Please note that all of the text information on this page was
originally composed by me,
and was typed with great thought. I have read books and many educational
web sites to contribute to my knowledge base. Some photos were donated by
people that have horses with color examples needed to provide educational
content.
I did not copy and paste from anyone else's web site, and hope
you will not copy and paste from my site.
Please feel free to link to this page, but do not copy the
content and place it on your site.
Feel free to click the "Send Your Photo" logos and send a good photo or two
to us for inclusion on our color pages. For this page, newborn photos are best,
but young pre-weaning photos can be helpful as well. We can't use them all, but
will definitely add some good ones!
Please note that this is not intended to be a free opportunity for you to
advertise your breeding operation, and instead is an educational page. We will
not use photos with watermarks/writing on them. There are many free advertising
sites on the Internet at which you can advertise your farm/ranch/horses.
Are you having trouble determining what color your foal is?
It
can be very tricky! Maybe some of these images will help you narrow it down. If
you still have questions, fill out the form
here to request a second opinion.
These foal images will not address a couple dilutions
(champagne, silver dapple) or color combinations (such as dunskin, grullo roan, graying buckskin, etc.), and instead will focus on the
main colors that AQHA registers. These mainly
include colors associated with dun factor, roan, and the cream gene.
Examples of
Foal Coat Colors
Black Foals
aa Agouti
The 5 photos above are of foals immediately after birth...look at the variation
of birth colors!
This foal was born charcoal, turned brownish within a month, and then
began shedding off black.
Yes, this foal is black! He is actually a "smoky black" mini foal.
A smoky black is a black horse that also has one cream gene. The cream
gene turns bays to buckskin, and sorrels to palominos. On a black
horse, the cream gene does not markedly change the color, though we
feel that most smoky blacks sun fade more than non-smoky blacks.
Typical characteristics:
Brown or gray/charcoal at birth, with or without dorsal countershading
May shed off liver chestnut or bay at times in summer of first
year
Often doesn't look like a true black until winter hair coat
comes in.
Sorrel Foals
Typical characteristics:
Born sorrel or sorrel with tan/cream belly
Typically born with light/pink/peach skin color that later
darkens.
Bay Foals
Typical characteristics:
Born bay, often with tan/buff legs that will shed off black
later
Typically born with dark skin color.
Grullo Foals
Dun gene + black
Typical characteristics:
Must have a parent that carries a dun gene
Charcoal face mask (not red or brown). Will quickly have
charcoal-colored hair develop around eyes and muzzle, not gold or brown.
Usually have black dorsal stripes at birth
Dorsal stripe usually extends down into the tail
"Most of the time" will have leg bars above and behind the knees
Often buff/cream/tan colored at birth.
Click here to compare a grullo foal with
a dun and a buckskin.
Dun Foals
Dun gene + bay
Typical characteristics:
Must have a parent that carries a dun gene
Red or brown dorsal stripe at birth "usually."
Dun foals do not typically have black dorsal stripes at birth.
Dorsal stripe usually extends down into the tail
Red or brown face mask between nostrils and eyes (across bridge
of nose)
Body color tan, reddish tan or buff, but not full red-bay colored at birth
Typically born with light/pink/peach skin color that later
darkens.
Dorsal stripe usually extends down into the tail
The top 1/3rd of the back of the ear is usually
orange/red
Buckskin Foals
Cream gene + bay
Typical characteristics:
Born buckskin or tan or cream, sometimes with blue-gray eyes
May or may not have a dorsal stripe at birth. Buckskin dorsal
stripes will fade over time unless the foal is a dunskin, and inherited a dun
gene from a dun-factored parent. Some retain some degree of countershading
stripes on their backs throughout their lives.
Palomino Foals
Cream gene + sorrel
Typical characteristics:
Born palomino, peachy-colored, or cream colored, sometimes
with blue-gray eyes.
May have peachy-colored skin at birth that darkens over time.
May have a darker mane and tail (orange) that turn white/light
over time
May or may not have a dorsal stripe at birth. Palomino dorsal
stripes will fade over time unless the foal is a dunalino, and inherited a dun
gene from a dun-factored parent. Some retain some degree of countershading
stripes on their backs throughout their lives.
Blue Roan Foals
Roan gene + black
Typical characteristics:
Must have a parent that carries a roan gene
Born black or charcoal colored, sometimes brownish
May or may not show roaning on hips before 2 months, but
should be obviously roan before weaning age.
Bay Roan Foals
Roan gene + bay
Typical characteristics:
Must have a parent that carries a roan gene
Born bay, often with buff/tan legs that later turn black
May or may not show roaning on hips before 2 months, but
should roan before weaning age.
Red Roan Foals
Roan gene + sorrel/chestnut
Typical characteristics:
Must have a parent that carries a roan gene
Born sorrel or chestnut, probably with light pink/peach skin
color.
May or may not show roaning on hips before 2 months, but
should roan before weaning age.
Gray Foals
Any color + gray
Note that the two foals on the left (with the blaze face) are the same foal.
Typical characteristics:
Born any color
Base colors with black legs (such as bay and black) that will turn
gray are often born WITH black legs. Non-graying foals that will eventually
have black legs often have buff or gray legs at birth instead of shiny black
legs at birth.
Base color of sorrel generally born with dark skin IF the foal
has a gray gene. Normal (not-graying) sorrels are born with pink/peach skin
color usually.
Side-by-Side Comparisons
Dun (L) and grullo (R)
Buckskin (L) and grullo (R)
Tricky Examples
Sometimes, foal coat colors can baffle even experts. Clues are
often there to tell us in advance if we recognize them...either the ancestors'
genetics or slight visual clues. Here are some neat, but tricky, foal coat
colors.
A buckskin foal (same horse in both photos)
Born red dun, but shed off silvery grullo (same horse in both
photos)
This foal is bay or bay roan, but has an amazing countershading
stripe and shoulder patch that will disappear over time. There are
no duns in his pedigree, and he is not a dun.
Composite Colors
I'm not including composite colors fully on this page because there are
just too darned many color combinations. But here are a few examples of what
foals can look like when they have more than one color-modifying gene.
Dunalino (same foal both pics)
Palomino + Dun Factor
Dunalino
Palomino + Dun Factor
Click here for her
web page to see mature color.
Note that
the two foals above are both dunalino, but were born and matured to
totally different in colors. They are a prime example of why
predicting foal colors from early photos can be difficult.
The most common mistake people who contact me
make
is in
trying to get others to believe
that their foal or horse is the color
they WANT him to be.
Many, many people have asked me over the
past few years what color their foals were, and then have refused to
accept my opinion because they so badly wanted their foal to be a
different color. As you try to figure out your foal's color, leave
your personal preference out of it....go by the facts first.
Hopefully, you'll be pleased in the end! But if not (for example, if
you wanted him to be a grulla and he turns out to be a sooty buckskin),
take comfort in the fact that you know the truth and can educate others
about the differences between similar colors.
Sharon Batteatte was probably the most influential person
in my early education about horse/foal colors. These pages have been
online for years, but are still worth peeking at. I don't know if Sharon
still maintains them, but as long as they are online, I'll keep their
links here!
Here are pictures of some common dun foal coat colors, and the final color
they turn out to be. Predicting a horse's final color from the foal coat color
can be very difficult. I have seen a buff colored foal with red mane shed out to
be a silver grullo with a black mane. Often they seem to go through several
color changes, with the final color only becoming fixed around 2 years old.
These foal coat colors are often confused with the dun factor dilution
colors above, and produce surprises for people as the horses mature and shed out
their foal coats. These colors demonstrate why it can be very difficult to
predict a horse's final color from their foal coat color.
Many foals exhibit primitive markings, striping, or texturing in their foal
coats. It is generally lost as the foal matures (like white spots on Deer fawns
or striping on Lion cubs).
Our graphics are all created as
original work, or else are from free image sites. If you know of a graphic
on one of our sites that you feel is in violation of copyright laws, please e-mail
us or call us, and we will happily replace it.
Under Iowa Law (and almost all states' laws),
a domesticated animal professional is not liable for damages suffered by, an
injury to, or the death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of
domesticated animal activities, pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 673. You are
assuming the inherent risks of participating in this domesticated animal
activity when you interact with, buy or ride any horse in the state of Iowa.
**Some of our pedigree information was
provided by American Quarter Horse Association from its Official Records. All
rights reserved. Join AQHA and receive 2 free pedigree searches each
month! Pedigree research also via
www.allbreedpedigree.com.
We are not professional pedigree researchers, and are not responsible for incorrect
pedigree research obtained from these sites and other sources.
The information provided is "as is" with all faults and without
warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. In no event shall Cedar Ridge
Quarter Horses/Todd or Toni Perdew be liable for any incidental or consequential
damages, lost profits, or any indirect damages caused by the information
presented.
