# Chestnut AQHA with dorsal stripe



## saddlebred99 (Feb 19, 2015)

Hi there! I am posting for my aunt about her new filly. She is supposedly chestnut but has a red dorsal stripe. Does this make her a dun or roan or something? Her chestnut coloring is very "dusty" looking. The dam is white with a dappled/spotty sort chestnut stripe going down her back. The sire's coloring is unknown. Just hoping we could get some insight on this. I'm not very knowledgabe about coloring and genetics. Thanks in advance!


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

There is a possibility that she is a red dun- I find the color is pretty obvious usually. But chestnuts can have a dorsal stripe - ethnically countershading.
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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Can you post pictures of the filly? Full body and top view of her back? That would help a lot in identifying her color ;-)


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## saddlebred99 (Feb 19, 2015)

I don't have a picture unfortunately but she looks identical to this horse I found on a website while google searching the color.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

That horse is a red dun.


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## chl1234 (Jul 10, 2015)

Agree with DAM that the horse pictured is a red dun. 

The red dun coloration occurs when there is a dun modifier gene on a chestnut horse. Unlike the dilution gene (palomino or buckskin), the dun gene does not fully dilute the red coloring on a chestnut, only mutes it while adding the red dorsal strip. Some red duns also have red zebra striping on the legs, but not always (or not always visible).


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Yep red dun for sure
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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

I know it's been mentioned countless times, but bears repeating. In order for a horse to be registered as dun, specifically in AQHA, it has to have at least one parent registered as dun. Without knowing the sire, and the dam being gray, it's hard to know without testing if your aunt's filly is actually dun, or just has counter shading. I had a liver chestnut mare with a darker dorsal stripe, but no dun in her lineage...she was registered chestnut.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

Or is she a chestnut- going grey. My fraying Arabs get constantly mistaken for duns and buckskins.
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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

KSAQHA said:


> I know it's been mentioned countless times, but bears repeating. In order for a horse to be registered as dun, specifically in AQHA, it has to have at least one parent registered as dun. Without knowing the sire, and the dam being gray, it's hard to know without testing if your aunt's filly is actually dun, or just has counter shading. I had a liver chestnut mare with a darker dorsal stripe, but no dun in her lineage...she was registered chestnut.


Little bit hard to register a horse if it's sire is unknown....:wink:


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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

Well, obviously...that's why I indicated testing would be the only way to definitively know.


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