CHAMPAGNE

Perfection's Champagne Callallily, owned by Kathy Hill
Callie was genetically tested and is a Classic Champagne

Champagne is a one of the DILUTION GENES similar Creme, Dun & Silver Dapples. It lightens the coat as well as skin and eye color. 

Here are a few a good websites devoted to Champagne horses:
http://www.champagnehorses.net

http://www.ichregistry.com/colors.htm
 

Champagne's Key Characteristics: 

• pumpkin/pinkish skin that is 'freckled' or mottled with dark purplish spots.

• bronze/gold cast to the hair coat; metallic sheen

• Eyes that are light blue at birth but change to very light amber, greenish, bluish, or even a 'normal' brown shade 

• foal coat color that starts darker and sheds to a lighter color as they mature. 

• Both Gold and Amber expressions of the Champagne gene often fade to look very much like Creme (palomino & buckskin) with age. 

Photos: "Tarnished Champagne" owned by Katy Bowen-Brazell

A Champagne horse must have at least one Champagne parent. Their foal coats are usually darker in color than their adult coats - the opposite of most other colors. Champagnes are born with bright pink skin and bright blue eyes that take a long time to change, but usually become hazel or amber by adulthood.* As adults, the skin may still retain its pumpkin-with-purple freckling, but other colors can mimic this, and some champagnes darken to fairly ordinary colored skin in adulthood.

Golden Champagne quarter horse at Back Country Horsemen Rendezvous, Madera, CA 2002

Buttercup from Goshute HMA, adopted by Amy Dumas. After much puzzling, we finally identified Buttercup's unique coloration (listed as "Palomino" on her BLM records) as a variation of Classic Champagne

Buttercup's unique light amber-colored eyes can be seen in this close-up

Sometimes a horse looks like it might be a champagne but is really something else. A particularly confusing situation is when horses carry multiple types of dilutions, such as creme and silver dapples or dun and silver dapples.

http://www.champagnehorses.net/Pseudo-Champagnes/pseudo-champagnes.htm for photos and more discussion of champagne and champagne look-alikes

Click here for a more complete explanation of Champagne or Here
or Original Champagne Horses Website

Champagne looks a lot like Palomino, Buckskin and Cremello, but differs in some definite ways.

TYPES OF CHAMPAGNE:

BASE COLOR with CHAMPAGNE GENE   BLACK CLASSIC CHAMPAGNE is often mistaken for grullo, as it is a similarly diluted black coat. But champagne has no stripes or undiluted black face Classic = champagne on Black;   photo from "1Rainbowhorses" Yahoo discussion group   Classic Champagne This is Cathy Hill's FT mare, Callie, who was genetically tested as Classic Champagne.  RED (CHESTNUT or SORREL) GOLD CHAMPAGNE Gold = champagne gene on Sorrel. (looks sort of like a metallic palomino) BAY (black + agouti) AMBER CHAMPAGNE Ginger Rex's CapuccinoSpirit Wasilla Alaska   Amber = champagne on Bay  Looks much like buckskin - but the eyes,  skin, and chocolate points give it away! Lots more pics, and clear explanations HERE Yankey owned by Ginger Rex BROWN Although "Brown" is not a "Basic Color" and can come about in a variety of ways genetically, the International  Champagne Registry considers it a base color for naming purposes SABLE     Combinations: Champagne can, and does, appear with other color genes on the same horse. New definitions make it easy. Just add the other gene and the champagne color (i.e. "Amber Silver" or "Gold Cream" or "Classic Dun") - no more fancy, confusing terms like "ivory"

MORE CHAMPAGNES: Pony owned by Cathy Hill

Champagne Information
- from HORSE GENETICS by the late Ann T. Bowling

"Champagne foals are born a smoky gray with blue eyes and pinkish gray skin. As the foals age, the eyes darken to hazel or brown, but the skin and coat remain light and distinctive.

The color trait is inherited as a dominant. It resembles the palomino/ buckskin dilution effect but is probably due to a different gene. From its phenotype it does not seem to be an allele of dun or silver dapple, but those possibilities and their combinations with this gene remain to be identified. We also have no information about the color of homozygotes. Champagne may be the same color as globrunn in Icelandic horses and lilac dun in other ponies."

(HORSE GENETICS, copyright 1997 CAB International, ISBN# 0-85199-101-7) The above was written in 1997. A lot more is known now! Champagne is now a recognized gene that can be tested.

American Cream Draft Horses are Champagne:

        
Draft Horse Classic, Grass Valley, CA, 2001

They occur in both Gold Cream and Double Cream versions.