Who's That Horse?

Horse Sense

Horses come in a wide range of coat colors. Some colors are only found in certain breeds, and some colors are found in every breed. Some of the most common colors are bay, brown, chestnut, black and gray. Some color patterns you may see are pinto and appaloosa.

Coat Colors

Bay - bodies range from brown to reddish brown in color. Bay horses always have black manes and tails and black lower legs. Even if a bay horse has white leg markings, it will probably have black hairs between the white markings and the body color. Bay is one of the most common horse colors.

Black - covered in black hair from nose to tail.

Brown - brown hair over its entire body. Mane and tail are also brown.

Chestnut - a reddish brown color on the entire body. The mane and tail may be the same shade of reddish brown as the body, or they may be darker.

Gray- a mix of white and other colored hairs on the entire body. Gray horses are often born very dark in color, and grow lighter as they age. Gray horses sometimes have ?dapples? which are darker gray areas. Many horses that look white are actually gray.

Roan - a mixture of white and other colored hairs over the entire body. The head and legs of roan horses tend to be darker than the body, and they do not continue to get lighter as they age. The most common roan colors are blue roan (black body hairs mixed with white) and red roan (chestnut body hairs mixed with white).

Sorrel ? a reddish brown body with a lighter mane and tail.

Color Patterns

Appaloosa
This color pattern has been found in ancient Chinese art, so it has been around long before the appaloosa horse we think of . There are 7 recognizable approved coat patterns: snowflake, frost, blanket, leopard, white with dark spots over hindquarters, marbleized roan and few spot leopard. The two most recognizable patterns are the leopard and the blanket.

(1) Leopard - the horse is white with dark spots over the entire body.

(2) Blanket - the horse has a solid colored head, neck, and shoulders and in the back or flank changes to a white blanket. The blanket may be covered in spots to match the body color, or may be white.

Pinto
Horses that are pinto are a dark color (such as bay, brown or chestnut) and have white all over their body. The different colors are in patches, not spots. There are three different types of patterns:

(1) Overo - these horses have splashes of color all over their body. Usually at least one leg is dark and the tail is dark. The white of their markings does not cross over their back between the withers and the tail.

(2) Tobiano - looks like a solid colored horse with a lot of white markings. They often have solid colored heads with stars or blazes. The white usually crosses over their back, legs are typically white, and the tail is often both body colors.

(3) Tovero - this color patter    n is a combination of overo and tobiano. If you see a horse that has features of both patterns, it is probably a tovero

Acknowledgements: Written by Colleen Brady and Ami Neiberger-Miller. Adapted from ?Who's That Horse??