# Chestnut ft dorsal stripe?



## kalma (Mar 4, 2013)

Hello 

I have a quarter horse mare that is registered as chestnut. She is very coppery red and looks like a basic deep red chestnut to me. Her mane is pretty evenly same brown as her coat (a bit darker but not drastically), her tail has hair that go from black to very pale, so all sorts of colors in her tail.

The only thing that really makes me wonder is that she has a clear dorsal stripe.

Her dam is marked down as bay and no colors forward that point, her sire palomino and sire's sire palomino dun, sire's dam dark chestnut. Her sire is Jac O Rima:









So I guess I was just wondering if chestnut do have dorsal stripes occasionally or if this means she is a red dun instead? Her legs are evenly colored and she has no striping in them, which would indicate towards chestnut, but the dorsal stripe just keeps putting me off.

She has had one offspring from a palomino stallion, and the foal turned out like an exact copy of her.

Thank you for your input in advance


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

It's called counter shading, and isn't a true dorsal stripe. Many chestnuts and bays have it.


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## kalma (Mar 4, 2013)

Ok, thanks  I've never noticed it before on bays or chestnuts.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

I had a bay with it. I used to tell people he was part donkey; just look at the dorsal stripe! :wink:


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-colors-genetics/difference-between-sooty-dun-153501/ <<< shows how countershading and sooty can mimic dun.


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