A horses coat can come in a wide range of colors which is determined by the dominent and recessive color chromosomes of the parents. A great deal of scientific research has gone into coat coloring, and this has becomeas important as different coat colors have become more, or less, fashionable through the years. In fact, for some breeds, although correct confirmation and temperment is required, the main requirement is a set coat color.

Black, Bay & Buckskin

Black - horses have pure black coats with no signs of brown or any other color. Many horse-people mistake dark bays or liver chestnuts for black. If you can see any other color (with the exception of white markings) on the horse's coat in the winter, he is not a true black. The reason I say "in the winter" is because the sun tends to lighten a dark horse's coat in the summer, and the exception is when the hair has been sun-burnt.

Bay - horses run from light reddish or tan shades to dark brown and mahogany/auburn shades. Bay horses always have black points (legs, muzzle, mane and tail, and the tips of their ears are black). Many bay horses have black legs that are covered by white markings.

Buckskin - horses are a light-to-dark sandy yellow or tan color with all black points. Buckskins are very similar to duns, however, buckskins do not have a dorsal stripe or other "primitive" markings that are shown in the dun color.

Dun - horses have a sandy/yellow to reddish/brown coat. Their legs are usually darker than their body and sometimes have faint "zebra" stripes on them. Dun horses always have a "dorsal" stripe, which is a dark stripe down the middle of their back. Sometimes the dorsal stripe continues down the horse's dock and tail, and through the mane. Many dun colored horses also have face masking, which makes the horse's nose and sometimes the rest of the face a darker color than the horse's body.

Roan

Roan horses have otherwise solid colored coats, but with white hairs interspersed. The white hairs are not actual spots, but single white hairs mixed with the darker coat color. You'll find descriptions and pictures of some common roan colors below. The Roan Gene can be applied to any color of horse. The most common are Red Roans, Bay Roans and Blue Roans. There are also Palomino Roans, Red Dun Roans, Dun Roans, Buckskin Roans, etc. The Roan gene adds white hairs into the body of the horse. The legs and head are not affected and will remain darker then the body. The mane and tail are usually not affected, but some may have some white hairs mixed in.

Bay Roan - A Bay Roan is a horse with a bay coat and the roan gene. The roan gene gives the horse interspersed white hairs on his body. The Bay roan sometimes looks very similar to a red roan or a blue roan.

Red Roan - A Red Roan (sometimes called "Strawberry Roan") is a chestnut or sorrel horse with the roan gene. The roan gene gives the horse interspersed white hairs on his body.

Blue Roan - A Blue Roan is a black horse with the roan gene. The roan gene gives the horse interspersed white hairs on his body. The horse to the left is a blue roan.

Gray

Gray is a "dilution" decrease in the color of black. Gray horses have black skin with white or gray hair. Many horse people will call a gray horse "white", but if their skin is dark, they are gray! Gray horses are born dark, sometimes black or brown, and their hair coat turns lighter as they grow older.

Light Gray - This is the type of horse that people mistake for "white". This horse is a light gray, not white. See how the skin (around his nose, inside his ears, and between his hind legs) is black? That is how you can tell that this horse is really a light gray

Dapple Gray - A dapple is like a small, white "eraser" mark. Dapple gray horses usually have dapples throughout their entire body, often with darker colored points.

Fleabitten Gray - A fleabitten gray is a horse with a light gray body, but with little speckles of black and/or brown. These speckles are like tiny dots that are pretty much evenly distributed throughout the horse's body. Don't get this color confused with roans or appaloosa coat patterns.

Steel Gray - Steel gray horses are a dark gray, silver color. The horse has a black base coat with lightly mixed white/gray hairs. Many steel gray horses lighten and turn into a dapple gray or a light gray with age.

Rose Gray - Medium gray whose hairs are tinted with red. This type of hair gives the horse a light "rose" tint. Rose gray horses often have points that are darker than their body color, including mane and tail.

Palomino, Grulla/Grullo

Palomino - horses have gold-colored coat with a white or light cream colored mane and tail. The Palomino's coat can range from a light off-white shade to a deep shade of gold.

Grullo/Grulla - horses body color smoky or mouse colored (not a mixture of black and white hairs, but each individual hair is mouse colored) Usually has a dorsal stripe, shoulder striping or shadowing and black leg barring on lower legs. Within this definition there are variations of the color often refered to as slate grulla, silver grulla, olive grulla, black dun or wolf dun. The grullo color in the quarter horse is very rare and only about 0.7% of those registered in the quarter horse breed each year are grullo.

Chestnut

Chestnut - (also known as "sorrel"), is reddish brown. The points (mane, tail, legs and ears) are the same color as the horse's body (other than white markings). Chestnuts range from light yellowish brown to a golden-reddish or dark liver color. All chestnuts have shades of red in their coats

Red Chestnut - Bright reddish and/or orange shades. This color is very appealing since it is usually bright and shiny, and very saturated. The red chestnut always has red highlights that really stand out

Light Chestnut - Light reddish-brown. Light chestnuts do not usually have points that are lighter than their body. The tips of their manes and tails may be lighter, but the base is the same color. If their mane/tail/legs etc. are significantly lighter than their body, they might be a flaxen chestnut or palomino.

Flaxen Chestnut - Flaxen chestnuts are a chestnut colored body with a light flaxen (cream/off- white) colored mane and tail. Legs and tip of ears are the same color as the horse's body. Many people get confused between flaxen chestnut, light chestnut and palomino. This horse is a flaxen chestnut.

Liver Chestnut - A liver chestnut is the darkest of the chestnut colors. Liver chestnuts do not have black points

Appaloosa, Paint & Pinto

Appaloosa - coat pattern is not really a specific color, it is actually a horse breed! Some rare appaloosas don't have any spots at all, while most have numerous spots all over their bodies. Below are the basic coat patterns found in the appaloosa breed.

Leopard: Large spots all over (dark spots on a light base coat)
Snowflake: Large spots all over (light spots on a dark base coat)
Blanket: White on hips and loins with or without spots
Marble: Small dark sprinkles on a light base coat
Frost: Small light sprinkles on a dark base coat

Paint & Pinto - What is the difference between a Paint and a Pinto? A Paint is a specific breed of horse, bred for the conformation and musculature similar to a Quarter Horse, and also bred for unique coloring. Paint horses aren't always colored, some turn out solid but may still carry the genes needed to have colored offspring. Pinto, on the other hand, is ANY breed of horse exhibiting the colorations below (Common breeds that you may see exhibiting these colors are Arabian, Saddlebred, Mustang, Icelandic Horse, and many others).

Tobiano, Overo & Tovero

Tobiano - Tobiano is a dominant color pattern, and is most common. A tobiano generally has four white legs, at least below the hocks and knees. The dark color of the pattern is usually covering one or both flanks and the spots are regular and distinct (smooth ovals or round patterns that extend down over the neck, chest, and/or shoulders giving the appearance of a "war shield"). Generally, face markings are just like a solid-colored horse (solid, blaze, strip, star or snip) and body color may be either predominantly dark or white. The mane and tail is usually mixed of two colors. A majority of tobianos have spots that are smooth-edged and not jagged like most overos, and many have white over their back and/or neck.

Overo - On an Overo colored horse, the white will not usually cross the back of the horse between the withers and tail. It is desirable for all four legs to be dark, or at least one. Face markings are usually bald-faced, apron-faced or bonnet- faced. The white color throughout the overo's body is generally irregular or sometimes 'jagged' instead of forming smooth lines between the colors.

Sabino Overo - Appears speckled or "roany", mostly near the spot's edges. This is the most common overo pattern. Sabinos often have spotted or roan-like facial markings, which can look quite wild. It is rare to find a sabino with a normal star or stripe for a facial marking. Another distinct characteristic of the sabino, is that they generally have three or four white legs.

Frame Overo - White spots along the horse's barrel, with a "frame" of darker color around the white. Over 95% of all frame overos are solid colored along the back from the withers to the tail, and it is uncommon for the mane to be of mixed color.

Splash White Overo - This is a very rare overo color pattern. In my opinion, splash white overos look like a reverse-colored Tobiano...with smooth-edged color patterns, and with a white "shield" in the front covering the shoulders and bottom of the neck being a common trait. Splash whites generally have light-to-medium blue eyes. It is also common for splash whites to have 4 white legs.

Tovero - This color pattern most commonly comes from crossing a Tobiano horse with an Overo colored horse. In most cases, the result will be a mix of the two color patterns. For example: a tobiano with bald-face or apron-face markings, will most likely be called a "tovero". Or, some overos with a large amount of white color in their manes or past the withers are sometimes considered to be a tovero. However, some overos or tobianos will appear to be toveros even when they aren't genetically a tovero...this is the most confusing color pattern, indeed.

Champagne & White

Champagne - colored horses are born with bright pink skin which remains pink their entire life. What really distinguishes the champagne color from other colors is that champagne foals are born with bright blue eyes. Their eyes will usually change color as they age, but this takes a long time - whereas in other colors, the color of the eye changes more rapidly. The eye color will usually change from light blue to a hazel/green color. Champagne colored foals are born with a darker coat than their future adult coat will be, and all Champagne horses have at least 1 Champagne parent.

White - horses Dominant Whites are very rare and must have a white parent. They have pink skin, usually hazel or brown eyes and white hair. There are also Sabino Whites which can pop up in any breed that has the Sabino gene, this includes Arabs, Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Paints, Tennessee Walkers, Saddlebreds, and more. A Sabino White is what we call a maximal pinto, just imagine that the white markings on the horse are so big they cover the entire horse. Sabino Whites also have white hair, sometimes with a few dark hairs on the poll or ears, pink skin and dark eyes.

Cremellos and Perlinos - are "double diluted" which means they have two copies of the creme gene instead of one like a Palomino or Buckskin. In other words a Palomino is a "chestnut" with one creme gene and a Cremello is a "chestnut" with two creme genes. A Buckskin is a "bay" with one creme gene and a Perlino is a "bay" with two creme genes. Cremellos and Perlinos have pink skin and blue eyes. Their hair coats are not white but are of a light creme color. Some can be so light they appear to be white but if you compare them to a true white horse you will see that they are actually creme. Cremellos will have white manes and tails while Perlinos will have darker points, as a Buckskin would, but on a Perlino the points are orangish.

Other Colors

Skewbald - The coat is covered in large irregular patches of white and any other color except black. The skin pigment will be pink under the white patches, and dark under the dark patches. The main and tail are invariably two-colored. The mane continues the coloring display on the neck-if part of the neck is white and part brown, then the mane will correspond accordingly.

Piebald - Similar to skewbald, except that the coat has patches of black and white.

Brindle (Red Dun) - A rare coat color more comonly seen in dogs or cattle, but can be seen in donkeys, and Quarter Horses. The most famous horse to potray this color is a QH by the name of Sharp One. She portrays a phenotypical (outward appearing) brindle pattern.