A Guide to Horse Colors

Horses come in all shapes and sizes - and colors! Michele, our Humane Educator, tells us about the different color variations of horses you can find at our sanctuary.

Colors featured:
Bay 00:33
Light Bay 00:57
Dark Bay 1:12
Blood Bay 1:40
Chestnut 1:59
Flaxen Chestnut 2:22
Sorrel 2:38
Black 2:48
Gray 3:00
Flea-bitten Gray 3:39
Dun 3:56
Roan 4:59
Appaloosa 5:18
Pinto 6:00

[nergregga]

The most unique horse I ever met, was a Knabstrupper (Danish bred of spotted horse) and Arabian mix. She appeared white except for when she got wet and you could see that her skin was leopard spotted. It was adorable.

The thing I always found interesting about horse colors was the fact there are only two color genes for them, red and agouti (black) there are just LOTS of modifiers like cream, dun, gray, champagne, silver, etc. that change the shades of the underlying colors

[bonblue]

Thanks for showing us the different horses and their colors. I knew most of it, but some of the variations were new to me. Thanks so much for taking care of the horses!

[kathleenstoin]

This is an excellent video! Very informative. All the horses seem like sweeties!

[michaeltroster]

Thanks for the video explaining the colour variations. I will now look at horses completely differently than in the past.😊

[JKBCmilkybanana]

I searched for how to color a horse I end with your video, I rely enjoy it thanks all information you, ve mentioned 😀

[kathieswan]

Enjoyed you video. To be a bit more accurate, your Appaloosa is a "leopard" Appaloosa. The other type typically has a darker body wit a lighter/white 'blanket ' across the rear or sometimes from behind the whithers, with dark spots. This would be referred to as a "Blanket" Appaloosa.

[johnward]

Nice post, thank you. In Surrey, England, where I grew up in the 50's the colours you call a pinto was called a piebald: white with brown or black. Three colours and it was a skewbald, brown, white and black. Both were considered gypsy's horses. None the worse for that, but just the type gypsies preferred and bred.

[wendybutler]

Thank you so much, Michele! I now know that the beloved Sam of my childhood was a sorrel. My pony, all mine, tho not quite as beloved (what a stinker!) was a dark bay.
Do you s'pose they know just how noble they are? How majestic they are? I even miss the smell of horses.
Some people like skiing. Some like motorcycles. Give me a horse.

[sharksport]

It can all be so confusing at first, but this is a good foundation video. I think a Paint has commonality with the Quarter horse.
We should get a better name for a flea- bitten grey 😂.

[tomkat_Kansas]

Thank you for this excellent video. I learned a lot. You have a nice presentation and pleasant demeanor.

[kymharris]

I have seen Appaloosa horses in a brown/bay coat with a white spotted blanket on their rump.

[jessalynbeckers]

Great video! I’ve always been skeptical of videos on color after I started learning genetics because generally their is a lot of misinformation on horse colors. This was great! I will say that your roan is actually not a roan at all. She is a varnish. Sometimes this is called a varnish Appaloosa or varnish roan, which is where I think the confusion here is coming from. Varnish has nothing to do with roan at all; it is a type of Appaloosa pattern caused by the leopard gene. You can tell that she is a varnish and not a roan because she has mottled (speckled or freckled) skin and white scleras (whites of the eyes show). Also note that her coat does not smoothly incorporate all of the white hairs throughout her body as a true roan would; she has patches where you can see the color through the white in random areas on her body. One more common varnish trait she shows is that patch of white on her face. This is not a white marking like a blaze or star, it is caused by the leopard gene. Varnish horses often have concentrated patches of white on their faces, unlike roans. While it’s not common for a roan to have white on their face, it does happen, but it shows up as ticking not concentrated patches. Hope this helps, loved the video!

[debrabolton]

Friesians are my favorite breed of horse, however dun is my favorite shade. I have loved horses all of my life.

[CamperVan-K]

I like you and your channel. Compared to some of the horsey channels I've seen, you make it more about the horses. Thanks for sharing. You have a wonderful job! Best, Kaye

[Managable_Mayhem]

To be fair, Pinto is usually a lazy descriptor for people not to interested in naming the different genes Tobiano, Overo, etc.. I find it better to actually include these names when descibing a horse, considering we do it with Appaloosas as well as they come in various unique pattern variants. Plus, if we go ahead and differentiate between Blood, Dark and Light bay, it's only fair to give that love to all White marks as well, they deserve it much more than basecoats tbh. X'D

[luminyam]

I have been waiting for this video ever since I read My Friend Flicka when I was a little girl. This explains so much, thank you.

[nitukkab]

Thank you so much! This really helps me with trying to paint horses correctly.

[NforNatural]

Very clear and helpful! Thanks for this 😊

[Toothless_Fury_Official]

Aww Dallas has a little heart on him 5:40 😂❤