Strange and Unusual Horse Colors and Markings Quiz

Answer: It has minimal black points.

The wild bay is an interesting color, which has minimal black points. The black on the legs may only come up to the fetlocks. When the black reaches the cannon bone, the black and red begin to mix, resulting in a fading that's not seen in a regular bay. The wild bay is a rare horse color, but it is found in "regular" horses, not just mustangs. A wild bay can also have white markings, just like any other color.

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/bay.html
http://www.equinecolor.com/bay.html

Answer: False

The brindle horse usually has dark stripes on a lighter background, but there are cases of light stripes on a dark background. At one point, it was thought to be part of the dun factor, but it found to be untrue. "Many people confuse the Brindle pattern with Dun Factor markings (stripe down the back, barring on the legs, and occasional regular-spaced striping down the ribs). At one time, it was thought Brindle was a just a variation of Dun Factor. Indeed, there have been many examples of horses that were probably carrying both Dun Factor and Brindle." http://members.aol.com/brindlehos/index.htm

The brindle color can come in many breeds, such as Thoroughbred, Arabian, multiple breeds of warmbloods and more.

http://members.aol.com/l3l13/hist-ref-def/index.htm

Answer: Coat Texturing

Coat texturing is when parts of the coat stand up, and part of the coat lies down, like it usually does. It happens with many types of colors and patterns, including Appaloosa coloring (the black spots may stand up, while the surrounding white blanket may lie down.) It may also occur in solid colors, such as bay, with parts of the coat standing up in striped patterns.

http://members.aol.com/l3l13/characteristics/coattext.htm

Answer: Seal Brown

A seal brown is a brown horse (usually dark brown) with lighter, or mealy, areas. The muzzle may be a light brown, and there may be light brown on the legs where they join the body. A brown horse may have a black or brown coat, with lighter soft parts (muzzle, flank, belly, around eye, girth, inner thigh).

"Some browns have a brown body with 'mealy' (yellowish) or red soft points, and this is usually called 'brown'. Others are very dark or black, with lighter areas, and these are called seal brown. It is also called 'copper-nosed brown' or 'black and tan' in some areas. Some people group brown in with bay, but it should be considered a separate color."

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/sealbrown.html

Answer: Rocky Mountain Horse

The silver gene dilutes black, but not red. When on a black horse, the body is diluted to a chocolate color, and the mane and tail are diluted to a silver. The Rocky Mountain Horse's chocolate color is an example of the silver dilute. On a bay horse, the silver dilutes the mane and tail to the silver color, but since it doesn't dilute red, the body stays the brown color of the bay. The black points will dilute to the chocolate coloring. When on a chestnut horse, the silver is not displayed, so a flaxen chestnut is not a silver dilute.

The silver gene is in many breeds, including the Rocky Mountain Horse, the Miniature Horse, the Icelandic Horse and rarely in Quarter Horses.

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/silver.html

Answer: Zebra Striping

Zebra stripes are part of the dun gene. The zebra stripes are on the legs, and start where the black of the legs stop. They usually occur above the hock/knee, and are the same color as the dorsal stripe. They are also known as leg barring.

Answer: Frosting

Frosting occurs in the mane (and sometimes in the tail), and is where the outside of the mane is a much lighter shade than the inner mane. In the Norwegian Fjord, the mane is roached, with the dark part of the mane left an inch or so longer than the lighter section of the mane. The darker mane is the result of the dorsal stripe, while the frosting affects the outside of the mane.

Answer: The head

Cobwebbing occurs on the face, usually between the eyes. They are dark lines that resemble a cobweb, and are sometimes called chicken's feet.

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/dunfactors.html
http://www.equusite.com/articles/basics/colors/colorsGrullo.shtml

Answer: False

The bloodmark can only occur in gray horses. "Bloodmarks are rare markings that occur in some fleabitten gray horses. A fleabitten gray is a recessive form of gray that causes flecks of the horse's base color to appear in the horse's coat as it ages. All grays get lighter as they age, but fleabittens begin to get flecks of color that return to the body. When these 'fleabites' appear in one area, they may create a patch known as a Bloodmark."

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/bloodmarks.html

Answer: Friesian

While most people believe that the Friesian can only come in black, there are several cases of the Friesian coming in chestnut, including the stallion Fire Magic, and the mare Obizuth. The Friesian also used to come in silver dapple and gray. If the sire and dams of both red (chestnut) Friesians were bred again, there is a 25% possibility that they could produce more chestnut foals. "When two heterozygous black horses are bred, there is a 25% chance of getting a chestnut. Therefore both Fire Magic's sire and dam must have been heterozygous blacks, and if bred again, could produce another red friesian."

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/chestnut.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4075/obizuth.html
http://www.worldofdancinghorses.com/horses.html

Answer: yes

Since both spotted and pinto patterns are dominant, they are both displayed when the horse carries them. This combination is known as a "Pintaloosa." They are more apparent in the Miniature Horse.

http://cspotsminiaturehorses.homestead.com/apppatterns.html

Answer: True

It can occur on almost every color, from black to chestnut. It is the color going from dark on the topline (such as from the dorsal line), to a much lighter shade on the stomach. This also occurs in foals, where the foal will exhibit countershading but the adult horse may be a solid color. In some cases, the adult horse may still exhibit countershading, just not as extensive as the foal.

"An ancient camouflage technique is countershading. The animal is colored darker along the topline, and paler below, in order to counteract shadows caused by natural overhead light (which lights the top but causes shadows on the underside making the animal look three dimensional). In horses, the darker topline seen on mahogany bays and in the "seal brown" patten, and the colored back and sides, but almost white belly of the "blond sorrel" pattern, are examples of countershading. There have been no studies that I know of, to determine if one or several different genes may be involved in producing these different countershading patterns. "Mealy" (also called Pangare') may produce the blond sorrel, mealy muzzled bay and seal brown countershading patterns. "Sooty" (also called Smutty) may produce the sooty chestnut and palomino, smutty buckskin and dun, and mahogany bay and brown, countershading patterns."

http://hometown.aol.com/stripedhos/count.htm
http://hometown.aol.com/stripedhos/sootfoal/sootfoal.htm

Answer: Lacing

Lacing appears on the back, and is thought to be related to the Appaloosa or pinto patterns, although there is little to no evidence of that at this time (June 2007.) Lacing resembles lace on the back, with the lacing being a much lighter color than the body of the horse. In some cases, the lacing started out when the horse was older, on a four year old in one case. In almost every case, the lacing grew as the horse grew older, such as the case of the Standardbred Aachen. It is inherited, as some of Aachen's foals are exhibiting the lacing pattern.

http://www.equinecolor.com/unusual.html

Answer: False

Many foals will exhibit a dorsal stripe without the dun factor, which is a result of the natural camouflage. A foal with a dorsal stripe may only be a dun if at least one parent is a dun.

http://www.equinecolor.com/dun.html

Answer: True

There are several variations of dappling, including dappling, seasonal dappling and reverse dappling. Dappling is when the dappling is a lighter spot on a darker background. An example of the usual dappling is what's seen on a dapple gray. It can also occur in bays and chestnuts, as well as several other colors.

Seasonal dappling "started as a darker spot (looking like a reverse dapple pattern). Then the darker hair migrated to the edges producing the classic lighter centered dapple. Similar migrations of pigment have also been reported in Appaloosa horses, although the dapple spots and appaloosa spots themselves probably result from different mechanisms."

Reverse dappling is called roan in donkeys, and is rare in horses. In horses, it's usually seasonal. Reverse dappling is where the dapple is darker than the surrounding coat.

http://members.aol.com/jbatteate/dapple/dapple.htm