Equine Coat Color

Equine Coat Color

Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.

While most horses remain the same color throughout life, a few, over the course of several years, will develop a different coat color from that with which they were born. Most white markings are present at birth, and the underlying skin color of a horse does not change, absent disease.

The basic outline of equine coat color genetics has largely been resolved, and DNA tests to determine the likelihood that a horse will have offspring of a given color have been developed for some colors. Discussion, research, and even controversy continues about some of the details, particularly those surrounding spotting patterns, color sub-shades such as "sooty" or "flaxen", and markings.

Read more about Equine Coat Color:  Basic Coat Colors, Other Coat Colors, Other Color Modifiers, Markings and Other Unique Identifiers, Color Breeds

Famous quotes containing the words coat and/or color:

    When every Sunday afternoon
    On the Green Lands I walk
    And wear a coat in fashion,
    Memories of the talk
    Of hen wives and of queer old men
    Brace me and make me strong....
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    ... it is not the color of the skin that makes the man or the woman, but the principle formed in the soul. Brilliant wit will shine, come from whence it will; and genius and talent will not hide the brightness of its lustre.
    Maria Stewart (1803–1879)