Horse Color Genetics
October 2, 2008
It can be tricky to breed for a specific horse color.
We all have our favorite horse colors and markings. Often, our favorites are the least common, such as roans and palominos. Many breeders strive for a unique nitche – top-quality horses displaying those fun, less-common AQHA colors and markings we love to see in action.
Here are some coat-color thoughts to keep in mind:
- The genetics of coat color are complicated, and the science of color is an ongoing process. Researchers do not know everything yet.
- All white markings are superimposed over a base body color. This includes gray horses. Thus, when discussing color inheritance, the base color must be considered and understood.
- Foals are rarely born the color or shade they will appear in adulthood. If there is any uncertainty, it is usually best to wait until the foal has shed the foal coat before identifying the color. Papers can be sent to AQHA with the color blank and filled in after the foal has shed the foal coat.
Learn more about horse colors. Get AQHA’s FREE report, Coat Color Genetics.
Some fun facts about horse color:
- Combined, sorrel and chestnut horses comprised 37 percent of all American Quarter Horses registered in 2005. Black horses accounted for approximately 3 percent.
- Legend says sorrel horses are generally flightier and more “hot” than horses of other colors and that they mature faster than those of other colors. Black horses, on the other hand, are generally held as sleepy.
- Black horses are usually not born jet black, instead typically appearing as some shade of gray (from light to dark) with a black mane and tail. As foals, they will have dorsal stripes and usually zebra stripes and are often confused with grullos. When these horses shed their foal coat, they will look black.
Understand the color genetics of all 17 approved AQHA colors. Get the FREE Coat Color Genetics report today!
Brush up on these color terms:
Allele – Alternative forms of a gene that occurs on the same place on a chromosome.
Chromosome - A series of genes strung together. They appear in pairs, and each parent gives one of its chromosomes to the foal. Horses have 32 pairs.
Dilution – A gene that causes a horse’s coat color to become lighter in appearance.
Dominant – A gene that will be expressed phenotypically over a recessive gene.
Gene – Segment of DNA that provides a blueprint of genetic information.
Genotype – The genetic makeup of an animal.
Homozygous – A pair of genes that are the same.
Heterozygous – A pair of genes that are different.
Modifier - A gene that changes the phenotypic appearance of a horse.
Phenotype - The physical appearance of an animal.
Points – The mane, tail, legs and eartips of a horse.
Recessive – A gene that will be hidden phenotypically if a dominant gene has control.
Comments
60 Comments on “Horse Color Genetics”
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October 8th, 2008 at 7:35 am
I have a AQHA Bay Mare that is turning 16 years old. She has never been bred and I was wondering if it is to risky to breed her now?? She gets very marish toward my gelding during her cycle and I even wondered if breeding her could improve her attitude. She in no way gets out of line with me or other people. In fact, she is very layed back and can be trusted with babies and young children and other Quarter Horse friends ask for them to be led around on her. I compete in Pole Bending on her at AQHA shows so she is in very good shape from practicing. If you think it is safe to breed her at her age I would like for her to have a Bay so I was also wondering what to breed her with.
October 8th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I bred my 21 year old barrel mare for a 2008 maiden foal. Mare was in good shape and well kept her whole life. Now I have a perfect 6 month old filly be her side. She is healthy and baby is healthy. I did not have one problem, but it probably depends on your mare. If you want a bay, breed to a bay with bay parents or even a black.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I have a sorrel AQHA mare and have plans on breeding her to a buckskin AQHA stallion. What colors would this combination come up with?
October 8th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
This cross (sorrel x buckskin) could yield the following colors:
palomino, buckskin, smoky black, sorrel, bay or black
An excellent & informative site online to help understand breeding & color is:
http://www.doubledilute.com
Hope this has helped.
Peggy Reimer
October 8th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I have a sorrel mare, 4 years old. Brown sire, sorrel dam. The mare had a little roaning on one leg when I bought her as a yearling, but that was it in addition to a star and a half pastern sock. Suddenly in the last three months she is getting white hair on her body in some random hairs and then in about 15 spots about half the size of a dime with white skin under them. My vet says its genetics, but I really do not want my quarter horse mare looking like an appaloosa! Could it be a mineral issue? Or is this really a luck of the draw with genetics
October 8th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I have a 4 year old sorrel mare. Palomino paint sire, sorrel dam. She has 4 white stockings, white blaze & white hair mingled in all over her body with one area on her back leg that is trying to turn into a paint spot. I am planning on breeding her in a year or two but I don’t want a paint I would prefer either a palomino or buckskin. What color should I breed her to
to achieve this?
October 9th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Leanna,
If you are wanting a palomino, your best bet would be to breed to a dilute..which is either a cremello (best chance) or perlino. Either one will guarantee a diluted colt (palomino or buckskin) the white on your mare just indicates she could be a sabino which is indicitave of the white hair throughout her coat. this coloring is just an option, kind of like getting chrome bumpers on your truck, the base color which is sorrel is what you are looking at. The way I would go is because she is probably registered as a paint would be to find a really nice tobiano cremello stud in your area. This would “almost” guarantee a palomino. A great website to look at would be the cremello and perlino site.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I have a 10 yo bay QH mare that I was considering to breed in the future. I would really love to have a grulla foal, but dont know if it would even be a possibility with her being a bay.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Tiffany,
Check the information about coat colors that AQHA has available. There are also several websites that can give you info about Grullos and other coat colors. Some suggestions:
http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Outback/2936/colors.html
http://www.everettacres.com/For_Sale.html Scroll down to “Links” on this page and choose the one from “animal genetics” to find possible coat color outcomes when crossing your horse to another color.
There are more sites out there and some good books available, too.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I have a 2 yr old Pinto mare that has a dark bay Arabian mother and a Black with some white Tobiano Paint father. Both parents are papered. My mare was bred to a 3 yr old AQHA Dunn Stallion. Any clue as to what color this foal might be?? Is one color more dominant than the other?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I’ve bred my 18yo bay mare 3 times – 2x to the same sorrel stud and once to my sorrel overo paint stallion. I have 2 chestnut fillie by the sorrel stud and a bay overo (okay, she only has one spot – but it qualifies) filly by the paint stud. My question — what can I do to guarantee a colt? (LOL)
October 11th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I have a sorrel mare bred to a dark bay stallion (with a buckskin sire), her mother was black and her sire was bay. Is there any chance for a bay foal? Her last foal by a grey stallion is a sorrel like her.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Hi All,
See this web site page also:
http://www.equinecolor.com/unusual.html
The rest of the site is also interesting to explore.
Peggy Reimer
October 13th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I have a sorrel mare, bred to a dark bay, and my foal came out dark bay. YOu will probably get a dark bay.
October 14th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I bred a brown mare to a blood bay and had a black filly. She was born grullo with strips, now at seven months she is jet black. She went throught a lot of color changes. From gurllo to buckshin to brown to black. I hope this will be her final color. I was not expecting a black and this is a wonderful surprise for us.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I have a 3 year old palomino halter mare. And i wanted to no what color to breed her with??
January 21st, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Tiffany,
I raise a few Grullos each year. Maybe I can help you with some of your questions or point you in the right direction. I would love to help if I can. I have been breeding for the Grullo color to incorporate into my running bred horses for a few years now and have been very successful with getting my color!
Melva
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 am
Just one quick question… Is it true that if you breed a palomino to a palomino you could get a blind foal? I just heard that and was wondering if it was true.
Thanks
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
Hello All:
I am the author of the color series, which originally ran in America’s Horse magazine. I wanted to jump in and answer a few questions you guys have.
Nicole, you spoke about your sorrel mare that is developing small white spots. This is likely to be what is called “Birdcatcher spots” after a famous Thoroughbred stallion who had them. Their cause is unknown. You can read more about them here: http://www.equinecolor.com/unusual.html#bird
Kelley, you asked “Just one quick question… Is it true that if you breed a palomino to a palomino you could get a blind foal? I just heard that and was wondering if it was true.”
That is false. Breeding a palomino (which is a sorrel or chestnut horse with a single cream gene) to another palomino has a 25 percent chance of producing a cremello, which is commonly termed a “double dilute” — it has two copies of the cream gene. These horses have white hair, pink skin and blue eyes, which can cause them to be confused with albinos (there are no known albinos in horses). Unfortunately, there is a lot of prejudice against the double dilutes, and thus a lot of misinformation. These horses are just as healthy as normal horses, although due to their pink skin they do tend to sunburn more easily (as with any pink-skinned animal – i.e. a horse with a wide blaze can often burn its nose). Research has proven they do not suffer from eye problems any more than the average equine population.
For those interested in knowing the color possibilities of any given mating, I find the Animal Genetics Inc.’s color cross calculator (http://www.animalgenetics.us/CCalculator1.asp) to be very helpful.
In addition, the Cremello and Perlino Education Association has a very nice page (http://www.doubledilute.com/color-chart.htm) that both describes the many colors that can be found with the cream gene, as well as a helpful chart that explains foal color possibilities.
Sincerely,
Andrea Caudill
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
I own a AQHA bay roan mare that I want to breed.She has three generations and blue roans(sire)If I breed to a blue roan what are my changes of a blue foal? What information is there about roans.
thanks
Cindy Harper
February 4th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Cindy, to answer your question it would be helpful to know if your bay roan mare or the blue roan stallion is homozygous or heterozygous for the black gene, red gene or agouti gene. With this unknown information we would say most likely you would get approximately 50% bay roan, 25% or less blue roan or bay, and other possibilities are black, sorrel/chestnut and red roan.
Sincerely,
Lisa Covey or Debbie Black
Equine Color Specialist
March 27th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I have a chestnut mare with a palemino sire and a chestnut dam. I want to breed her to a black tobiano paint. my mare is 13.3% palemino, 20.3% sorrel, 10% brown, 16.6% bay, 3.3%black, 10% dun,and 16.6% chestnut. I don’t have the papers on the stud i want to breed her to. does anyone know what color the foal will be?
March 30th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Lisa, to answer your question it does not matter the genetics behind a chestnut or sorrel the only thing a sorrel or chestnut will pass on is red. You most likely get a sorrel, chestnut, bay, brown or black.
Sincerely,
Lisa Covey or Debbie Black
Equine Color Specialist
April 8th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I really need some help with genetics. I have a solid sorrel mare that I had bred to a buckskin tobiano stud. He is young but before my foal he only produced palominos with a sorrel mare. On 3/24/09 my solid sorrel mare produced an oddly colored tobiano filly. Beautifully marked! She was born smokey black, lighter than her pure black mane and tail. Her sire (unknown homo) is a several generation grulla on both sides. It’s been 3 weeks since my filly was born and she is starting to change colors. She is a weird mix of gray/tan. I thought maybe she would be a grulla but she doesn’t have a dorsal strip or any else indicating a grulla. Just wondering if there is a chance she’ll be a buckskin…. I think I could die happy if she was. Either way is a beautiful filly that I am planning on keeping whether she is black, grulla, buckskin or whatever.I just wanna know… Can anyone help me?? Email me at emma_qt_53kg@hotmail.com… Thanks, Em
April 14th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Emma,to answer your question we typically would recommend waiting for the foal to shed the foal hair which can take two to four months depending on your weather. A foal born smoky black in color typically will shed off to be black.
Sincerely,
Debbie Black or Lisa Covey
Equine Color Specialist
April 25th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Hi, I have a sorrel mare and a black stallion.I bred her to him and got a sorrel with blue eyes a blaze face and four white feet. I get the color end of things but how and where did the blue eyes come from? I crossed them again and am curious as to what other color combinations could there be? Thanks Lucy.
April 28th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I have a bay roan mare and I am thinking of breeding her to a palomino stud. What are the possible colors of the colt? Thanks, Ben
April 28th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Ben, to answer your question your most likely to get a buckskin or buckskin roan, bay or bay roan. Other less likely possiblities are red roan, palomino or palomino roan, smoky black or smoky black roan (blue roan) or even black.
Sincerely,
Debbie Black or Lisa Covey
Equine Color Specialist
April 28th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Lucy, to answer your question the blue eyes or some people refer to them as glass eyes could be from the white marking on the face. To answer your second question your color possibilties are sorrel, chestnut, bay, brown or black.
Sincerely,
Debbie Black or Lisa Covey
Equine Color Specialist
May 11th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I have a 8 year old AQHA Dunalino and I would like to breed her. I would like to try to get a dappled palomino…What color could I breed her to, and is this even a possible color? I was thinking of breeding her to a dark dappled gray…?
May 15th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Kemberly, to answer your question, dappling on a gray horse is not the same as on other horses. It is not uncommon for palomino/buckskins (creme diluted) to exhibit dappling. However, breeding for it may or may not be successful. Breeding for a characteristic such as dappling would more likely be successful if one of the parents has that characteristic.
Sincerely,
Debbie Black or Lisa Covey
Equine Color Specialist
May 25th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
i have a gray(white with red speckles) mare that i will be breeding with a black stud they are both anglo arabs so i was wondering if anyone has any idea what the foal might turn out to be.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:55 am
i bought a 6yr old sorrel mare in jan 09 and just recently found out that she was with foal(vet checked)and i called the previous owner and asked what the sire color was and he is a black/white medicine hat( alot more white than black) black cap,and large black spot on chest and i believe blue eyes. i have tryed to look-up foal colors and no luck. i know i should get paint/solid with chrome but what color?
July 4th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Hello
I bred my Golden Palomino mare to a Blue Roan stud.
The filly is now 2 months old.
At birth she appeared Palomino.
Now I have noticed her head is darkening , some of her baby coat is shedding and she appears darker under the patches!
What color do you think she going to be?
I need to register her soon and don’t have a clue what color she is??
Thank you for the help!
July 12th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
i breed my 6 year red roan qaurter horse to a black qaurter horse stallion i was wounding what colors her foal could be?
September 18th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I have a 6 year old cremello Quarter horse and I am thinking of breeding her to a dark bay. His father was black. I am wondering what colors could might I get if I breed the two.
September 20th, 2009 at 7:48 am
I have a Dunalino Mare, will she carry both genes, Dun and Palomino ? Thanks
September 27th, 2009 at 9:58 am
What would be the coloring of the foal if the sire was a grey and the dam was a overo paint
October 1st, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I have a red roan mare that I bread to a gray stud what color do you think i will get?
Jen
November 16th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I am considering buying a palamino mare that is bred to a blue roan. Anyone dare take a guess at what color the baby might be? And next i wanna breed her to a black paint stud! Any ideas?
December 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
i have an 8 yr old dark bay breeding stock paint quarter horse. if i breed her to a homo black or hetero what is the possibility that she will have a dark bay? the guy i got her from said that if i breed her since she is breeding stock(which means she could have any color of foal) that she could have any possible color, but i want a dark bay.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
My mare is a dapple gray (but very light dapple). Could she have a roan baby? Or a black one?
Do you think that breeding her with an appaloosa would be nice if I want to have a VERY coloured baby? (I mean, with A LOT of spots)?
January 18th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Cindy,
First, the dapples on gray horses are not spots, even though in certain stages of graying the gray horse may appear “spotty”. Genetically your gray mare will produce a foal that turns gray about 50% of the time, but what other color genes the gray mare might carry is unknown unless you know what color she was at birth. Breeding her to an Appaloosa might produce a spotted foal about 50% of the time since the Leopard complex spotting is a dominate gene, but remember half of this mare’s foals will turn gray which might result in a colored foal for a few years before it also turns gray.
February 17th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Thanks a lot Debbie.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:56 am
I have a 2yr old colt that was born chestnut, then he shedded out drk/liver chestnut. His sire is chestnut. dam is a sorrel/overo crop out paint. the mare also has roaning on her sides, a belly splash, big wide blaze, stockings and socks. This colt is still drk chestnut. and he has roaning in his flanks and big darker chestnut spots throughout his flanks. He has 15-20 + spots on his flanks. His sire has a few spots here and there. And his dam had a few here and there. My stallions dam lived to be 34, as she aged her spots turned grey. My stallion is now 24 and some of his spots are turning also. At 2 does it seem like this horse will have spots forever? They are all AQHA horses, (except the Paint, pending AQHA reg)
Vonne
April 28th, 2010 at 6:02 am
[...] was taking lessons at a nearby barn when the owner pulled out a “cute little chestnut” and told Lisa to “ride him … I think you’ll like him.” Upon first inspection, the [...]
April 28th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Debbie,
Posted once this morning, can’t find it now. Have a buckskin mare that produced a Palomino filly 7 yrs ago when bred to a sorrel stud. Last year we bred her to a copper chestnut with a dark mane and tail. The baby arrived this morning. He is very faint red, almost pinkish in color with no apparent white markings. Light brown skin around the muzzle, pink skin around the eyes, with what appear to be bluish-gray eyes. He’s inside due to high wind so shadows make exact eye color difficult to determine. Could this colt by chance, be Perlino? I’ve never seen a chestnut colt so pale in color before. His dam is a dappled buckskin, no white marking, and AMBER colored eyes. The sire has produced both dark bay and chestnut. His sire was bay, dam was chestnut. The Buckskins parents are a sorrel mare and a buckskin stud, he was out of a black mare and palomino stud. I know I should wait until he sheds, but his coloring is just odd. Any ideas?
Thank you,
Sharon
April 28th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Hey, Sharon. Debbie answered you here: http://americashorsedaily.com/become-a-horse-coat-color-expert/#comments Hope this helps!
May 11th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I have a solid sorrel mare that i just bred to a solid quarter horse palamino stud what are my color possibilites????
May 11th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Dear Brittanie,
When you breed a sorrel to a palomino the offspring will be 50% sorrel and 50% palomino.
Thanks for your question!
May 11th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
one more question if my sorrel is a solid paint and he is a solid quarter horse what is the possibality of a paint foal?
May 11th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Dear Brittanie,
Whether or not the offspring has Paint characteristics would depend on the genetics of the mare. I would suggest you contact the American Paint Horse Association for an answer to this question.
May 31st, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Can you get a Grulla from a Bay Mare and a Palamino Stud? We had a filly born this week and it is exactly the color described by the AQHA as a Grulla. We have been told that you can not produce that color from this combination? Is that true?
June 1st, 2010 at 7:52 pm
My 3 years old filly is a Bay Red Roan Paintaloosa. So her Red large spots have many little white spots in it.
She is absolutely one of a kind and I’m wondering, can she give a solid colored foal?
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
Hello Cindy,
Thank you for your question. It is possible to get a non-roan foal, but we do not currently work with the genetics of the spotted breeds such as Paints or Appaloosa’s. Please feel free to contact us when you have another question.
Sincerely,
Debbie Black or Lisa Covey
Equine Color Specialist
806-378-4550
June 5th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I have a red roan mare and I want to breed her to a blue roan blanket butt appy. What colors can I get?
June 6th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Cindy
try this color calculator it may help
http://horsetesting.com/CCalculator3.asp
June 23rd, 2010 at 11:47 am
I have a filly. Her dam is a solid sorrel and her sire is a blue roan. Her color when born was a sorrel color with a black mane and tail but is shedding off to be a really light color alomost buckskin color. Is it even possible for a sorrel bred with a blue roan to throw a buckskin?
July 1st, 2010 at 10:01 am
Hello Brittany,
Thank you for your e-mail. To answer your question, yes it is possible to have buckskin in some cases. In your case I feel like it would be best if you could contact me personally to discuss the genetics of the individual horses involved.
Debbie Black or Lisa Covey
Equine Color Specialist
806-378-4550
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:02 am
[...] tail,” and appearing as white flecking, rabicano (rah-bih-KAH-no) is commonly mistaken for a roan coloration, but it is a marking caused by a different [...]