Naming Them Right – A Beginner’s Guide to Horse Coat Patterns and Horse Colors
Get ready to expand your vocabulary! Horse lovers have developed a special set of terms used to specifically describe horse coat patterns and horse colors. Horse ColorsAlthough you are most familiar with plain-colored horses such as pure black or brown, there are many equine creatures whose coats are a combination of interesting hues and shades. You’ll be surprised that the number of actual color combinations in a horse coat isn’t only in tens or hundreds… but in the thousands!For instance, a plain “brown” horse is not always just one uniform splash of chocolaty color you’d imagine. In a horse lover’s vocabulary, your regular brown horse can either be bay or chestnut. The difference between bay and chestnut boils down to genetics. When a “brown” horse has an “E” gene, you call such creature a “bay.” Without the “E” gene, a brown horse is technically “chestnut.” Without actually having to test the DNA of the brown horse, you can tell a bay from a chestnut by ocular inspection. The bay horse has a few black spots on its coat, while a chestnut horse doesn’t. Well, why don’t you get acquainted with the most and least common horse colors?
Horse Coat PatternsWhen an equine animal does not have the same color throughout, expect to view some fascinating patterns on the coat. At present, there are four widely recognized horse coat patterns you may have heard of already. The possible variations between and among these patterns are numerous.
Horse BreedsThe horse coat color is one of the things that will be considered when you present the equine animal for registration. During such time, you may enlist your horse as a true breed or a color breed.True breeds share physical attributes that are unique to one group. You can find the names of these breeds listed in a stud book. They all seem to fit some mold or standard, including the expected (and preferred) natural horse colors. Sometimes, the union of two true breeds will produce a deviant offspring. When these foals don’t meet the physical criteria of a recognized true horse breed, you may not be able to register them as true breeds at all. Other registries can be more lenient and will allow you to register the deviant foal – provided that the parent horses were earlier recorded in the stud book as true breeds. Color breeds comprise horses of any type and origin. For them to be recognized as such, they must have the standard horse coat patterns and horse colors. You can expect the list of other physical requirements for color breeds to be less strict in the stud book. The catch is this: When the horse doesn’t meet the color requirement, it becomes ineligible for color breed registration.
Paint horses come in all horse coat patterns and horse colors. In fact, part of the fun as a paint horse breeder is that you don't know exactly what color you will get when you breed your paint horse. Understanding the horse coat patterns and horse colors is the first step in identifying and registering your paint horse. Sometimes the only way to truly identify the color of your horse is by Genetic testing. If you are trying to breed for a certain color, this handy genetics calculator may help.
Click here for Genetics Calculator
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