Cream-diluted coats
Smoky black
A smoky black horse may look black or very dark brown. It nevertheless carries one Cream copy, the same variant that makes a chestnut horse palomino. On a black horse, that Cream copy can be almost invisible.
Smoky black: how the color works and is inherited
The horse’s base color is black, with one Cream variant copy in SLC45A2 added to it. Because one Cream copy mainly affects red pigment, the horse’s black pigment generally remains very dark.
A smoky black horse passes Cream on with a one-in-two chance. It can therefore produce a palomino or buckskin foal with a suitable mate, even though its own coat is not golden.
Smoky black: 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.
Black-looking horses could pass Cream on before breeders recognized their dilution. DNA tests made this inheritance easier to understand; smoky black existed before it could be identified by a test.
Smoky black: photographs of horses
Quick Trigger, a smoky black Missouri Fox Trotter.
A smoky black filly still wearing her foal coat.
Dodge City Justice, a smoky black pinto foal shedding his coat.
Dodge City Justice moving, showing white and colored patches.
Dodge City Justice’s head, with dark mane and white marking.
An older Dodge City Justice with his smoky black pinto coat.
Photograph credits
Photographs have been resized. Photographs within scientific figures have been separated by cropping. Colors are preserved.
- Quick Trigger, a smoky black Missouri Fox Trotter. — Kayla Oakes · CC BY-SA 3.0
- A smoky black filly still wearing her foal coat. — Kumana @ Wild Equines · CC BY 2.0
- Dodge City Justice, a smoky black pinto foal shedding his coat. — Carrot Mama · CC BY-ND 2.0
- Dodge City Justice moving, showing white and colored patches. — Carrot Mama · CC BY-ND 2.0
- Dodge City Justice’s head, with dark mane and white marking. — Carrot Mama · CC BY-ND 2.0
- An older Dodge City Justice with his smoky black pinto coat. — Carrot Mama · CC BY-ND 2.0
Smoky black: telling similar coats apart
Sunlight can fade black horses whether or not they carry Cream. Shade therefore does not always separate them. A Cream test identifies whether the horse is smoky black.