17 Jul 2011

Base Coat Colors

Chestnut Base Horse Coat Color

Basic Chestnut

All horse colors are built on a black or a chestnut base and different colors are achieved by dilution genes and color modifiers to provide the wide variety of colors and patterns in existence today.

A Few Chestnut Facts

Chestnut horses have no black hairs, they have a red coat and red points
Chestnut and sorrel are interchangable terms and the same genetically
Colors range from dark reddish brown, to deep red to light red
Mane and tail can achieve a sunstreaked look making it lighter than the body hairs
Mane and tail can be almost black all the way to blonde and flaxen

Different Chestnut Shades

There is a rainbow of reds in the chestnut family, but most fall under one of three main categories.

Liver or Black Chestnut

Darkest red color
Can be very dark, however hair will retain a red color
Common in the morgan breed
Can be confused with silver dapple

Chestnut / Red Chestnut / Sorrel

Image from Methos31

Lighter red hairs
Mane and tail can be very light in color
Most common shade of chestnut

Light Blonde / Sandy Chestnut

Image from Imoan Arabians

Very pale red
Mane and tail can be very light in color

Chestnut Dilutions

Chestnut horses can display a wide variety of colors when diluted, here are a few of them.

Red Dun

Chestnut base with a dun dilution gene.

Image from Kumana @ Wild Equines

Palomino

Chestnut base with a cream dilution gene.

Creamello

Chestnut base with a double dose of the cream dilution gene.

Image from Steven_Walling

Gold Champagne

Chestnut base with a champagne dilution gene.

Image from Kersti_Nebelsiek

Chestnut Modifications

Most of the known modifiers affect the chestnut base, some of them are even exclusive to chestnut animals. Here are a few examples.

Mealy / Pangare

Chestnut base with a mealy / pangare gene.

Image from White Horse Productions

Sooty / Smutty

Chestnut base with a sooty / smutty gene.

Image from Just chaos

Flaxen

Chestnut base with a flaxen gene.

Image from Mihai Bojin

White Patterns

Chestnut horses can display all of the white patterns, creating an even wider variety of colors.

Appaloosa

Chestnut base with an appaloosa white pattern gene

Image from evelynbelgium

Skewbald Pinto / Paint

Chestnut base with a pinto / paint white pattern gene

Image from Lienhard_Schulz

Strawberry Roan

Chestnut base with a roan white pattern.

Image from Kumana @ Wild Equines

Black Base Horse Coat Color

Basic Black

All horse colors are built on a black or a chestnut base and different colors are achieved by dilution genes and color modifiers to provide the wide variety of colors and patterns in existence today.

A Few Black Facts

The black gene occurs in most breeds
Black horses have no brown or red hairs
They have a black coat and black points
The only white is in markings on face and legs
Black horses do better in cold climates
Dark hair absorbs heat from the sun making hot weather work difficult
There are two types of black, fading & non-fading

Non-fading black

Their coat never fades from sun, weather or work
They are born black and remain black throughout their life
Can be a smokey or blue black

Fading black

Coat fades from sun and weather
Usually born smokey or dark bay
Cannot generally produce bay foal
Also called ‘Barn Black’ because unless they are kept from the sun they will fade with age