Silver Dapple Gene - Silver Mimics

Silver Mimics

• Gray: While gray horses grow progressively lighter, silver dapples often darken with age. A silver dapple masked by gray (i.e. carries both genes and, because gray is a dominant gene, becomes white with age) may be identified by use of DNA testing.
• Liver chestnut: Silver dapples, especially bay silvers, are frequently misidentified as liver chestnuts or flaxen chestnuts. Flaxen (blond) manes and tails in chestnuts tend to have honey or red tones, while the pale manes and tails of silver dapples are soot-toned and darker at the roots. Liver chestnuts also lack the grey-brown dappling on the lower legs. The darkest liver chestnuts often have a kind of marbling on the lower legs, though this hair, too, should show red or yellow tones. Overall, chestnuts of all shades have red-yellow character to their coats, while silver bays recall grey-brown. Knowledge of the pedigree of the horse in question is often useful: two chestnut-based parents cannot produce a silver bay or silver black. DNA testing can be used in the most difficult cases.
• "Sooty" palomino: Dark palominos may be hard to distinguish from silver dapples, particularly if the mane or tail of a palomino contain streaks of silver. A true palomino, with a red-based coat, will exhibit yellow or gold tones; a silver horse, in contrast, is by definition black-based and exhibits gray, black or brown undertones. A sooty palomino, like other creme dilutes, may have brown eyes a shade lighter than average, but this is not true of silver dapples. When actual color is in question, pedigree information or a DNA test can help clarify matters.