You may be new to horses and what to learn some more about their different coats and colors! From bay to black… to what really is the difference between a white and grey horse? There are so many variations of horse colors and it’s been amazing to put this together! So, let’s get right into it! *

Bay

This is probably the most common color of horse. It’s the classic brown with black mane, tail, tips of the ears and legs. They may have white legs and face markings as well. There are also other types of bay such as blood bay, light bay or dark bay.

Black

Imagine the classic black beauty galloping through the fields or the majestic black stallion running along the beach. Yep, we’re at the beautiful blacks! It’s pretty simple- a black coat, mane and tail! Black horses are absolutely beautiful and the spotlight of a lot of classic horse books! Fun fact… did you know that the breed of Friesian is completely black? They might have a star or a little white marking but otherwise every single Friesian is black!

Chestnut

These beauties are a favorite of many people. A chestnut horse is a horse with a reddish coat, mane and tail. They oftentimes have white leg or face markings! There is a horse coat that’s very similar called sorrel. I could get very scientific but basically a sorrel has a completely red base coat color. Most western ridden horses are called sorrel. Whereas a chestnut horse’s coat color can be any shade of red including most brown and “liver” chestnuts. Horses that are used for English riding are typically referred to as chestnut. Fun fact, the famous racehorses Secretariat and Man O’ War were chestnuts. Even the most recent 2022 Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike is a chestnut!

Palomino

A palomino is a horse with a golden coat and a white mane in tail. I feel like these are kinda fairytale horses! Up to 50% of registered palominos are Quarter Horses. Other breeds include Thoroughbreds, Tennessee Walking Horses, Miniature Horses, and more! Their coats also change with the seasons, the tone and shade can look completely different in the summer versus the winter.

Buckskin

Anyone else grew up watching Spirit: Stallion off the Cimarron or for me more of the Spirit Riding Free TV series? 🙋‍♀️ Spirit is indeed a classic buckskin stallion. A buckskin horse has a beautiful tan/golden color coat with black mane, tail and legs. Some even have dapples! Honestly, I think the ones with dapples are even more beautiful.

Dun

Dun horses are super fascinating and unique. I mean, who doesn’t love a horse with zebra stripped legs? Oftentimes dun horses get mixed up with buckskins. The “classic dun” horse is a tan color just like the buckskin but with black points, black mane, tail and leg barring which yes- is basically zebra stripes on their legs! They also have a black dorsal stripe that runs down their back and ends at the tip of their tail and a “facial mask”- a black type face. Just like roans, as we will get to soon, when they are mixed with another horse coat you get a completely new color! Below is the classic dun:

Red Dun: A sorrel or chestnut horse mixed with a dun is called a red dun. It comes in shades from a pale red to a light tan and it’s mane and tail can range from cream to dark red.

Grullo: A black horse mixed with a dun coat is known as a grullo (grew-yo). This color is a silvery or smoky color. Each of the hairs is the silvery color; it is not a mix of individually colored light and dark hairs.

Bay Dun: A bay dun is a bay horse mixed with the dun gene. They’re oftentimes tan or brown but still have those black points, mane and tail.

Grey… a white horse?

Did you think duns were confusing? Well now we’re at grey horses. Most people would look at an average horse with a white coat and call it, well, white. But for some reason somebody decided that it should be called grey. It actually makes sense though when you hear what a grey horse actually is. A grey horse is a horse with a white coat, mane and tail and black skin. The black skin is why it’s called a grey horse! Grey horses are born as black, bay or chestnut and they naturally turn white as they age.

Now- there is a such thing as a white horse however it’s much more rare because a white horse has pink skin instead of black. A true white or albino horse is actually supposedly the most rare horse in the horse world! They are however more prone to skin issues such as cancer and series sun burns because the pigment that other horses have on their skin isn’t there. Some other things that make them different from a gray is a white horse is born white and stays white. They also will never have little flecks of color in their coat or dapples like flea-bitten gray and dapple gray horse’s do.

Speaking of them, here are some different variations of a gray horse:

Flea-bitten Gray: A flea-bitten gray horse is a gray with little pigmented specks or freckles all over their coat.

Dapple Gray: This is a color with dark rings over a grey coat. Some might have darker overall coats than others. They are so stunning aren’t they?

Rose Gray: Rose gray is just a gray horse that has a pinkish tint.

Roan:

Just like the dun horses, a roan has different color variations depending on what gene it gets crossed with. A roan is a coat with intermixed white and colored hairs in the body while the head, lower legs, mane, and tail remain colored.

Red roan: A red roan is sometimes also considered a bay roan. Overall it’s a roan mixed with a chestnut horse. Depending on the shade of the chestnut base color, the mixture of white and red hairs can give the horse a lighter appearance. They guys are similar to strawberry roans because they both have a chestnut base. The difference is that a red roan has black points and a strawberry roan has reddish/brown points, plus a lighter chestnut or sorrel base.

Blue roan: A blue roan, although it looks like a purple/blue color is actually a mixture of white hairs with a black base color.

Bay roan: This coat is a bay base color with a mixture of white and brown hairs.

Pinto

Last but not least, is a pinto! A pinto is a pattern of large splotches of white and any other color. There are different terms for the patterns of the colors such as overo, tobiano, sabino, and splashed white. Here are the most common color terms:

Skewbald: This is any pinto pattern on any base coat other than black. As chestnut and bay are the most common base coat colors, skewbald are most often chestnut and white or bay and white.

Piebald: A piebald is a pinto pattern that is always black and white.

Well, we’ve reached the end. As you’ve seen there’s many different coat colors but these are the most common and the ones most likely to see out in a field of horses. What’s your favorite color horse? Which color horse do you ride? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for reading, keep riding! <3

Lucy

*Please note, all of this information and facts are based on what I’ve learned over the years and from google searches. I understand that some of it could be misunderstood in some way, as every horse and opinion is a little different. Thank you for reading and I hope you learned something new! 🙂