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Glossary/Index for "Horse Colors"
An alphabetical list of the various names for colors and markings that
you may come across (also a few general horse terms) linked to an explanation of the 'genetic color' referred
to by that name. If you have any suggestions,
please let us know,
especially since the 'common
names' vary greatly from one place to another.
- albino - complete absence of pigment from skin and eyes; does not exist
in the horse
- amber
- (champagne) on bay; tan body with brown points, lighter legs, pink skin
with abundant, dark freckles, light brown eyes at maturity
- appaloosa - see leopard complex
- bay - a horse with a
red-brown-colored body and black points
- bi-color mane or tail - see
frosting
- black - (horse) entire body is black; no brown hairs are found on the
muzzle or flanks
- black - (pigment)
eumelanin; every hair-making cell produces it unless blocked
- blue roan - the true
roan gene's effect on a solid black horse
- buckskin - bay (or brown) plus one cream gene.
Brown-based buckskin may be called smoky brown
- buttermilk buckskin - a light shade of buckskin; pale creamy body with black points
- buttermilk dun -
pale creamy body with black points and dun markings; usually bay + dun +
cream
- camouflage
- coloring that obscured the outlines of an animal, making it blend in with
its surroundings to avoid being seen
- champagne
- gene that causes a diluted coat, mane & tail, lighter eyes, and pink skin
with abundant dark freckles
- chestnut -
red horse; black is restricted from entire coat
- classic - (champagne) on solid black; body dark taupe,
darker (brown) points; pink skin with abundant dark freckles; light brown eyes at
maturity
- countershading - a
camouflage coloring of
darker on top, lighter
underneath, which "counters" natural shading
- cream - gene that causes palomino, buckskin, smoky black,
cremello, perlino, smoky cream, smoky brown (aka brown buckskin) and brown
cream.
- cremello - two cream genes on chestnut. Cream coat,
white mane & tail, pink-pigmented skin, blue eyes.
- dapple gray - a stage in
the action of the gray gene where the horse has
lighter gray areas surrounded by a "netting" of darker gray areas
- dunalino
- colloquial term for one cream gene plus dun on chestnut
- dunskin
- colloquial term for one cream gene plus dun on bay
- frame - aka lethal white overo gene; one copy
causes a pinto/paint pattern of ragged-edged white on sides of body and face
only (not center of back or belly, or legs); two copies causes a lethal
white overo foal; do not breed two horses with this
gene
- flaxen -
ivory or extremely pale yellow to white; may be silvery, as in a black
silver horse's mane
- frosting - mane & tail have light-to-white outside edges;
occurs with various dilutions
- gold - (champagne) on red (chestnut/sorrel); golden body,
gold or flaxen mane & tail, pink skin with abundant dark freckles, light
brown eyes at maturity
- gray - gene which causes gradual loss of hair pigment,
making the hairs eventually clear and colorless, appearing white
- grulla -
dun on black; the Spanish word for crane
- isabella, isabel - lightest shade of
palomino; in France, a
buckskin; in Spain, any double-cream
- leopard -
(appaloosa) the body is all white with dark, rounded spots all over
- leopard complex
- a group of genes all found in horses commonly called "appaloosa", which
cause white areas with or without
darker, rounded spots
- lobo dun - colloquial term for any very dark
dun
- mask - dark areas which may be present on the
lower face
(usually duns), upper face (brown or sooty colors), or entire head (grulla)
- mealy - lighter/flaxen muzzle; also possibly around eyes,
"armpits", belly, groin, or lower legs
- olive dun - colloquial term for a dark
dun with a real or imagined olive tint
- overo - one of at least 3 pinto/paint patterns that are not
tobiano: sabino, frame,
splash
- pangare - lighter/flaxen muzzle; also possibly around
eyes, "armpits", belly, groin, or lower legs
- paint - western USA term for horses with large (pigment
free) white spots on a colored body
- palomino - chestnut plus one cream gene; usually light to
dark golden body, flaxen mane & tail
- perlino - bay plus two cream genes; cream colored body,
yellow to dark orange points, pink, pigmented skin, blue eyes
- piebald - mostly-British term for a pinto horse that
is strictly black and white
- pinto - most common word in English for horses with large
(pigment free) white areas on a colored body
- rabicano - white
hairs scattered or concentrated beginning at tail head
- red roan - the
roan gene's effect on the body of a
bay
horse
- roan - gene causes white hairs throughout the body/trunk
of the horse, while leaving the head, lower legs, mane & tail original color
- roaning/roaned - white hairs
intermingled with colored anywhere on a horse
- sabino - gene that causes most white markings in horses,
from a partial white coronet band or a star to great patches of white with
heavy "roaning". The horse tends to look "spray painted"
- silver - dilutes black body color slightly, and black manes &
tails usually become mostly flaxen/silver; only affects black, so cannot be seen
on a
red horse
- silver dapple - old name for silver
- skewbald - mostly-British term for a pinto horse that
is black, reddish-brown and white
- smoky black - black plus one cream gene; may look black
or brownish; often fades to reddish-brown in sun
- smoky brown - (seal) brown with one cream gene.
Also called brown buckskin.
- smoky cream - black with two cream genes. Usually a
cream body with orangish points, but may be lighter or darker, with pink,
pigmented skin and blue to blue-green eyes
- smoky grulla - one cream gene plus dun on black.
Often indistinguishable from grulla.
- smutty - see
sootiness/smuttiness
- sootiness/smuttiness - dark to black-looking hairs on top of
another color, usually gathered together into particular areas forming
"smudges", usually near the top line; a form of camouflage
- sooty - see
sootiness/smuttiness
- sorrel - sometimes used
for a light or golden chestnut; other uses
personal or regional
- splash - a form of pinto/paint that looks like the horse
has been *dipped* into white. Can cause blue eyes.
- strawberry roan - the
true roan gene's effect on a
red (chestnut/sorrel)
horse
- tobiano - a form of pinto/paint where the horse looks
like white has been *poured* onto it from above.
For dun coloring definitions, for now, see
THIS PAGE
For an introduction to color genetics, see THIS
PAGE.
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