# Yearling Color Mystery (Picture heavy!)



## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Hey Everyone, 
I've got one for you. My chestnut QH was pregnant when I bought her, no one knows who the sire was, breed, color, etc. And the baby she had, has been doing a rainbow fish type of color change throughout her life. When she was born, we thought buckskin. As she got older, we thought maybe she'd be buckskin with a blanket. Then it was bay. Then grulla, and now maybe roan? Hopefully someone here can settle the dispute. She's a little unique...as I've only found one horse online that looked similar to her coloring. So I'm posting pictures of her from pieces of her life so far, and maybe someone can finally solve the mystery of what color she is.

The day she was born









One month









3 Months










7 Months: That's not water, it's her fur









9 Months









11 months









1 year (The middle of her side that grew back white-ish was shaved because her winter coat wasn't shedding and she was covered in sweat because it was far too warm outside)









1 year, 6 months (taken today)


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Brownskin roan (brown + cream + roan).


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## MrBeCharming (May 18, 2012)

Sooty buckskin


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

NdAppy said:


> Brownskin roan (brown + cream + roan).


I've never heard of such a color...can you get me some pictures?



MrBeCharming said:


> Sooty buckskin


Alright, I can kind of see sooty buckskin, although none of the images I can dig up, have the black around the eyes... Can you find me one that does? Or do you think it's going to turn white?







It's the same darkness/shape on both sides of her face. Or is this maybe just a marking?


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Brown is another form of agouti (bay is also a form of agouti). basically you have a black horse with the brown agouti, the cream gene and the roan gene. Most people refer to brownskins/brown buckskins as sooty buckskins, but that is incorrect as it is NOT caused by sooty. The brown agouti has been isolated so it IS correct to call a horse what it is.


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## Plains Drifter (Aug 4, 2009)

I'm going to go with brownskin roan. She looks much like a filly I use to have. Here she was when I got her as a yearling in the spring.










Then during the summer her yearling year.









This was starting the winter of her yearling year.









Spring as a 2 yr old.









Then one of the last pictures of her as a 2 1/2 yr old before I sold her.









Notice she has the same coloring between the eyes as your girl. I'd love to see better pictures (better lighting) of your girl!


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Plains Drifter said:


> I'm going to go with brownskin roan. She looks much like a filly I use to have. Here she was when I got her as a yearling in the spring.
> 
> 
> Notice she has the same coloring between the eyes as your girl. I'd love to see better pictures (better lighting) of your girl!


Her face is very similar in that last picture! And the picture of her in the winter looks very familiar as well! I didn't doubt "brownskin roan" was a color...I had just simply never heard of such a thing. But that would make sense why I haven't seen any like her lol..it's apparently not a very common color. I'll see if I have anything better I can dig up as far as pictures! Since I've had her since she was a baby, I've got far too many :X


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

I've a friend that's a photographer-in-training and she takes barn pictures for me : ). So luckily, I was able to pull up some good ones she took last time she was out










These were taken beforee her winter coat started coming in : )


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Definitely brownskin roan.


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## MelissaAnn (Aug 26, 2011)

My guess was also for Brownskin roan. Very pretty girl!!


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## Drifting (Oct 26, 2011)

What's the possibility that she's a brownskin turning gray? Since we don't know if the Sire was gray or not. 

The reason I ask is because she looks exactly like a yearling I had that was turning gray.


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

That was actually something I was quite concerned with as well. That was a minor considered possibility...that she's not quite roan at all, but instead turning gray. We first thought we had solved the mystery about who her sire was, and narrowed it out to be an appy..... and at that time I thought I could see a blanket forming, and we were curious if she'd turn gray..but then we realized her father couldn't be the appy we thought it was based on the colors she's turning out to be. If her father was the appaloosa we thought, she'd have to be sorrel, or bay. Period. And this past summer, she definitely started lightening up...do you have any more pictures of your little guy that turned grey?


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## Drifting (Oct 26, 2011)

I don't have many pictures on my work computer, I'll have to wait till I get home. He was born black and grayed very quickly. He's lightening more and more.

The first one is a March 2012 pic so he still has some of his winter coat (which was lighter then his summer coat.) I believe the 2nd is around May or June. He was a bit darker. He's no longer mine, but I can pull some recent pictures off facebook. The current owner sent me one of him chasing other horses with a lung whip.


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Oh dear lol, sounds like he has a similar personality too. And if you could get some more recent pictures, I'd be really interested to see them. Color doesn't entirely matter, but I'm incredibly curious, and if she is gonna turn grey...I wanna have time to prepare lol


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

IMPO the filly in the original post isn't grey.


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## Nokotaheaven (Apr 11, 2012)

Yeah, I'm going to guess brownskin roan or brownskin with grey.. But it's more likely brownskin roan


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

If the sire was an Appy, any chance we're seeing varnish up to it's usual games here? I don't see grey either, I see either standard or varnish roan.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MaidenMare (Sep 23, 2012)

MrBeCharming said:


> Sooty buckskin


I agree!


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## lefty (Sep 20, 2012)

looks pretty roany to me


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

there's the fun in it all.. I've had someone look at her and tell me appaloosa. I've had someone tell me her face looks thoroughbred. If her sire was the appy we initially thought.. It was a registered solid bay. If it wasn't him.. Which based on the color she is.. Genetics I believe says he can't be.. Her sire could be anything on four legs. As my mare was likely bred at the auction house feed lot.. So any guess could be possible. We call her the rainbow horse.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

what happened to the quarter sock on her hind ?


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

I'm not quite sure what you're asking...she was born with a small white spot on her right hind leg right above her hoof..and she still has it. Although every so often it's camouflaged from dust lol. If that's not what you were asking about.. My apologies. I couldn't figure out what else it could be
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Updated picture for everyone! She's now 2 years and 3 months old.


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## Blue Smoke (Dec 22, 2012)

Definitely brownskin roan


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

I agree with smokey brown roan (roan brownskin same thing). I don't see gray at all. Nacota your mare is much more grayed out on her face and light bottom of tail than the OP's horse.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

I think brownskin roan also.


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Her rump is turning gray, and those white spots aren't scars. Everyone that sees her says grulla until they realize she has spots and her butt is turning...then they say genetically it can't be grulla, so they say bay roan.. they've never heard of brownskin roan. But I can see where that would be flawed because she really isn't bay at all.. but we also figure her dad to be a certain bay Appaloosa. 
Also, this was her this past winter








And this is another recent picture







It also helps to note, that in these pictures, she's 100% clean...and all the spots on her butt are not water, scars etc. They're markings.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

You're talking about the dark spot on her hip on her right side? that's not a "spot." That's whats considered a corn marks/spots. True roans get them where the hair has been damaged by things such as bites from other horses.


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Thanks! I didn't know that. Although it must've been one from long ago that caused it...because she's never had anything that big...


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

It doesn't take scraping to the skin for them to appear.


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

Your horse is such a neat interesting horse. The reason I like greys is because their coat changes from season to season, and its always so fun to see. Don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm curious if people are calling horses that are really brownskin roans sooty buckskins, what does a true genetically tested sooty buckskin look like next to a brownskin roan? Curious as I'm really into colors, and like to learn all I can.


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

I do think that smokey browns are very often called sooty buckskin.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

What a neat colour on her. I have to agree with the colour with everyone else.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## dunfold (Nov 15, 2010)

if her dam is chestnut her father cannot be bay. He carries the cream gene, and is buckskin or palomino (or smoky black) or possibly double cream


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## Silberxx (Sep 30, 2010)

Her dam is sorrel, if that makes a difference..


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

Dad had to carry the Cream gene and roan.

Sorrel vs chestnut are the same thing genetically.


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