cid · Flickr
Smoky cream: telling similar coats apart
Cremello, perlino and smoky cream can have very similar shades. Their names mainly distinguish the chestnut, bay or black base lightened by two Cream copies.