# What color is my colt?



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

He may be a pale palomino. Is all his skin white? What breeds are the sire and dam?
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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

He can't be cremello out of a buckskin and a bay. Do you have pictures of the sire and dam?


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Bridgertrot said:


> He can't be cremello out of a buckskin and a bay. Do you have pictures of the sire and dam?


I think she said that the dam was chestnut, not bay. Sire is buckskin.
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## AnnaLover (Sep 27, 2009)

He's definitely just a light palomino. Red based foals have pink skin for the first couple days (or somewhere around that long).


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Most of the palomino foals I've seen are born really light and then will shed their foal coat to a more golden color. Anna is right about the skin being being a dark pink at first.

Here's one of my sorrel foals and you can see how light his skin was if you look at his muzzle and around his eyes.


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> I think she said that the dam was chestnut, not bay. Sire is buckskin.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Ha I typed too fast. change my bay to chestnut and everything else still stands. Lol
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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Definitely not a cremello- it wouldn't be possible unless both parents carried a cream gene, and with the dam being chestnut it's clear she doesn't. A cremello would also have blue eyes.

His skin will probably darken up pretty soon, as AnnaLover said. And then you'll have no doubt about your (very adorable) palomino!


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## megrazzleberry (Mar 23, 2015)

Ya that's why we didn't think it could be a cremello but the vet told us he was when she came out to do the check up. His skin is almost white the pink is so pale, and his eyes are definitely blue, just very dark! vet said it would take a few days for them to lighten up. But I agree I too think he is just a light palomino ! 
The dam is concidered a chestnut but she definitely has some roan in her and a flaxen mane.( image attatched but it doesn't do the white flecks in her justice) The sire is supposedly a pale buckskin with deep socks and main and tale. She was a rescue so we have been told dad was either a 3 yr old palomino or a 7 year old buckskin, but from what we've heard the palomino doesn't actually exist.


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## Red Gate Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

Cute little guy 

I'm on the palomino side for him. The amniotic fluid tends to bleach the color so you'll see his real shade when he sheds out.


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## AnnaLover (Sep 27, 2009)

If it means anything, my vet called my buckskin a cremello when he was born (though in her favor he looked like a pale palomino and only had a tiny bit of black in his tail).
The dark blue eyes are also a characteristic of palominos (and all other single dilute colors) from birth to around a few weeks to months old (again, a bit fuzzy on specifics). They'll darken to brown instead of lightening to blue :wink:


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## ponypile (Nov 7, 2007)

Yep palomino. Foals are often born with their baby fur quite a bit lighter than their adult coat. I also have a chestnut horse who was born with pink skin that darkened within a couple weeks.


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

Highly doubt it but don't suppose mom was secretly a pearl carrier? Cream and pearl together mimic double dilutes. Though I'm still guessing he's a palomino and just needs to darken up.


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## megrazzleberry (Mar 23, 2015)

it's been highly recommended by a lot of people at the breeding barn to send away DNA for color testing so we are planning on doing that. Three days in and he's still 100% the same pale color no changes even a little. And yes, it is possible she carries the pearl gene, we have looked into that and had an expert in color suggest that that was most likely the highest possibility. I still think he is palomino but my sister wants the DNA tested so I'll let everyone know what it comes back with. Thank ls for all the suggestions!


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## AnnaLover (Sep 27, 2009)

No way he's pearl IMO. I'm 100% sure he's a palomino.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Any bloodline information? Pearl is actually really rare, and easily traced to one particular line in stock breeds. 

It is really normal for palominos to be born really pale. It is also normal for the colour to remain that light until the foal sheds - and that is in a few more weeks yet, not just days after birth. Colour changes happen in two ways - when the coat sheds, and when the coat is damaged (sun, sweat, nutrition). Since the foal hasn't shed yet, it wouldn't have changed colour yet.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I say palomino. Do let us know what the DNA test says. What do you mean by "we understand palomino doesn't exist"?


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

He is a palomino, just pale, dark blue eyes are normal and will darken to brown, there would be no mistaken true blue eyes even on a baby!

If it was me I'd save the money on color testing, but do post the results if you do. Although I am a little surprised the vet feels so certain, vets are in no way experts on color.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Just give it time. The skin will darken up even if the coat stays light. Mine still go "white" in the winter but their summer coats darken every year and their skin darkened over that first summer before their first shed. The eyes will change as well.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Sorry for the tail shots but these show the change best. This horse had blue eyes when born with a greenish cast to his eyes that he till has though now more brown but is a palomino. The pictures are roughly two weeks apart. The first is as a 3 day old.


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## megrazzleberry (Mar 23, 2015)

Okay cool, we'll like I said I'm with everyone saying he's a palomino, we just sent the DNA off today as per my sisters wishes.


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## megrazzleberry (Mar 23, 2015)

LoriF said:


> I say palomino. Do let us know what the DNA test says. What do you mean by "we understand palomino doesn't exist"?


I mean the palomino that the breeder supposedly said she was bred to! Many People we know who live near him only know of him having the buckskin stallion!


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

megrazzleberry said:


> ... His skin is almost white the pink is so pale, and his eyes are definitely blue, just very dark! *vet said it would take a few days for them to lighten up.* ...


Per the bold, and I believe someone else stated this too, but want to make sure it is understood. 

Blue eyes on horses are bright blue. Dark blues will darken to some shade of brown. Eyes do not "lighten."

True blues are crystal clear and very obvious from the moment they open their eyes how blue they are.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Duplicate.


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## megrazzleberry (Mar 23, 2015)

Per the bold, and I believe someone else stated this too, but want to make sure it is understood. 

Blue eyes on horses are bright blue. Dark blues will darken to some shade of brown. Eyes do not "lighten."

True blues are crystal clear and very obvious from the moment they open their eyes how blue they are.[/QUOTE]

Was just going by what the vet said, never had a foal before, I understood the first time it was said.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Yes you may have understood, but there are people who read this forum who do not comment and may not even have an account. Making sure the information is clear is not a bad thing.


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## 4hoofbeat (Jun 27, 2013)

cute whatever color he is!


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

megrazzleberry said:


> Was just going by what the vet said, never had a foal before, I understood the first time it was said.


Vets are notorious for bad color identification on foal coats and their understanding of color genetics is typically lacking. My mom's vet is a specialized equine reproduction vet and when doing a foal examination informed my mom that the filly had distinct countershading (dorsal, shoulder barring and leg barring) because she carried agouti... Nope, not possible as the filly's sire was tested EE aa (homozygous black, no agouti) and her dam was tested Ee aa (heterozygous black, no agouti). The filly was a black in an immature shade with very strong dun like countershading before everything darkened as foals get darker a month or two (depending on weather and time of year, could take longer if born around winter months) after birth. Agouti doesn't skip generations and always controls black pigment when black is present (makes them bays or browns depending on the agouti mutation). When it comes the foal colors and vets, it isn't their area of expertise LOL

Reminds me of a couple years back when a new member popped up to share their bay foal out of their chestnut mare and by a palomino stallion. There were black horses in their chestnut mare's background (she was unmistakably chestnut) and so they believed that the black gene to make a bay had skipped past their chestnut mare and she was able to produce a black based foal (foal looked like a bay and not a chestnut with dark points/mane) and they backed up their claims that the sire was indeed a "golden palomino" by claiming that even their vet said "these things happen". Yep, "these things happen" because sometimes daddy isn't the one we thought he was or isn't the color we thought he was. The new member quickly left the forum as everyone here told them that a black gene doesn't skip generations and so either daddy isn't the palomino they bred her to or daddy isn't palomino. Said they were never coming back here because they found other forums/communities that were in awe that she got a bay foal out of a chestnut and palomino breeding. Probably more less than educated horse lovers that have little to no grasp on how genetics work.
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## angelswave88 (Mar 18, 2015)

Basic genetics point to palomino


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