Understanding coat colors

Two chestnut-based parents produce a chestnut-based foal, while two bay horses can also have a chestnut foal. Extension explains this difference. Other genes can then change the coat color you see.

A bay has a brown body with black mane, tail and lower legs. A black horse has black pigment over its body too. Agouti helps explain that distribution.

Cream can turn chestnut into palomino and bay into buckskin. With two copies, the coat becomes much paler. The inherited base still matters.

A horse can carry Pearl without looking dilute. Two Pearl copies, or a Pearl copy paired with Cream, can change the coat substantially.

Dun changes how pigment is distributed within colored hairs. A dark stripe along the back is a useful clue, but a stripe on its own does not prove the horse has Dun dilution.

Champagne lightens red and black pigment and also affects skin and eye color. A golden body alone is not enough to identify it.

Silver mainly changes black pigment. It can be invisible in a chestnut’s coat while still being inherited and associated with eye abnormalities.

Mushroom can turn a chestnut-based coat toward muted sepia tones. It is best documented in Shetland ponies and can resemble other dilutions.

A gray horse grows more white hairs over time while keeping the genetic information for its original base color. Its current appearance does not reveal all the variants it can pass on.

Tobiano produces white patches, often crossing the back. A horse can carry one or two copies of the associated DNA variant, and the amount of white does not reliably distinguish them.

A horse with one frame variant may have extensive white or almost none. A foal inheriting two copies develops lethal white syndrome and dies after birth because its intestine cannot function normally.

Sabino describes an appearance: irregular white markings, sometimes edged with mixed white hairs. Sabino 1, or SB1, is one identified DNA variant that can produce it; other variants can look similar.

Splashed white often combines white legs, a broad white face and blue eyes. Several DNA variants can produce it, so a useful result names the particular variant rather than just saying splash.

Dominant white is the historical name for a group of KIT variants. Some give small white markings and others an almost white coat from birth; their health implications must be considered individually.

Leopard complex can give spots, a white blanket or progressive mixing of white hairs. LP helps produce these features; PATN1 changes their extent. Two LP copies also cause impaired vision in dim light.

Classic roan mixes white hairs through the body while leaving the head and lower legs darker. DNA tests often use nearby markers rather than the causal variant itself. Their reliability depends on which markers are tested and whether they have been validated for the horse’s genetic background.

Rabicano describes white hairs concentrated especially around the flanks and tailhead. Researchers have studied a candidate DNA region, but the cause and a universal model of inheritance remain unconfirmed.

Pangaré lightens the muzzle, belly and other local areas without producing the unpigmented white patches seen in spotting patterns. Researchers have proposed candidate DNA regions, but no single molecular explanation or diagnostic test applies to all horses.

Flaxen describes a chestnut horse whose mane and tail are much paler than its body. The appearance is familiar, but a single causal DNA variant and universal inheritance rule have not been established.

Sooty describes dark hairs or shading over a coat, often most visible along the upper body. Studies of bay shade offer leads, but they do not yet explain every horse given this description.

Brindle means a striped appearance, which can have different causes. Brindle 1 is one identified DNA variant affecting hair texture; its inheritance depends on the X chromosome and on the horse's sex.