# What Color Would you consider this?



## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I don't know if you should call him brown or if he's just a badly sunbleached black. He doesn't have the typical cinnamon points of a brown.. Hmm


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

He is the horse on the right. Even in the winter, if he sweats at all, the color like 'washes' out. You can see where the saddle pad and girth would sit. This was him in December one year


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I'd say he's sunbleached if he's like that every year, but others can tell you what they think. Diet can have something to do with them bleaching so bad, I think.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 said:


> I'd say he's sunbleached if he's like that every year, but others can tell you what they think. Diet can have something to do with them bleaching so bad, I think.


 yup! He's like this every year! He's on grass all summer with some grain, and then hay and grain in the winter.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

Any chance one of his parents carried a cream gene. What color were his parents? He looks like a badly sunbleached black, perhaps a Smokey black. I really love a quality coat supplement(flax+vitamins) and paprika to reduce or prevent sun bleaching. I had made an incredible deffeeence for my friesians.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

Dehda01 said:


> Any chance one of his parents carried a cream gene. What color were his parents?


Unfortunately I have no idea of his parents. He's not a registered QH, I really wish I knew what color his parents were though🙄


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I have no idea, but to be honest I think it is simply beautiful! Lol


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

Knave said:


> I have no idea, but to be honest I think it is simply beautiful! Lol


Thank you! It's kinda interesting to own a horse like him cuz he's not always the same color😁


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I'd say the darkest liver chestnut I have ever seen except there there are pictures of liver chestnuts that look blacker but test red. My smokey black and the two seal brown they look black most time don't do the over all fade they kwep their points. All the browns that aren't so dark you mistake rhem for black keep their points.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

QtrBel said:


> I'd say the darkest liver chestnut I have ever seen except there there are pictures of liver chestnuts that look blacker but test red. My smokey black and the two seal brown they look black most time don't do the over all fade they kwep their points. All the browns that aren't so dark you mistake rhem for black keep their points.


 yeah liver Chestnut crossed my mind a few times and seal brown


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

My mare is black and has faded out lighter than your guy. In her case, she was really being overloaded with iron and a supplement higher in copper and zinc helped her. Her coat also became shinier than ever. Right now I am using Focus HF and all of my horses are getting back to having a much darker coat along with stronger hooves. The reason that paprika and and black oil sunflower seeds help darken the coat is because they both contain copper. Heavy fading like that is a good sign that they are overloaded with iron. Too much iron creates an imbalance with copper, zinc, and magnesium.

The mare that I am speaking of does not carry the cream gene at all and is definitely black.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

LoriF said:


> My mare is black and has faded out lighter than your guy. In her case, she was really being overloaded with iron and a supplement higher in copper and zinc helped her. Her coat also became shinier than ever. Right now I am using Focus HF and all of my horses are getting back to having a much darker coat along with stronger hooves. The reason that paprika and and black oil sunflower seeds help darken the coat is because they both contain copper. Heavy fading like that is a good sign that they are overloaded with iron. Too much iron creates an imbalance with copper, zinc, and magnesium.
> 
> The mare that I am speaking of does not carry the cream gene at all and is definitely black.


Wow! That is very interesting! Something like that had never even crossed my mind.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I think chestnut too.


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## Boo Walker (Jul 25, 2012)

Usually when horses fade where the saddle and girth are, it's the salts in the sweat. My grulla does this if I don't sponge these areas off after a ride. If he's a heavy sweating horse, you may need to clean the pad and girth every month or so as well. I'm not sure if it's certain colors or certain skin or sweat types because most horses have no problem with the sweat salts affecting this saddle area. My guys eat the same diet and he's the only one who fades that way, but sponging sweaty areas has fixed it for me. Of course once it's faded you'll have to wait for the Spring shedding season and start with a fresh pretty coat. He's a really neat looking horse!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

All I can safely say is that he is not a brown.A brown is very dark bay, has black points and pale "soft areas" (flanks and muzzle). I would guess he would test as red (liver chestnut). Or smoky black, which can look so many different ways.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

Thanks guys for all your ideas! It was much appreciated!


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

My smokey black and others I have seen or worked with look like more brown bay when they fade as they all of the sudden have "points" like a bay would. The faded body though is too yellow/golden to be brown.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Discussion of liver chestnut


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

Well if we're going by the link Avna posted, I don't see where you're getting liver chestnut? I'm asking out of pure curiosity! I don't see any of the reddish tone that it talks about.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

QtrBel said:


> I'd say the darkest liver chestnut I have ever seen except there there are pictures of liver chestnuts that look blacker but test red. My smokey black and the two seal brown they look black most time don't do the over all fade they kwep their points. All the browns that aren't so dark you mistake rhem for black keep their points.



I was thinking the same. Liver chestnut or liver bay.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 said:


> Well if we're going by the link Avna posted, I don't see where you're getting liver chestnut? I'm asking out of pure curiosity! I don't see any of the reddish tone that it talks about.


I honestly have no idea! I'm just enjoying reading what others think. Gives me at least an idea or two...


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Because there is an overall reddish cast to the entire coat. Legs included all the way down to the hooves.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Fading black. No way to know without testing if there is a creme gene, as creme does not express on black, nor does it effect fading vs non fading.

I don't believe red as your horse does not have any lightening around the top of the hoof, which all red horses have.

This is a color tested red Morgan (Merwin All A Breeze). Notice the light rings where the leg meets the hoof:


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

This picture appears to be the most accurate representation of his color. The others photos show SUNBLEACHING due to sweat. 



Based on this picture, out of the 17 colors recognized by the AQHA, I would call him *brown*. The hairs around his nose are brownish. I do not think anything appears red, which is why I personally would not call him a chestnut.













I myself have a BLACK horse that gets very bleached in the summer months too. But he does not have any brown hairs around the face or legs -- thus he is black (not brown). But he sure looks like two different horses, based on the time of year.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

beau159 said:


> This picture appears to be the most accurate representation of his color. The others photos show SUNBLEACHING due to sweat.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's along the line of what I was thinking. That picture was taken in may, before he had faded from the sun.

I attached two more pictures the first was taken in August and the second was just a few days ago. His winter coat comes in a rich dark brown.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I wish you'd test him so we can find out who's right! I disagree on the "brown" aka dark bay. His legs would never be that color even bleached, in my opinion, and I don't see the mealy or pale muzzle and flanks of a brown horse. I own a brown horse who now looks near black in her winter coat, but she is a classic brown. Her legs are black, her mane and tail are black black black.


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## aequine (Sep 23, 2018)

Avna said:


> I wish you'd test him so we can find out who's right! I disagree on the "brown" aka dark bay. His legs would never be that color even bleached, in my opinion, and I don't see the mealy or pale muzzle and flanks of a brown horse. I own a brown horse who now looks near black in her winter coat, but she is a classic brown. Her legs are black, her mane and tail are black black black.


Oh I know I wish I could get him tested too, but I guess it's not that important that I know the exact color. I was just very curious of what y'all thought. He's a great horse whether he's brown, bay, chesnut or anything else! Lol! And your horse does look a totally different color from mine, my horse (his name is Commander) his mane even gets faded! In the summer he gets highlights in his mane


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