# Dun? Roan?



## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

I would say his base coat is actually buckskin, not dun. He has no dun characteristics that i can see nor is he a roan (roan would be more intense and would not affect the face)
My guess would be a brown-based buckskin, possibly with sooty
As for the white ticking, i would lean towards sabino as a cause, judging by his jagged & irregular markings


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

He looks like a brownskin to me


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Do you know the color of his parents? I am guessing that he is a dun or buckskin (I can't see if he has a dorsal stripe) that is turning gray. I think there is little doubt that he is 'graying out'.

Our one stallion was grullo as a yearling, dun as a two year old and snow white at ten. He sires duns, buckskins, grullos and a lot of grays. About half of his grays are dun or grullo when foaled and then gray out like he did.


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## DustySox (Jun 18, 2013)

Cherie said:


> Do you know the color of his parents? I am guessing that he is a dun or buckskin


No. I rescued him about a year ago, and he's about 21 or so. He does have a dorsal stripe, but it is very faint. Thanks for the responses!


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Dont mistake the "dorsal" for countershading  Dun's dont typically have that light of faces, especially around the eyes and his ears are quite light


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Brownskin.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

if he is 21 then he is NOT graying. He would be snow white or flea bitten by now.


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## Beck C (Apr 23, 2014)

My 8 year old Gelding was advertised as a Buckskin & White paint, which he is. But he has a doral stripe on his back coming down his spine from his tail about a foot long...He also has the balck stripes around his ear tips. The Vet reclassified him as a Dun. Thoughts?? BC


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Beck C said:


> My 8 year old Gelding was advertised as a Buckskin & White paint, which he is. But he has a doral stripe on his back coming down his spine from his tail about a foot long...He also has the balck stripes around his ear tips. The Vet reclassified him as a Dun. Thoughts?? BC


 We would have to see pictures. Mistaking duns for buckskins and visa-versa is an incredibly common thing to do, even for people who've been around horses their entire lives but dont necessarily know much about genetics. Dorsals can be very decieving, as they can appear on non-dun horses. These lines, however, are not true-dorsals, just countershading.
These are all examples of countershading at its most extreme


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Beck C said:


> My 8 year old Gelding was advertised as a Buckskin & White paint, which he is. But he has a doral stripe on his back coming down his spine from his tail about a foot long...He also has the balck stripes around his ear tips. The Vet reclassified him as a Dun. Thoughts?? BC


There is such a thing as a dunskin (buckskin with dun...which is technically a bay base with one cream gene and one dun gene).
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

he's beautiful! I would say buckskin, maybe sooty buckskin.


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## Peppy Barrel Racing (Aug 16, 2011)

Brown agouti buckskin not a dunskin he wouldn't look sooty if he was a dunskin. Brown agouit horses often have a false dorsal.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## AQHSam (Nov 23, 2011)

Beck C said:


> My 8 year old Gelding was advertised as a Buckskin & White paint, which he is. But he has a doral stripe on his back coming down his spine from his tail about a foot long...He also has the balck stripes around his ear tips. The Vet reclassified him as a Dun. Thoughts?? BC


I have a red dun. Everyone thinks the stripe down the back indicates dun but I have been told it's the zebra stripes on the neck and legs. When my dun is wet it looks like a zebra is bleeding through on his legs. 

Dun is created through a mutated gene which displays this pattern. The dorsal stripe is also present but as another person said all horses can have that. But only duns get get the zebra. 

Now someone will post their genetically tested dun has no zebra stripes. :lol:


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

AQHSam said:


> I have a red dun. Everyone thinks the stripe down the back indicates dun but I have been told it's the zebra stripes on the neck and legs. When my dun is wet it looks like a zebra is bleeding through on his legs.
> 
> Dun is created through a mutated gene which displays this pattern. The dorsal stripe is also present but as another person said all horses can have that. But only duns get get the zebra.
> 
> Now someone will post their genetically tested dun has no zebra stripes. :lol:


How about a non-dun that has the zebra striping on the legs?



















Essentially, the only thing that every single dun horse has that non dun horses do not have is at least one copy of the dun gene. Some duns don't show much in the way of primitive markings, although most do have a visible dorsal stripe - but even that is not an essential. Non dun horses can have primitive markings though, all of them including leg barring and cobwebbing. Dun is a dilute gene, so as well as the primitive markings, the horse should have a diluted body colour. And the primitive markings on a dun horse should be the same as the base colour in that area - so red on a red dun, bay on a bay dun etc. Most horses with no dun but with primitive markings usually show darker, almost black markings.

Some more cool pictures:

Tested dun, dorsal seasonal:









Dorsal of a tested perlino champagne dun roan (yup, that's a horse):









A dorsal stripe on a non-dun horse:









Some really funky leg barring:


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## AQHSam (Nov 23, 2011)

Thank you for providing greater explanation. . Great photos.


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