# is it normal for a bay to have a dorsal stripe?



## BlackCricket (Oct 20, 2011)

yup, but it's called counter shading  It can be barely there to very prominent. I've got a picture of a buckskin with a very inky black one somewhere. My haflinger has a faint one going down her back as well...hard to pick up with a camera, but visible to a person standing there.


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## BlackCricket (Oct 20, 2011)

here is a fun page that shows some horses with counter shading that mimics dorsal stripes Dun Central Station - Look-A-Like Colors


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## muumi (Oct 17, 2011)

may i ask how one tells the difference between a dorsal stripe and countershading? sometimes i just dont know


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Countershading tends to have blurred edges, whereas a true dorsal stripe will look like it was drawn on with a large marker.


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## hisangelonly (Oct 29, 2011)

oh okay so kind of like a side effect? just happens in some horses?


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

hisangelonly said:


> oh okay so kind of like a side effect? just happens in some horses?


Sort of. More like a vestigial coloring than anything else. Most animals are darker from above and lighter from below, or evolved from animals that were. The source of that pattern is from simple natural selection which favored sea creatures/animals being camoflaged by the sky when seen from below and land creatures/animals being camoflaged by the ground when seen from above...


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Dorsal stripe or counter shading?


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## BlackCricket (Oct 20, 2011)

here are two pics of the buckskin I was talking about with the dark counter shading. Took this at our local parade we have, I'm in charge of lining up the horses. The group is SOLA (Southern Ohio Ladies Aside). 
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k8/Ponybeads/hossmarkings/P1030663.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k8/Ponybeads/hossmarkings/P1030612.jpg


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## BlackCricket (Oct 20, 2011)

Idlepastures--do you have a pic of that without so much sunglare? I'm inclined to think dun just by looking at the base of the tail, but so much of it's washed out there I can't really see.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Here is the only other pictures I could find. (Don't have as many pictures of him, he's husbands horse.)









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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Dun/Dorsal stripe. Not countershading on you husband's horse Idle.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Counter shading is a very interesting thing. I hadn't heard of it till now.


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## BlackCricket (Oct 20, 2011)

agreed...i see more of what I thought i was seeing in the first photo.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

So, in order to be papered buckskin assoc, does counter shading count on the dun stripe? (hope that makes sense.)


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

my QH has one, hes a bay.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Idlepastures said:


> So, in order to be papered buckskin assoc, does counter shading count on the dun stripe? (hope that makes sense.)


If the horse doesn't have any other dun markings (like leg barring or shoulder barring), then it would just be a buckskin with a dorsal stripe caused by countershading. In order to be a dun, it must have other markings too. Is that what you're asking?


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## CessBee (Dec 6, 2008)

My chestnut tb mare has counter-shading I believe haha


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Poseidon said:


> If the horse doesn't have any other dun markings (like leg barring or shoulder barring), then it would just be a buckskin with a dorsal stripe caused by countershading. In order to be a dun, it must have other markings too. Is that what you're asking?


Sort of. That part I know. But in order to be registered in the color association, does counter shading count? Like if your dun has the prim markings, but the dorsal stripe is counter shading, does it count? Does that even happen?


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Idlepastures said:


> Sort of. That part I know. But in order to be registered in the color association, does counter shading count? Like if your dun has the prim markings, but the dorsal stripe is counter shading, does it count? Does that even happen?


A dun will always have a dorsal stripe, not countershading. That registry is for duns and buckskins, so buckskin is the only one of the acceptable colors that may or may not have a dorsal stripe (though if it were just a buckskin, not a dunskin, it would only be countershading). 

Sorry. This is weird for me to try to put into words. It makes sense in my head.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Poseidon said:


> A dun will always have a dorsal stripe, not countershading. That registry is for duns and buckskins, so buckskin is the only one of the acceptable colors that may or may not have a dorsal stripe (though if it were just a buckskin, not a dunskin, it would only be countershading).
> 
> Sorry. This is weird for me to try to put into words. It makes sense in my head.



Ok, that is what I was wondering. One of those 'they will always haves' deal. So, if a dun has a dorsal stripe, but no other prim markings, is it automatically a buckskin? If a buckskin has a dorsal stripe, is it considered a dunskin?


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Dun is a gene that puts primitive markings on a horse and dilutes the original color. If a horse has the dun gene, it will have all of the primitive markings, it doesn't pick and choose. Dun can also affect any color. 

Buckskins with a dorsal stripe is just countershading, some have it, some don't. In order to be a dunskin, it must be buckskin + dun (and therefore have all of the markings).


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Poseidon said:


> Dun is a gene that puts primitive markings on a horse and dilutes the original color. If a horse has the dun gene, it will have all of the primitive markings, it doesn't pick and choose. Dun can also affect any color.
> 
> Buckskins with a dorsal stripe is just countershading, some have it, some don't. In order to be a dunskin, it must be buckskin + dun (and therefore have all of the markings).


Ahh! That makes since  The whole buckskin color scheme confuses me


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Buckskin is bay + cream. A typical dun is bay + dun. Both dun and cream dilute the bay color, which makes them look similar.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Poseidon said:


> Buckskin is bay + cream. A typical dun is bay + dun. Both dun and cream dilute the bay color, which makes them look similar.


Yea, I get it, just confusing some times lol. While trying to figure out what the husbands horse was, I did a lot of research.


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## BlackCricket (Oct 20, 2011)

want some more confusion? There are Iberian horses that for all the world look to be true dun--but don't test as having dun...LOL But that is also probably because it is only a marker test since the specific mutation hasn't been located yet.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

Of course! Cause its never easy!


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## MangoRoX87 (Oct 19, 2009)

Blackcricket- Just sayin, but oh LORDY is that buckskin chubby


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## Casey02 (Sep 20, 2011)

My chestnut has a dorsal strip down his back too  kinda weird


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