# What color is this horse?



## Plains Drifter (Aug 4, 2009)

She looks more like a flaxen sorrel to me, but then again, I'm not the best with colors. Do they happen to have a couple extra pics they can send you?


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## RoxanneElizabeth (Dec 18, 2009)

No more pics...but she said this when I asked her about the color,
"If you look in the palomino rule book (at least the last time I showed on that circuit), they are allowed up to 1/3 dark hairs in their mane and tail. I know when Chelsea was here for breeding when she was younger, she was a bright bright gold. As she got older, she has gotten darker. I know when she came here last year, Al and I were in Missouri on vacation. Shawna called and said she looked like a pumpkin LOL. Her filly that she had out of our sorrel stud, was a champagne color until she was about 2 and then started to darken up."


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Flaxen chestnut or just plain chestnut/sorrel.


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## Horses259 (Dec 23, 2010)

she is deffinatly a dun. with a little soral but mostaly dun!


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## GeenasGQ (Dec 22, 2010)

I'd agree with people and say she's a flaxen chestnut/sorrel. she doesn't really look palomino. I guess she could be a light chocolate palomino but she doesn't really look like that, either...

She's not a dun because it doesn't look like she has any of the dun characteristics-not even a dorsal stripe.


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## Quixotic (May 22, 2009)

do you know what her bloodlines are at all?


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

She could very well be a palomino, just not an ideal colored palomino. My godsister had a Palomino foxtrotter that was almost that exact same darker color, but was definitely a palomino. You would need to know her bloodlines though to be sure. The Foxtrotter was registered, so we had all the information on her.


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## RoxanneElizabeth (Dec 18, 2009)

I know she is registered but don't know the details yet. I will get the info and more pics soon!


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## Clair (Jun 7, 2010)

She's pretty!

(I have a funny-looking chestnut, we call him a "bucknut" jokingly, because he's purebred quarter, got a chestnut coat and black mane and tail) 

One thing I learned here is that she'd need either a dorsal stripe or zebra stripes on her legs to be considered a dun.

Honestly she looks like a dark palo to me, but is that black in her tail? (or just the light?)

If she was a flaxen sorrel/chestnut, shed be a super light one.
To me, flaxen chestnuts look like this










With the distinct red coat.

And duns have the dorsal stripe: (you can barely see it on this horse's back)










This guy is technically a sooty palomino












So I'd defintely say palomino. But it's fun to have an out-of-the-box color like that!


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

I am going to go against the majority and say that she is palomino. Some people might recall me referring to the colour that 'gleams' on the coat. In this shot, you can see a fairly good example of the goldeness of the light. If she was a chestnut, the gleam on her coat would be bronze or copper, but this is a definite golden hue.

I would say that she is palomino with sooty. As a previous poster pointed out, sooty can cause the mane and tail to darken, as well as the coat.


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## CheyAut (Nov 26, 2008)

Tough one. If being a palomino makes you want to buy her, where chestnut wouldn't (of course color isn't the most important, but with so many horses out there, if you're patient you can have your cake and eat it too!) It's only $25 to test for cream.


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## RoxanneElizabeth (Dec 18, 2009)

I am going to see her tomorrow, will find out what her winter coat looks like. I will get some more pics too. 
It doesn't matter to me if she is a true palomino, just was curious on everyones thoughts...she would just be a trail buddy to me.


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## Gizmo (Dec 19, 2010)

Yeah that is a tough one. I say a darker palomino though. She isn't dark enough to be a chestnut or a sorrel. Possibly a dun.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I say that she is either a flaxen sorrel or a darker palomino. Though if she is a pali, I have never seen one that was so orangey colored. If she is papered and they have her registered as a pali, then that's what I would probably call her.


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## RoxanneElizabeth (Dec 18, 2009)

She is registered as palomino, registered name is Barbie Doc Command # 2790463.
I went and saw her today and really like her! She could stand to lose some weight, she is quite a chunk! She was well behaved and was very polite.


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

What color is her dam? (Her sire doesn't carry cream, and her dam doesn't have a color attached to her on allbreedpedigree.com... if her dam is not a cream (buckskin, palomino, or smokey black) then this mare is a chestnut. 

To be honest, she looks more chestnut to me. I have seen some dark palomino's (DNA tested), but most still had a distinctive golden sheen (not all of them though... I've seen photos of a DNA tested Palomino who LOOKS black - so there are certainly exceptions). If you can't get the information on this mare's dam, and her color is important to you - do a DNA test.


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## RoxanneElizabeth (Dec 18, 2009)

Luckily I don't reallyy care if she is a true palomino, just wanted opinions. She could be purple and I would still like her if she is a good trail riding buddy for me


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## Phantomstallion (Jan 3, 2010)

It doesn't matter but I think she's palomino.


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

No, her color won't make her a better trail partner - that's certainly true!

She's interesting either way too, it's not a "usual" chestnut coloring - having some bright highlights in her coat and the pale mane and tail... and she's a really "odd" palomino. 

I'm using a different monitor and she definitely looks like she has some goldish highlights on this one (guess the other was darker or something)... so it's possible she's a Palomino, provided of course he mom was a cream of some sort.


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## Quixotic (May 22, 2009)

Honestly, even if her dam is carrying cream (which she could be, since her sire is buckskin), you still wouldn't be able to tell for sure if this mare is palomino or chestnut without genetic testing, since her colour looks so unique.


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

No, that's true, but if her dam is not a cream then there is NO chance she's a Palomino.... so you'd know for sure if she WASN'T


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## fuadteagan (Jun 10, 2010)

to dark to be a flaxen sorrel that is a flaxen sorrel just looks like a real real dark palomino







like this one  good luck , but ya know he is unique and that is cool  i like him


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## CheyAut (Nov 26, 2008)

Palomino


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## EmilyandNikki (Sep 7, 2010)

My guess would be palomino! Specially after seeing those pictures.


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Seems to me that unless a horse is picture perfect to a color you can pretty much call it whatever color you want them to be. You could even convince someone she's a paint. To me, she'd be a good lookin sorrel. Looks like she'd make a good ranch horse. Good luck with her!!


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

draftgrl said:


> Seems to me that unless a horse is picture perfect to a color you can pretty much call it whatever color you want them to be. You could even convince someone she's a paint. To me, she'd be a good lookin sorrel. Looks like she'd make a good ranch horse. Good luck with her!!


Well see that's just not true. The base genetics of a horse are what colour they should be described as. It doesn't matter that the mare _appears_ to be a chestnut, if her genes say she is palomino, then that is how she should be described. If a horse is a minimal marked Tobiano, that is how they should be described. Just because the phenotype is not exactly what you expect from the genotype does not mean you should call it anything but what it is.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Exactly Chiilaa. One of my biggest peeves is "Silver" grulla/o. A grulla/o is NOT silver unless it also has the silver gene!


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## Quixotic (May 22, 2009)

A "Silver" Grulla is just another term for a Smoky Grulla. While I don't think it's the best terminology, & I personally prefer "Smoky", it just means that the horse is carrying a cream gene, not that the owner is claiming that the horse is carrying a silver gene.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Let's start a revolution. Call the colour what it is. For example, if I had a black horse of unknown breeding her colour shall be known for ever more as Ee?. Then we can extend on this, and only go with genes that are being expressed, so C locus only when cream is present etc etc.

Would make the for sale ads a whole lot more fun to read at any rate lol.


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## kywalkinghorse2010 (Dec 9, 2010)

Well, actually, if her sire is a buckskin, I would want to call her a palomino. With her sire being a buckskin, he's heterozygous for the cream gene, which means that he can pass the cream gene on to the foal, therefore making this mare a palomino. A buckskin is a bay with a creme gene added to dilute the brown coat to a golden color. So, if her sire is a buckskin, I would still want to know the color of her dam before I would say for sure that she's a palomino. After I've seen the pics that you took of her, I'm still going to say a very unusual shade of palomino that I've never seen before.


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