TWH Coat Colors

Bay horses, with a base color coat that ranges from light to dark, reddish brown hues, are distinguished by black mane and tail, legs, ears, knees, hocks, or any combination of these points.  Bays also may have white markings on the legs and face. A resemblance of blacks to chestnuts may be ascertained by the presence of black points above the white leg markings.

The muzzle, flanks and legs - the entire coat - must be black, with the exception of white markings. Although the early foal may be an overall mousy grey, black can usually be determined by the fine black hair on the muzzle. The coat color darkens to black as the foal grows older.

A diluted bay coat mixture of red and black hairs from a bay coat results in several shades of the buckskin horse with a black mane and tail. The actual shade of the diluted coat depends upon the degree of black hairs intermingled with red hairs. The dark bay, for example, is diluted to a sooty yellow with black points. There are many shades of diluted bay coats, from off-white to sooty tan. The most common color for the buckskin is a tan.

The effect of the champagne dominant is to dilute black to champagne (sometimes called lilac dun).  Amber champagne is usually the result of the gene's effect on bay, while gold champagne is associated with the chestnut color.  Palominos can be affected as well and the results are usually an ivory champagne.  Champagne is rather new and as we deepen our understanding other names will emerge to describe the horses.

The copper-colored chestnuts vary in shade from a light golden red to a dark reddish brown, sometimes identified as a "liver chestnut."   Quite often, the mane and tail will be the same color as the body but, occasionally, a chestnut will have a flaxen mane and tail, and will often show white face and leg markings.  Light blonde baby fuzz on their legs should not be confused with true white markings, with the hairs springing from a pink skin. Genetics dictate that the mating of two chestnuts always results in a chestnut foal.

The base color of the body is nearly white but with a yellow tinge.  Mane and tail color ranges from white to muddy yellow.  Other "white" horses may be derivations of aging greys (in rare occurrences);  the roaning horse also carrying grey genes.

Closely related to the buckskin, the dun horse is usually flashier in color, and with frequent dark dorsal stripes and " zebra" stripes on the shoulders and legs. The dun body coat is also a dilution of the bright red bay to a clear yellow with dark points.

Genetically, the rule is that the foal will not turn grey unless at least one parent is grey.  A horse may show varying shades of grey during the greying process.  A mixture of white and black hairs results in a steel grey.  Other horses may be rose grey, a mixture of chestnut and white hairs, or bay grey, made up of bay and white hairs. Aging causes the coat colors of grey horses to lighten, sometimes appearing to be white.  Dappling is common and, often, older grey horses grow tufts of reddish brown hair and are called "flea-bitten".

Palomino horses vary in shade from a true golden with white mane and tail to a light tan coat with off white mane and tail. This variance is attributed to the differences in the shades of chestnut parentage and the dilution of the base colors. The dilution of a uniform darker chestnut, for example, would be slightly darker than the dilution from a lighter chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail.  Other modifying genes may cause similar diluting effects so that the term "palomino" might be used to describe several different genotypes. Mating a chestnut with a cremello results in a palomino dilution. Palomino horses are also sometimes described as "yellow".

The Perlino is another near-white horse, whose lack of color is attributed to a dilution of the bay ancestry. The coat is diluted to near white while the dark points either remain dark or become a light rusty or chocolate shade. The perlino pattern also may be marked by a dark dorsal stripe and sometimes zebra marks on the legs and shoulders.

Roan silvering is present at birth, in the same proportions that it will be throughout the horse's life, while the grey foal is born a solid color and progressively becomes near-white or completely white in its aging. However, it is possible for a horse to be both roan and grey.  For example, a black horse which carries both roaning and greying genes could be born a black roan ... and gradually become completely white.

These horses range in color from a light, golden base color, often with flaxen or light blonde manes and tails, to a darker golden red,  also often with light manes and tails. In the lighter colors,  the sorrel is often confused with palomino, which along with the sorrel is a dilution  of the chestnut heritage.  According to geneticists, both chestnut and sorrel matings  breed true, i.e., chestnuts bred to chestnuts produce chestnuts and sorrels  mated to sorrels produce sorrel foals.

The term "dominant white" is used to describe a horse that is born completely white, with pink skin and colored eyes (blue, brown, amber, or hazel).  A dominant white horse is truly white, not cream-colored like the cremello (pseudo-albino).  True albinos (pink skin, pink eyes and completely white coat) are unknown among horses and should not be confused with 'pseudo-albino cremellos  (pink skin, blue eyes and almost-white coat.)

White spotting of the overo horse usually comes up from the belly and rarely across the back. The white areas are usually irregular with uneven edges. The overo horse may have solid-colored legs, except for normal white markings. Overo spotting can occur on any color base background. It may also have a white bonnet that covers the ears and poll and encircles the neck at the throat; it may be bald-faced, covering both eyes, or apron-faced, with white markings extending beyond the ears and under the chin. The eyes of an overo with extensively white facial markings are frequently blue or white ("china eyes").

The sabino is a horse with color and markings similar to the roan, yet it is genetically different. Its base coat color is mixed with white hairs, similar to roaning, but often with overo markings: high stockings, white face, white spots. The base color, bay, black, chestnut, etc. is used with sabino for better identification: i.e. "bay sabino", "chestnut sabino", etc.

The base color can be any color recognized by TWHBEA (black, bay, chestnut, sorrel, palomino, buckskin, etc.; the white spotting occurs with all colors except dominant white.)