Mustang * Horse Colors
Home | Adopt A Mustang Wild Horse | Burros! | Mustang Mules | Wild Horse & Burro Herd Areas | Mustang Wild Horse History | Mustang - Link to History | How to Gentle A Wild Horse | What's Next After Gentling? | Our "Wild" Horse Herd | Mustang * Horse Colors | Videos from Video Mike | Mustang Links | The Future? | Mustang & Burro Events

This website is owned and created by Nancy Kerson, a private citizen. Information about BLM adoptions is offered as a service, to help mustangs find homes.

Please direct adoption questions to the BLM, not to me.

And we sure as heck are not a Mustang car dealership!

This website:
Copyright 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
All Rights Reserved.
I am happy to share, but please give me a credit when you "borrow" things off my website! Thanks! Just say, "author, Nancy Kerson www.mustangs4us.com "

VIDEOS OF INTEREST TO MUSTANG & BURRO ADOPTERS:


Kitty Lauman:
From Wild to Willing:
Using the Bamboo Pole to Gentle Mustangs
More from Lauman Training available now!

DVD or VHS
(2-DVD or 2-VHS set) almost 3 hours of instruction!

$49.95 plus $5 shipping/handling = $54.95 total

Format:

 DVD:

VHS:

Can't Order Online?
No Problem!
Just Call TOLL FREE
1-877-345-6748
(1-877-FILMS4U)

Can't do Paypal?

Try Google Checkout:

Can't Order Online?
No Problem!
Just Call TOLL FREE
1-877-345-6748
(1-877-FILMS4U)


Lesley Neuman:
The First Touch
Gentling Your Mustang
$45.00

Lesley works with 3 wild horses at a BLM adoption, and very clearly explains what is happening, what she is doing, & what she sees in each horse as it progresses. Study this video and you can learn "pressure and release" gentling techniques to gentle your own new mustang!

Format:


Help for Burro adopters!
Crystal Ward
Donkey Training

All the basics of gentling, handling, and training. A MUST for new burro adopters! Good for domestic donkeys, too!

FORMAT

Can't do Paypal?
No Problem!
Just Call TOLL FREE
1-877-345-6748
(1-877-FILMS4U)

____________________


Can't do Paypal?
No Problem!
Just Call TOLL FREE
1-877-345-6748
(1-877-FILMS4U)


If you don't want to buy online, Call TOLL FREE
1-877-345-6748 

(1-877-FILMS4U)

Home
Adopt A Mustang Wild Horse
Burros!
Mustang Mules
Wild Horse & Burro Herd Areas
Mustang Wild Horse History
Mustang - Link to History
How to Gentle A Wild Horse
What's Next After Gentling?
Our "Wild" Horse Herd
Mustang * Horse Colors
Videos from Video Mike
Mustang Links
The Future?
Mustang & Burro Events

Lewis & Clark

Mustang History, part 2

A Quick Overview of Horse Genetics | Horse Color Genetics Charts 2 | Equine Base Colors | Dominant Horse Color Genes | The Dilution Genes | Recessive Color Genes
Horse Colors, Color Genes, & Color Patterns
 

Color genetics are the same for all horses, regardless of breed or ancestry.

Since this is a Mustang website, I have used pictures of wild, or formerly-wild horses wherever possible.

Disclaimer: I am not a geneticist. The information on these color pages represents the best scientific info I have been able to locate. Theories and knowledge change over time, and it may be you know something I don't - this site is not intended to be "the last word" in colors, just a guide for those wishing to explore the topic.

Colors and color patterns in mustangs are extremely varied, the inheritance of the early Spanish Horses who came in many colors and patterns. - Dr. Phillip Sponenberg

Horse Color variations are so numerous, and they go by so many names, that it may seem impossibly complicated to understand. But understanding horse coloring does not have to be so hard.

Think of it as LAYERS, or like painting with stencils.


photo: Andi Harmon
RED (chestnut, sorrel)


BLACK

You start with a BASE COLOR: it will be one of two: Red or Black. That's all there are. Every horse is, at base, either red or black.

All other colors and color patterns are created by the actions of genetic modifiers on these two base pigments.

What About BAY?
Because many color genes affect BAY differently than Red or Black, BAY is also considered a "Base Color" although genetically it is the result of a genetic modifier on the base color Black.

What About WHITE?
 

White is not a base color for horse hair pigment. White results when a genetic modifier - or combination of genes - or another agent such as scarring - BLOCKS color from being expressed, or DILUTES it (think "bleach") to white or near-white, or, in the case of GRAY, the gene progressively REPLACES the original color with white.

There is a Dominant White color gene - but it is rare. Most white horses are white due to some other agent.

The Major Sub-Sections of the Color part of this website are: A Quick Overview of Horse Genetics | Horse Color Genetics Charts 2 | Equine Base Colors | Dominant Horse Color Genes | The Dilution Genes | Recessive Color Genes

There is also the whole subject area of "Chrome" (white markings on legs & face) and acquired coloring, such as Bend d'Or spotting and corning. For now I am not going into those subjects.

Here's a quick Pictorial Overview of all the Known Horse Color Genes and how they affect  each Base Color:

REDBLACKBAY

AGOUTI (BAY modifier)
no effect on red;
may be carried "silently" by red

 


Agouti On Black
Creates BAY
>>>


BAY & "Wild Type Bay"A+)

BROWN is not a color gene in itself. Brown comes about in many ways. example: Silver Dapples on Black creates "Chocolate" 

CREME:
(One of the Four  DILUTION factors)

Single Creme: Palomino

Single Creme:
Smoky Black

(sometimes hard to identify - can be positively identified by genetic testing for Creme)


Banjo from Calico Mtns, adopted by Adam Selvin
Single Creme : Buckskin


Double Creme on Red:
Cremello


Double Creme on Black: Smokey Cream
(Looks Cremello or Perlino but can be identified by genetic testing for Black and Agouti)

This Champion Welsh Stallion owned by Shirley Brand was tested by UC Davis to be Smokey Cream


photo: Greg Schultz
Double Creme on Bay: Perlino

CHAMPAGNE
(another DILUTION Gene)

Champagne on Red =Gold

Champagne on Black
 

Champagne + Bay

 


Champagne + Creme on Red =  Ivory

 
Champagne on Smoky Black

need photo

Champagne + Buckskin


DUN
(a DILUTION Gene)

Dun on Red = Red Dun
Claybank Dun


Dun on Black = Grulla/o


 Zebra Dun, Bay Dun, Classic Dun

Also See DUN vs BUCKSKIN


Dun on Palomino: "Dunalino"
"Linebacked Palomino"

Dun on Smokey Black
Looks light Grullo
 

need photo


Dun on Buckskin
"Dunskin "
 

need photo

FLAXEN

 No effect on Black but may be carried "silently"

 No effect on Bay but may be carried "silently"

FRAME
(Part of the OVERO paint/pinto group)


If you're breeding Frames, be sure to read: Overo Lethal White Syndrome

GREY

Dave Howe & Deserito

"LP" - THE APPALOOSA COMPLEX:
Leopard

 

Few Spot

 

Varnish Roan

Blanket

Snowcap

Snowflake

PANGARE  / MEALY

“Belgian”Sorrel

Seal Brown

maybe


photo: Angelo, owned by Jacqui Crews
"WILD DONKEY" Bay

PINTO / PAINT PATTERNS:
   
TOBIANO & THE OVERO GROUP: FRAME  SPLASH  SABINO  MAXIMUM WHITE   MEDICINE HAT  TOVERO

RABICANO


 


Bay Rabicano

showing "skunktail"
 

ROAN

Aidan from Devils Garden, adopted by Melissa Mattis
Strawberry Roan


Blue Roan


Bay Roan

SABINO
(Part of the OVERO PINTO group)

SPLASH
(Part of the OVERO PINTO group)

Robin, owned by Marcia Grahn

SOOTY / SMUTTY
Also responsible for Dappling


 
Chocolate / Sooty Palomino

Dark Chestnut


BRINDLE

 

Does not show up on Black

 


Seal Brown maybe

 

 


countershading
"fake dorsal stripe"

TOBIANO
(One of the Pinto/Paint patterns)


Ponokamita, one of the "Internet Six" older South Steens studs sold under the new 2005 sale rider

WHITE
 

 

"Z" SILVER DAPPLES
(The fourth DILUTION Gene)

No effect on Red;
may be carried "silently" by red

 

 


photo: Andi Harmon
 

SOURCES:

;

Note to viewers: I am always looking for good photos to illustrate colors. If you have one you'd like to share, especially for a color or pattern that I don't already have good pictures for, please email me!

Main Sections of this Color Site: A Quick Overview of Horse Genetics | Horse Color Genetics Charts 2 | Equine Base Colors | Dominant Horse Color Genes | The Dilution Genes | Recessive Color Genes

 

This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.

This site is a member of WebRing.
To browse visit Here.

 

 

x x

This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.

Hit Counter

OUR HERD:
Ruby (mustang)   Sparky (mustang)   Benny (mustang - formerly Kingsley)   Silver (Belgian X QH)    Bert & Dawn (Burros)  Max (Mammoth Jack)  Eleanor (Mustang Mule)  Lewis & Clark (Older Sale Mustangs)

ADOPT A MUSTANG OR BURRO!
WHERE TO ADOPT l HMA GALLERY | CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE | STORIES I ORPHAN FOALS

BURNS RIDER SALE LAW I
 CARSON CITY-WARM SPRINGS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WILD HORSE ADOPTIONS

MAIN SECTIONS OF THIS WEBSITE:
Adopt A Mustang Wild Horse | Burros! | Mustang Mules | Wild Horse & Burro Herd Areas | Mustang Wild Horse History | Mustang - Link to History | How to Gentle A Wild Horse | What's Next After Gentling? | Our "Wild" Horse Herd | Mustang * Horse Colors | Videos from Video Mike | Mustang Links | The Future? | Mustang & Burro Events

HORSE COLORSGENTLING & TRAINING  MUSTANG HISTORY GALLERY OF HERD AREASVIDEOS

copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Nancy Kerson, all rights reserved - I'm happy to share, just need to be asked and credit given where due.

Disclaimer: Horses are inherently dangerous. Use the information contained within this website at your own risk.

LINKS TO FRIENDS AND RESOURCES:

  
 
 
CALIFORNIA BLM ADOPTERS ASSISTANCE
 
IWHBA                                    BCHA                                     CADAMA