# Brown horses



## ForeverSunRider (Jun 27, 2013)

Okay so it's kind of a popular topic but I don't think I've ever seen a brown horse.

I've seen bays, chestnuts, liver chestnuts, etc. 

What's a brown horse?

Could you post pictures of horses that don't qualify as any other color other than brown?

Or is brown just a general term for all those colors collectively?


----------



## Cherrij (Jan 30, 2013)

Brown is dark bay.









He is a typical brown horse. He still has all the black points the same as a bay, but overall he is much darker. 
In comparison here is a standard bay - he has perfect black legs, so it's hard to mess up, he looks darker because he has rolled after rain.. but ye.. plain bay.. 









They say it's the same gene, just browns get something extra and become darker. Browns can be different as well, lighter, darker, but the main idea remains the same.


----------



## wakiya (Feb 7, 2009)

Here's a bit of info on brown:

brown horses

Modifiers in Horses | Color Genetics

Bay(A), wild bay(A+) and brown(At) are different forms of the agouti gene. It's a restriction of black pigment. Wild bay restricts the most and brown the least.


----------



## SullysRider (Feb 11, 2012)

The easy way to tell is winter coats, in the summer you would swear my gelding is a bay, but in the winter he gets the lighter points that differentiate him from a bay. He also gets a lot darker than a bay in winter.


----------



## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Browns are identified by lighter points, where a bay or black would have black points. Their manes and coats should be the same color.

Some browns do appear to have darker points though, like my filly. She was a brown, but with darker legs. However, her face and ears were distinctly light, and she had brown ears.



























with my filly, her dark points were a 'false' black, and they lightened considerably in the summer.










another brown:









as opposed to a bay with very black legs and black points. (not my horse)









an easier-to-spot brown colored mare. no dark points at all


----------



## UnicornGirl (Jan 11, 2014)

I think my horse is brown! Its actually quite a popular colour!! Hes shiney!!!!


----------



## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

This is my mare Rumor. She is a prime example of a "brown" horse. The lighter colored flanks, underbelly, nose, shoulder/girth area, etc.


----------



## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

I have been told that my gelding is brown as well, which is shown by his light points and by how he changes color over seasons:

Autumn:










Winter:










Spring:










Summer:


----------



## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

When someone says that a brown horse has lighter points, it is not the "hard" points of the horse - legs, mane, tail etc. A brown horse should have black in the same places as a bay. The points that are talked about with the difference between bay and brown are the "soft" points - behind the eye, the muzzle, inside the elbow, the flank, under the tail etc. These are the parts that appear paler on a brown horse.


----------



## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Brown is neat and can be all shades from lighter to almost black. They look very similar to Bay and the key indicator as mentioned above are the lighter softer points in the flanks, muzzle, eyes, etc. There's a good thread on here that shows some examples called the Badass Brown. 

This is my brown mare. She stays pretty consistent in her colour all year round, but note the lighter points in her flank, muzzle, inner legs, inside her ears, etc.


----------



## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

"Brown" (officially dubbed "seal brown" by the researchers who isolated the gene, but also often called seal bay or dark bay) is closely related to "regular" or "classic" bay.

There are definitely similarities between classic bay and seal bay. Both will have black mane, tail, and legs. The body color is some shade of reddish-brown. Just as chestnut varies from bright coppery red to dark liver chestnut, so can the body of a seal or classic bay range in color. 

The easiest way to identify a seal bay is in the winter by looking for cinnamon-colored soft points (muzzle, flank, etc.) This dark seal bay horse has very obvious soft points:









This seal bay horse is a little less obvious in the muzzle (but definitely still there if you know what to look for), but still very obvious in the flank:









Another key trait of seal bays is that they tend to change color dramatically from season to season. In the summer some fade so much that they appear like a bright classic bay, while in the winter appearing nearly black with the exception of those soft points.

It gets tricky to tell the difference when you only have a summer picture of a horse, especially if it has been heavily sunbleached. A dark bay, dark seal bay, faded black, and even liver chestnut can be very hard to tell apart.



Endiku said:


> an easier-to-spot brown colored mare. no dark points at all


I'm fairly certain this horse is actually chestnut.


----------



## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Is she really? Whoops...ignore me. She is registered brown but I know that means nothing!


----------



## 40232 (Jan 10, 2013)

Here is my brown boy! He has silver points though, and some flaxen thrown in his mane. And to think, people I used to know said brown didn't exist.. Because he is TOTALLY bay. -insert eye roll here-


----------



## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

KylieHuitema said:


> Here is my brown boy! He has silver points though, and some flaxen thrown in his mane. And to think, people I used to know said brown didn't exist.. Because he is TOTALLY bay. -insert eye roll here-


Has this horse been tested? He doesn't look typical brown. He looks liver chestnut from these photos.


----------



## 40232 (Jan 10, 2013)

Tryst said:


> Has this horse been tested? He doesn't look typical brown. He looks liver chestnut from these photos.


I highly disagree that he is liver. He darkens extremely over winter, other that the points on his face and around his eyes, and around his tummy. He has a half silver-black, half flaxen mane and tail.

Here is an old thread of deciding his color:
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-colors-genetics/rocky-mountain-x-arabian-cool-color-156163/


----------



## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

^^^ your photos are less than ideal, but a typical brown without any other modifiers does not have lighter areas on the pasterns as your horse shows. Seeing the additional photos and knowing his breeding I agree it is possible that he is silver + brown, as silver lightens the black points, however would be highly surprised if he was brown without a modifier.


----------



## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

KylieHuitema said:


> He has a half silver-black, half flaxen mane and tail.


Just as a technicality, flaxen doesn't affect black based horses- that's silver at work.


----------

