# Palomino Variants?



## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Genetically, there are 3 forms of agouti (bay): "classic" bay, seal bay, and wild bay. Terms like blood bay, etc. are just names that people give to certain shades and are highly subjective ; there's no way to objectively distinguish between a blood bay and a mahogany bay, for example.

There is only one form of palomino (that is, a horse that is homozygous for red factor and has one copy of the cream gene). Some palominos tend to be lighter, while others tend to be darker. Diet can have an effect on the shade. But genetically, there is no difference that has been discovered at this time.

There are other colors that might be mistaken for palomino. Gold champagne horses (homozygous red and one or two champagne genes) can look very similar to palominos, and even some darker cremellos (homozygous red and two copies of the cream gene) can be mistaken for palomino. There are ways to distinguish between palomino, gold champagne, and dark cremello (aside from genetic testing) if you know what to look for.


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

Kind of... 
Isabella - very light, almost white palomino
Chocolate Palomino - very dark palomino

As Verona said genetically, as far as what we know of present genetics, they are the same, but some people do use those two terms to distinguish different shades of palomino. It honk I have heard Gold Palomino for the middle shade ones too.


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## PandaJinxes (Mar 4, 2014)

My guy is what a lot of people call a golden palomino. I've seen some that stay really light and I've seen chocolate palominos, so yeah as far as I know there's 3 shades. 

Ray:


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

The words to distinguish bays don't mean anything. Seal bay is actually brown, but that's it. Genetically all of those shades are the same (except brown, which is slightly different), same with palomino shades.


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## Lunavi (Jun 5, 2012)

This was a my first horse, a Morgan/QH gelding. He is a sooty Palomino. I just sold him a few weeks ago, which led to one of his old owners contacting me asking if it was the same horse. She had pictures of him when he was younger which show his mane and tail to be much whiter. Even in the 3 years I had him he grayed as he got older. 

Summer:









Winter:









And just cause he was a cool pony


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## TrailTraveler (Jan 4, 2014)

How about a roan palomino? My mare is shedding out, and I'm confused. I have pics of her from last summer (before I bought her) and she was golden with some dapples. Right now, she has no dappling, but seems to be golden with some roaning on one side. Whaaaat? Do palominos change color, other than when they're shedding out? I'm wondering what she'll look like this summer... :?


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## ForeverSunRider (Jun 27, 2013)

TrailTraveler said:


> How about a roan palomino? My mare is shedding out, and I'm confused. I have pics of her from last summer (before I bought her) and she was golden with some dapples. Right now, she has no dappling, but seems to be golden with some roaning on one side. Whaaaat? Do palominos change color, other than when they're shedding out? I'm wondering what she'll look like this summer... :?


THIS was going to be my next question! 

My horse is a gorgeous honey color once he's all shed out but in the winter he's nearly white. I've never seen a palomino roan so I wanted to know if they were out there.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Yes palomino roans are out there. True roan, varnish, sabino, etc. if the base color is a possibility more than likely there is one out there with one of the white patterns or even more. :wink:


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

subbing.

I got a gelding on Thanksgiving, his mane and tail are/were the same color/shade as the rest of him - pale yellow. I don't know if he is palomino or not. 

It is spring and he is shedding a bit and seems a shade darker than his mane and tail now but still light overall. 

What is the acceptable range of colors/shades for manes and tails on Palominos?


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

anndankev said:


> subbing.
> 
> I got a gelding on Thanksgiving, his mane and tail are/were the same color/shade as the rest of him - pale yellow. I don't know if he is palomino or not.
> 
> ...


It happens sometimes that palominos have manes/tails that aren't significantly lighter than their body, though I tend to see that more on lighter colored palominos. Anything is "acceptable" as long as the horse is genetically palomino: homozygous for red factor, heterozygous for cream, and negative on any other genes that would affect coat color (like pearl, champagne, etc.)


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Thank you.


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