Color Information
Base Colors
All colors are a result of at least 16 known factors that interact to produce each unique color and pattern. There are only two colors that all other colors are built off of. These are Black and Chestnut. Every horse, of every breed, will have a Black or a Red (Chestnut) base coat, regardless of it's physical apperance.
The main key when learning about color is to ignore the white. White is not important when determining the colored parts of the horse. This is because the colored parts and the white parts are not related and the genetic control of one has nothing to do with the genetic control of the other. The only time white becomes important is when you are determining if the horse has a white spotting pattern.
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Color Dilutions
Palomino, Dun, Smokey Black, Cremello, and Grullo are just a few of the colors that are created when a base color and a dilution gene are combined. The diluting genes include: Champagne, Cream, and Dun.
Dilute genes are dominant. Dominant genes require at least one parent to have the gene for it to be passed on to the offspring. Since some dilution genes (Cream) do not affect certain color pigments, at times it may seem as though the gene did appear out of nowhere. Scientific and breeding research has proven that these genes are still passed along in dominant form even if it may seem that neither parent contributed the gene.
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Unexplained Colors & Patterns
The causes of some colors or patterns are still unknown. Their cause and how they are inherited is still being researched by scientists and breeders alike. If you have a theory about any of these unexplained colors or patterns please feel free to share it with us on the forum or through email.
Note - Colors are not always the same from computer to computer, and may show up on your screen differently than the actual horse, photograph or original scan. Please keep this in mind when viewing this site.
