Image from Da Beez
My goal is always to represent the horse world as accurately as possible, and as my regular readers know, I’m always asking for help to do that. I spend a lot of hours researching and putting together the articles (and pages) I write to be informative, educational and fun.
I’m No Geneticist
I will, however, make mistakes from time to time and that is where I count on the equine experts and community to help me by letting me know if my information is incorrect. Feedback is always appreciated because it never fails to teach me something new and it means that my website is kept up-to-date and accurate.
Called Into Question
It has come to my attention (through a comment) that my post on rare horse colors may not provide complete information. When I read the comment I quickly re-checked my facts to ensure I hadn’t been mistaken.
Getting the Facts Straight
I wanted to address this right away, especially because horse color genetics are often misunderstood (& misrepresented) and the research available online is limited at best. If anyone has better information and/or a great source for it, please let me know.
I’m glad to have the feedback, but I’ll have to stand by my information this time.
The pure albino gene is fatal in horses, they do not develop properly in utero. If they do survive until birth, they die shortly thereafter
You can read more about the genetics that create an albino horse at White Horse Productions, Texas A&M University, and from Jeff Sadler who teaches biology and has a great grasp of equine genetics.
My research on white horses has been difficult. What most people call a “white” or “albino” horse (pink skin and blue eyes) is usually a cremello or perlino. This is a chestnut base affected by a double dose of the creme dilution gene.
I don’t like linking to the Wikipedia for information, so I’m not sure of its validity, but they discuss a “true white” horse which is very rare. My understanding is that a white animal can carry a white gene, and pass it to their offspring. It takes two parents with said white gene to (rarely) produce a pure albino which will not survive.
There are two different types of black horses, fading black and non-fading black. Fading black horses will fade out with age. However a non-fading black horse retains their deep black color throughout their life and they are indeed rare.
You can find more about black horse genetics on horsecolor.com
Buckskin coloring comes from the addition of a creme dilution gene on a bay, and even a single dilution of a creme gene can produce blue eyes.
They are also a rare color because they are reliant on the creme gene which is elusive and can be difficult to reproduce, even if both parents carry it.
You can read more about buckskin horse genetics on Horse Info and ehow advice.
A chocolate palomino is usually the result of a paring between a palomino and a liver chestnut animal and is actually considered a palomino because it is created by the creme dilution gene.
You can read more about palomino color genetics at Horse Genetics
The silver dapple color is a result of a silver dilution gene on a black base and it is indeed a rare color. Gaited and mountain breeders call it chocolate and Icelandic breeders call it blue silver.
You can find more information about the genetics of silver dapple (and other silver colors) at Equine Color.
A flaxen chestnut is a horse with a chestnut base affected by a flaxen color modifier which turns the mane and tail flaxen in color. This color modifier only affects chestnut animals & is still a mystery gene that is believed to be recessive (needs both parents to carry it for it to be displayed in offspring). This modifier is commonly found in Haflinger horses
Unfortunately there is limited information to link to here, the flaxen modifier is touched upon but not much is known about it.
Disagree?
That’s what the comments are for. If you can prove my research wrong, by all means show me so I can amend my information.
Here’a a question for you, I have had a hard time deciphering this. What are the possible results if I bred my grulla/dun mare with a cremello stallion? I should maybe mention that her dam is chestnut APHA and the sire is a grulla/dun Portuguese Sorraia (not spanish type or sorraia type mustang). Thanks!
The lack of pigmentation everywhere on the body is what make albino albino otherwise it is like, for exanmple the white lion, non albino but the coat appears white, like the Spanish Libziners can’t spell or say it sorry hopefully people will no what i mean if not look up the spanish riding school. Albinos always have reddish pink eyes, pink skin, and white hiar it’s what makes it albino
i have a black mare bred to a black and white tobino i got a grullo colt i believe he was born in may looked liked a tan bay dun dorsal strippe primitive stripes on withers face masking now he is so dark you can see his stripes he is a chocolet color he has 3 white socks and a small star now he seems to be getting a skunk tail there are white hairs coming in his tail in the last month what the heck color is my dakota
I hope you dont think Im an idiot, but could you please explain to me what homogeneous means?
I know you said you would stand by your info since there is so many comments, and I haven’t read all the comments so somone may have already mentioned this, but your infor on the dominate white and albino is false. The lethel white sydrome is caused by frame overo pintos who are either hetergynous or homgynous I don’t remember… but when bred together they produce a white foal-which is minimal marked pinto and has no color- and theyre digestive track is incomplete and they die. The actual dominate white gene is not related to this and more likely related to sabino.
I am very interested on this Albino Topic. I t has been going on for quite a while. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, An Albino animal has no pigment, so it needs pink skin and eyes, and a white coat with NO dark markings, even if very unnoticeable. People keep bringing up cases in which they know of an Albino horse, but it is very unlikely that it would be an Albino.
Snoo
PS Pink AROUND the eyes does NOT mean Pink Eyes, and an animal with blue eyes is not an Albino either.
PPS 1 blue eye and 1 brown eye on an animal usually means lack of Melanin.
Hi, I have a cremello gelding and I fought with anyone who dared to call him an albino, but then the vet came and told me that he was in fact an albino. I know that the vet is human and can make mistakes, but I like to think he knows what he’s taking about…
I have a question… a bay can come in wild type, so can’t all buckskins? Are there wild type buckskins?
i grew up in a family of horse lovers. we had a pair of registered palominos. from this pair we had a pink eyed and pink skinned colt. we named her misty. this was l952. we had newspapers takking pictures. she was a big hit.
Hi,
Wow all this talk of various colours is quite exhausting and I just wanted to confirm that rare albino horses do exist. We used to have a thoroughbred x arab stallion called Albino during the sixties and the seventies. He was pure white all over with reddish-pink eyes, pink skin around his eyes/nostrils and used to startle folks who happened to glance at his eyes. His sire was a dark bay hunter and his dam was a dark dappled grey arab. As far as I’m aware Albino never sired white foals but he did sire a golden palomino mare who did produce a grey foal. I call them greys as they started off as lightly dappled, later on turning very white all over but with black skin around brown eyes and nostrils.
If I see a pink skinned white horse with blue or green eyes (blue/green eyes are more common in piebalds and skewbalds), I would not class them as albinoes but merely white horses with blue/green eyes.
Yet humans with blue eyes and very pale skin with white hair are called albinoes so I do often wonder how do you define the difference between blue eyed and red eyed human/animal with very pale pink skin/pure white hair/fur? Then I see yellowy coloured pythons that are often referred as albinoes.
Is the word albino linked to any living thing with red eyes or as well as with blue eyes?
The colour you call a buckskin is what I call a dun here.
Oh, I just remembered that Albino’s grandsire was another albino but he died before I was born so I don’t know much of his background except that he was called Phantom.
What would I get if I bred my Palomino mare to a Silver bay stud? I know it would have black points..but what color?
I was just wondering, is it possible for a Purebred American Quarterhorse to carry Pangare?
Also, would it even be possible for them to carry Pinto AND Pangare?
I have to disagree with the albino portion. I have 2 stallions with the pure albino gene and one is 6 years old and the other’s almost 20. He has produced foals with the true albino gene.
This topic on Albino horses has gone on for a while. .
Can you please put more info about Red Dun horses.
Hi guys! I live on a horse farm in South Africa. My mare Buttercup changes colour every seson. When she was born she was a light yellow dun she then turned a blue roan and sometimes goes a deep brown. She is still fairly young being about 5 years old. Her sire was a dapple grey and her dam is a deep brown. She has never been clipped and no one can provide an exsplination as to what her colouring is.
She has given birth to her first foal and it looks just like she did as a foal.
Anyone know what colour she is?
It’s hard to tell with out a photo but it kind of sounds like maybe a grulla. They’re born light and get darker as they grow and can look completely different with their winter coat from their summer coat. The father being a gray means he could have been any color and possibly carried the dun gene…
Thanks fo the help
Perlinos are cool!
I know they are different genetically but can someone please tell me the difference between duns, dunskins and buckskin? Thanks
A buckskin is a bay with one cream. The cream lightens the coat into a gold color. A dun is a bay with a dun gene. Dun’s also lighten the coat but they have primitive markings such as a dorsal stripes. Sometimes Buckskin’s have what is called counter shading which makes this confusing because countershading can look like a dorsal stripe. Sometimes the edges of the line of countershading isn’t as clear as a dun dorsal stripe. You can also tell if the dorsal stripe goes into the tail then it’s a dun, but that could be hard to see if both tails are black. Also usually, buckskins tend to be more yellow and dun’s more tan. Now a dunskin is combining the two. Since there’s two dilutions they tend to be a lighter color.
Thanks for that
Here is a picture of a ‘Albino’ horse. It isn’t an Albino because it has blue eyes, but many people call it an Albino-
http://mail.google.com/a/metrolex.com.au/?ui=2&ik=470a813712&view=att&th=12f1a2b2e7504b3f&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f58982bee1b6ab19_0.1&zw
Also if a horse has any darker than white markings on its body it has pigment and is not an albino, tho some people say that there are two types: with no melanin at all, and with a bit of melanin. Dark or blue eyes with dark marks on their body are horses with a bit of melanin, and aren’t completely albino. True albinos have no pigment or melanin.
sorry it’s upside down
Thanks for the article. very nice easy read and informative.
would love to hear more on horse color / genetics etc..
some comments are a bit pernickety. I really enjoyed the article thanks
I have a albino horse, and he is a stud. He never did die, and We have albino babies, and they don’t die. If possible you might want to change your information. Thanks. I was just letting you no, I don’t want to be mean!(:
This post and its comments helped me a lot.
Thanks!
Hi, first I wanted to thank you for this site. Second I was wondering about breeding two buckskins. Would that produce an ‘albino’? I was told it would many years ago, but never knew for sure.
Depending on their genetic makeup, if they are both Ee base (black/red) with one bay gene each you could get Buckskin, Bay, Chestnut, Palomino, Perlino, Cremello, Black, Smokey Black, Smokey Cream. If only one is EE and one Bay gene each (black/Black) you could get Buckskin, Bay, Perlino, Black, Smokey Black, Smokey Cream. If either Buckskin has 2 Bay genes you will get Bay, Buckskin, or Perlino.
Chestnut, Palomino, and Cremello are all red based and can hide in Black, Bay, Buckskin, any black based horse and you won’t know unless you get the horse tested to see if it is EE or Ee. Just that if you don’t know which combo you have with those Buckskins, you have about a 25% chance of a red based foal if both are Ee. This is why most breeders get their horses tested, including the red based ones as reds (chestnuts, ect) can hide bay and silver. Black based horses can hide flaxen and won’t show 1 cream gene.
Once you know what each horse is you can make an accurate Punit Square.
For what is it worth, my understanding is that true albino horses are not supposed to exist.
My definition of true albinism (as opposed to pseudo albinism) is no pigment existing at all with an eye color of pink or red.
I have seen absolutely pure white horses with pure white hair/manes/tails (not light cream)/pinkish white hooves, but with blue eyes. The blue eyes (very pale translucent blue with BLUE pupils) negate these animals as being true albinos.
I have never seen a pink or red eyed horse, but if such an animal exists, would love to see one.
I have read articles suggesting true albinism in horse either does not exist or is lethal with in utero death or death shortly after birth.
I have a blue eyed buckskin.how rare is it?
black horses they are not too rare
blue roan horses are rare lots of roans like strawberry roan and stuff
but i have a blue roan horse
ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME, OF COURSE IT WAS DYED PINK…Wow that nerve some of you have..How stupid can a person get…Jeez…OH well I mustn’t be that mean but come on… Really now.
Hi Bob,
Here is everything I know about the American Albino breed. That breed is now called the American Cream & White, and are not genetically albino. I’m sure some of my readers can answer better than I when it comes to this topic, but from my understanding cremello & perlino horses are often mistaken for albinos.
It probably means, that your horse carried the Splashed White Gen (Spl) in addition to any creme or Ww genes. Even darkcolored horses carrying the spl gene often have blue eyes or a blue and a dark eye.
Yes, the scientific world, there are no “albino” horses. In the horse world, which people care about more, there are albinos and cremellos.
Wow what an interesting case you have there… A sad story, though. I would love to see pictures of Bella, she sounds like quite the treasure!
They now allow double dilutes to be registered. However, that was not the case back in the 80′s when I first acquired my horse.
A few simple rules (only as far as the cream dilution is in play) will help you determine foal color.
“Single dilutes” or horses that are heterozygous, or have one copy of the “cream gene”, are buckskin and palomino. They have brown eyes, like most horses. A palomino is simply a chesnut with a copy of the cream dilution. The base is chesnut, or the “Red factor”. A buckskin is truly a bay, with, again, one copy of the cream gene. The base is the agouti gene.
Now, if you breed a horse heterozygous for the cream gene to a horse that is also heterozygous, you will get a foal that will be homozygous for the gene.. it’s inevitable. The horses are: Cremello, Perlino, Smoky Black, and Smoky Cream. All of these horses have blue eyes and that is the easiest way to recognize them. However, not all blue-eyed horses are double dilutes, obviously. But if a horse is homozygous for the gene, it will have blue eyes. Any other is an impossibility. Therefore, if you’re at the horse sale and someone proclaims a horse has a buckskin sire and a palomino dam, but the horse is black with brown eyes.. it’s a lie. Also, certain combinations wield certain colors, ALWAYS. One example of a 100% strike rate is the combo of a chesnut and cremello.. the combination of the truest form of the red factor and the cremello, a homozygous cream dilution, will always produce a palomino. This only works with chesnut and cremello. Other combinations are out there, of course, and can always work, or have a percentage chance. Research, research, research people=)
Okay, sorry Kate, but you are incorrect. YES, we often refer to chesnut as a richer, darker color. However, genetically, chesnut and sorrel are the exact same, the true Red Factor with no dilutions or modifications.
If you’re registering this foal, a genetic color test can be done to ensure you have the color correct.
As far as “Gaited” goes, chocolate is not recognized by the Racking/Walking worlds. I’m fairly certain it is not a recognized coat color of the American Saddlebred either..
Bob,
Although it is extremely common for, as Paige noted, cremellos and perlinos to be confused with albinos, I can see where that misunderstanding came from. From the way it sounds, this ranch existed some time ago, correct? At the time, geneticists had probably not reached the conclusion we have now about albinos.. they do not exist. And, all albinos are completely lacking of pigment, which means the eyes could not have been blue.
http://www.horsetesting.com/CCalculator1.asp
This should be helpful=)
Friesians CAN actually be chestnut but they are very very rare. For the most part, the Friesian breed is EE (homozygous black) with no Agouti genes present. They have been selectively bred this way for hundreds of years. Occasionally, a Friesian will be Ee (black and red) but because there is no agouti gene, the red gene just stays “hidden.” When someone breeds 2 Ee Friesians, There is a 25% possibility of an ee (chestnut) Friesian. See pics at http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/friesians/red.html
Kate,
You make the argument that people care about the horse world more, but science is what people in the horse world reference. Maybe you should find proof of an albino having completely unpigmented eyes, hooves, and skin, then make your case.
wrong
It is possible to have a black out of a buckskin and palomino though. Both those are heterozygouse for the cream, one copy each, not 2. So offspring can out of that combo be crcr as well as Crcr and CrCr.
Say the buckskin is EeAaCrcr – ‘Fading’ Black with one Bay gene and as its buckskin, one cream gene or even EEAaCrcr – ‘Jet’ black with one bay and one cream gene. Then if the other is a eeaaCrcr – chestnut with no hidden bay and one cream gene or even eeAaCrcr – chestnut with a hidden bay gene and one cream gene.With either combination of any of the buckskins stated above and with either of the palominos, there is a possibility for Black, Bay, Chestnut, Smokey Black, Buckskin, Palomino, Smokey Cream, Perlino, and Cremello. Sure the chances for the Black, Smokey Black, and Smokey cream are low, but it has happened. It is more likely to happen with the EEAaCrcr/eeaaCrcr combination of course.
Single dilutes of cream may have green, hazel, amber, or brown eyes. Double Dilutes will have blue to green eyes
and that’s to dallas
I don’t think Perlinos look could be mistaken for Albinos but cremellos could.
Very easily lol
i know, I have like 3 albino horses.
yes it is, I have a chocolate walking horse