# What is the difference between sorrel and chestnut?



## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

They look the same because they are the same. Genetically, a sorrel and a chestnut are the same thing. Here in Australia, I only ever heard the term "sorrel" except in books like My Friend Flicka.


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

^What Chiilaa said. They are the same, just different terms used by different people/organizations in different venues...


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## EmrysGal (Jan 10, 2012)

*Thank You*

Thank you for the quick replies all of you! 
Have a nice day,
EmrysGal


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

I think that they are the same too. I've heard that chestnut is used more for dressage/english and sorrel is used more for western. Some say chestnut is a darker brown and sorrel is more of a red and brown. In the end they are still the same.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

usandpets - They *are* the same. There is no thinking about it. On the genetic level they are both ee (lacking black pigment), aka red. 


There are only two base colors in horses.... Red and black. Everything else is a modification of those two base colors.


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

Welcome to the forum


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## xXHorseKissesXx (Jan 12, 2012)

Haha I used to get confused at this too ! Ya they're pretty much the same thing, usually chestnut has the same color mane and tail, while sorrel has a more flaxen mane and tail. Anyways, it all depends on the preference of the person.


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## Tapperjockey (Jan 2, 2012)

They aren't pretty much the same thing. (That would indicate there are differences).

They are EXACTLY the same. For some reason, someone decided sorrel sounded good? i don't know. Genetically, they are the same. The majority of the world recognizes the color as chestnut. Half the registries in the world only include the term chestnut (including TB and Arabian). But someone, somewhere, likes the word sorrel I guess. Some say that sorrel means they have a flaxen mane and tail, but many arabians have flaxen manes and tails, and they aren't "sorrel".. they are flaxen chestnuts. As we get more and more information on genetics, it would be nice if breed registries kept up (like the UK Welsh.. calling buckskins.. dun. There is no dun gene, so they aren't dun.. it's the term they call buckskins. calling palominos "creams", etc.).. It just confuses people.


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## Ladytrails (Jul 28, 2010)

I think the only time I have seen sorrel used is in the quarter horse or stock type horses. Typically, chestnut is used instead. 

My husband always said he didn't want a sorrel horse, and he ended up with one anyway, a fox trotter with the plainest markings you can get. I told him since it was a fox trotter we would say he was a chestnut, so chestnut he is!


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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

While, genetically they ARE the same, AQHA and APHA recognize both sorrel and chestnut coat colors. 

Sorrel is typically a lighter, brighter shade of red; with body-colored or lighter mane and tail. Chestnut is typically deeper, darker red to liver colored, with darker mane and tail. 

Here's a link to Paint horse colors. AQHA doesn't seem to have a linkable chart, but you get the idea from APHA.

APHA.Com - Coat Colors

It's quite subjective...in the eye of the beholder and all. Just don't make the mistake of calling an Arab or TB owner's red horse "sorrel". :lol:


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## Tapperjockey (Jan 2, 2012)

KSAQHA said:


> While, genetically they ARE the same, AQHA and APHA recognize both sorrel and chestnut coat colors.
> 
> Sorrel is typically a lighter, brighter shade of red; with body-colored or lighter mane and tail. Chestnut is typically deeper, darker red to liver colored, with darker mane and tail.
> 
> ...


having different colors for the two, and no clear distinction, is like a registry having separate listing for dark grey and flea bitten grey. (particularly as horses colors do tend to change with age, nutrition, etc). Absolutely makes no sense now that it is known that genetically they are identical and there is no way to test a horse and see if it's chestnut or sorrel...because they are the same.


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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

Tapperjockey said:


> having different colors for the two, and no clear distinction, is like a registry having separate listing for dark grey and flea bitten grey. (particularly as horses colors do tend to change with age, nutrition, etc). Absolutely makes no sense now that it is known that genetically they are identical and there is no way to test a horse and see if it's chestnut or sorrel...because they are the same.


 I'm not here to debate whether some people see the sense...or lack thereof...in it. The gray analogy is moot - practically all gray horses will eventually turn white (manes and tails, maybe not so much) if they live long enough. I just know that some people DO care about making the distinction in red horses...and there is a visual distinction...especially when registering their horse(s). That's all.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

KSAQHA said:


> I just know that some people DO care about making the distinction in red horses...and there is a visual distinction...especially when registering their horse(s). That's all.


The visual distinction changes depending on who you talk to...


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Chestnuts taste better roasted, while I would never roast a sorrel.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

waresbear said:


> Chestnuts taste better roasted, while I would never roast a sorrel.


But that's not a visual distinction, that's a flavour distinction!! :lol:


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

LOL, like others have said, technically, they are exactly the same. However, which one is used will often depend on who you are talking to, what discipline you are doing, and what your general area is.

Some folks use "chestnut" to describe every horse that is red.

Other folks use "sorrel" to describe every horse that is red.

And then there are folks, like me, who use _both_ terms but use them to describe the different shades.

:rofl: How's that for complicated?


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## littrella (Aug 28, 2010)

I'm in agreement with KSAQHA & smrobs. In my neck of the woods, it's just they way people describe the different shades. Just to make it more "interesting" dont forget BAY!!!


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Tapperjockey said:


> For some reason, someone decided sorrel sounded good? i don't know. Genetically, they are the same. The majority of the world recognizes the color as chestnut. Half the registries in the world only include the term chestnut (including TB and Arabian). But someone, somewhere, likes the word sorrel I guess.


Actually, there's a relatively legitimate reason for the name "sorrel." The sorrel plant bears lovely red flowers which are reminiscent of some shades of chestnut. I would be willing to wager that some cowboy saw a red horse and said that looks just like a sorrel flower and the name stuck (I say cowboy because it seems to be used as a strictly western name).


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> Actually, there's a relatively legitimate reason for the name "sorrel." The sorrel plant bears lovely red flowers which are reminiscent of some shades of chestnut. I would be willing to wager that some cowboy saw a red horse and said that looks just like a sorrel flower and the name stuck (I say cowboy because it seems to be used as a strictly western name).


I have to say, your theory makes sense. And it gave me a chuckle to think of a rough, dusty (and probably gorgeous) cowboy naming a horse colour after a flower.


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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

Chiilaa said:


> The visual distinction changes depending on who you talk to...


...and I believe I touched on that in my initial post. Not saying it's not confusing...at least for some. :lol:

I had to put down this QH mare in '10 that was liver chestnut...which, is hard to confuse with sorrel.








I registered her QH filly (below) as chestnut...somebody else could have certainly registered her sorrel. 









Now, this horse (not mine -and, yeah, it's missing an ear), I would certainly call "sorrel"...for registration purposes if stockhorse bred.









Now, shall we debate the color of the yearling on the right in the second picture? :wink:


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

How did she lose an ear?


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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

Don't know. She was a 2-yr old on CL "that might possibly be bred". :shock:


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

LOL, that's the same way I distinguish them. The lighter shades with more of an orangey tint, I call them sorrel. The darker, richer shades, I call them chestnut. Liver chestnut is a whole other beast :wink: :lol:.


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## AndreaSctlnd (Jan 17, 2012)

I guess it is why the crayola box is filled with 14 different types of reds too!  Not everyone likes to use the same terms.


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## Tapperjockey (Jan 2, 2012)

KSAQHA said:


> I'm not here to debate whether some people see the sense...or lack thereof...in it. The gray analogy is moot - practically all gray horses will eventually turn white (manes and tails, maybe not so much) if they live long enough. I just know that some people DO care about making the distinction in red horses...and there is a visual distinction...especially when registering their horse(s). That's all.


True some do care.. But unless there is an across the board concensus on the differences (which there is not), the descriptions are pointless because everyone has their own idea about what the shade means.


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## KSAQHA (Mar 22, 2010)

Tapperjockey said:


> True some do care.. But unless there is an across the board concensus on the differences (which there is not), the descriptions are pointless because everyone has their own idea about what the shade means.


Is there ANYTHING in life that has "an across the board concensus"? Maybe in your opinion it's "pointless", but if you're not involved in AQHA or APHA, why should it really matter to you, anyway? Different strokes for different folks.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

See I've always mixed up the color names. I always thought sorrel looked like this:








He had a light colored mane and tail, big blaze, was registered as a sorrel.
I always refer to this as a chestnut:








She's all shiny deep red except for her blaze and she's registered sorrel.
Two completely different colored horses, yet the same. It's a breed, region, western/english thing. And I just call em pretty!


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Flygap, did anyone tell you that there is a horse on your porch?


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Ha ha!!! Yep. I used to make my hubby use the side door if he was napping! I loved that horse more than almost anything and when he got really old he had the run of the place! Rooster preferred to be on the porch watching tv instead of running with the herd, more of a person than a horse his whole life... We miss the old man terribly!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Sorry I'm a thread stalker, by Flygap, you might appreciate this story ;DDD


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

My sister once had a horse that would go up a pretty steep flight of stairs, get on the porch, and walk right in the house. They had to put a gait at the bottom of the staircase. To bring the thread back home, she was grey. Not sorrel. Not chestnut.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

;DDD
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## joachim (Sep 3, 2007)

Sorrel and Chestnut are genetically the same, red horses.

To show the shade of fur sometimes the colour is described with specific terms. This depends on the region where you live and the language you speak. In German f.e. you’d call a sorrel horse ‘Fuchs’ (fox coloured) and a chestnut horse ‘Dunkelfuchs’ (dark fox coloured). 

So my gelding Pretty Kohilent is AQHA registered ‘Chestnut’ and the German papers show him as a ‘Dunkelfuchs mit Flachsmaehne’ (chestnut coloured with mane of a lighter shade like flax).


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## sierrams1123 (Jul 8, 2011)

nothing.
they are the same.

...thinking people should start searching their questions using the search option on horseforum before posting another thread about the same thing we have 500 threads about......

nothing against you, EmrysGal, just my little rant.

Also, welcome to the forum....where all of us can be your enemy and your best friend all in one minute depending on what thread your in


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## 2BigReds (Oct 7, 2011)

I just think sorrel sounds prettier and less ordinary than chestnut, even though technically the same lol. I'd also tend to describe more coppery horses as sorrel, darker reds as chestnut as posted before.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

If people didn't start threads like these, how would we know about people's house horses? (Well porch horses........ )


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Lol! Sorry, it was off topic!
I put a cool nautical rope fence up to keep my sorrel horse rooster off the porch! He was a cantankerous sorrel and learned to crawl through the ropes. For a sorrel he was super smart... smarter than my differently colored, yet the same chestnut!

Joachim: I love how the Germans differentiate!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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