Color Genetics
This section uses information and color charts from the official guidelines
from the TWHBEA.
The TWHBEA recognizes and records the many coat colors, principally bay,
black, buckskin/dun, champagne, chestnut/sorrel, grey, overo/tobiano, sabino,
palomino and roan. Since most Tennessee Walking Horses are registered as foals
between the ages of three to six months, it is sometimes difficult to relate the
color of the foal coat to that of the maturing horse after the shedding of its
birthday fuzz. Here are a few tips to help decide what color a foal will be
after losing its baby hair:
 | Loss of the foal coat usually begins around the eyes, nostrils and the
root of the tail, followed by the legs. The new, smooth hair in these areas is
most often the horse's permanent color. |
| Ordinarily, a foal that will be black is born a mousy grey color and a
foal which looks black will not remain that color. |
| White hairs appearing on any area of the face indicate that the foal may
be grey, particularly if that foal has at least one grey parent. |
| The foal will usually be bay if the foal coat is replaced by black hair on
the legs. |
| In cases where the foal coat on the legs is replaced by chestnut hair and
the foal's mane and tail are not black, the foal will usually be chestnut.
(The mating of two chestnuts results in a chestnut foal). |
| Another rule of equine genetics is that a foal will never turn grey unless
one parent is grey. |
| Roan should have one roan parent. |
| Palominos usually result from mating two palominos or mating palomino with
chestnut. Palomino can be from mating two blacks or black with bay, but both
parents must have a palomino parent. |
| Two chestnuts or sorrels always produce chestnut or sorrel. |
| Black x chestnut or sorrel results in black, bay, or chestnut. |
| Bay x chestnut can result in bay, black or chestnut. |
| Tobianos must have one tobiano parent. |
| Overos do not have to have one Overo parent. (Usually generous white
within last three generations.) |
| Buckskins are usually result of breeding palomino to bay, black or brown. |
| Buckskin x buckskin results in bay, buckskin or perlino. |
| Perlino x bay results in palomino or buckskin. |
| Bay x bayresults in bay, black or sorrel. |
| Palomino x palomino results in sorrel, palomino or cremello. |
| Cremello x sorrel or chestnut results in 100% Palomino. |
