# My Palomino mini has a dorsal stripe!



## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

I've just noticed....always thought it was just dirt, but now I see my Palomino mini has a dorsal stripe! Does this mean she's not a Pally? Does she have a dun factor or something? I thought dunalinos have dorsal stripes....could she be that? I'm a little confused lol. I thought Palominos never have dorsal stripes, but low and behold, Lulu does. Here's some pics of her:


















(please excuse her, shall we say, heaviness....she's prego lol)


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## PaintsPwn (Dec 29, 2009)

She doesn't even look palomino to me. Have you had her color tested? And it looks more like counter shading.


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## AQHA13 (Apr 19, 2017)

It may be counter shading. Do you know for sure what colors her parents were? That may help you figure it out, if not you could have her tested.


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

It looks like counter shading to me to. And I agree, she looks sorrel on my computer!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

No, I don't know for sure she's a Pally. Have never had her tested, and I rescued her from a lady who had 14 horses on half an acre, all living in tin sheds or tied to fences. This li'l girl had been tied to a fence the entire first 5 years of her life! So I'm not sure of her parents coloring, and I'm sure her previous owners aren't either.

Really? Sorrel with the flaxen mane? I have a sorrel/chestnut horse, and their color is sooo different. He's like red, and she's....yellow.

What's counter shading?

EDIT: Btw, her tail is naturally flaxen. She pees in it, though, so that's why it's black at the bottom. We usually keep it shorter but haven't gotten around to cutting it this year! So it's not natural


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## ThinkingOfRiding (Apr 8, 2010)

i think we can't tell very well cause shes in the shade, try posting a pic of her in the sun so we can see her glow


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

I'll get some pics of her today


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## ThinkingOfRiding (Apr 8, 2010)

sounds good 
she's very cute and chubby 
the best kind


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I agree, she doesn't look exactly "palomino" to me either - but I don't think I see sorrel either. Although flaxen chestnut and palomino can mimic each other, I would expect to see more red undertones in her coat and I don't - she actually LOOKS classic palomino dun due to the "dullness" of her golden color and the unique darker patches around her.

Here are some photos of palomino duns - maybe could you get some closer photos of her legs?




























As you can see, the dun causes the pale coloring and the darker goldish/dunnish (ROFL, I'm inventing words, I know) patches on the legs, shoulders and flanks - all of which we can see on your mare.

Ironically, I found this photo and she's listed as just palomino - but her entire dam line is a history of greys, so it's virtually impossible to tell if she might actually be a palomino dun but she CERTAINLY looks it to me with those dark legs and dorsel stripe!










Then again, she could easily be a palomino roan (roan runs in her lineage) with counter shading, or even a palomino dun roan! :lol: Colors are such fun!

In your case, I will say it is likely impossible to know 100% unless you have her color tested!

It would be very interesting to know!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Just came back from the barn, got some pics. Sorry, I didn't see your post in time to get photos of her legs. Here's some from today in the sun, though. Sorry they're so big, it takes a lot of time to make them all smaller:



























And a few from the other day, some showing her gray muzzle, mane, legs kind of:


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Personally, I see red dun, like this horse:









To answer your question, sorrels can (and often do) have lighter manes, and their bodies come in all different shades of red:


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Double post: I would love to get her color tested, but my mom would think it a waste of money lol. How much does it cost and how do you go about doing it? Blood sample or something?


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Found this pic online of a red dun with a dorsal stripe, and on the right, mine:










Compared to mine, they look almost identical. Do you think that's what she is, a red dun?


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## PaintsPwn (Dec 29, 2009)

I'm pretty sure she's just a flaxen sorrel with counter shading. Reasons? In the pics form the first post - her legs are more golden - something commonly found in mealy/flaxen chestnuts. I do not think she is a dun, or a palomino. 

I believe she's just a light sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail. I have one in the pasture that looks just like her.


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## CheyAut (Nov 26, 2008)

She's a chestnut wtih flaxed, and the "dorsal" is countershading.

THe test for cream (which would show chestnut vs palomino) is $25. THe test for dun is $50 IIRC.


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

I agree w/ the previous two!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Hmm I think I'll skip the tests. It's not that important to me what color she is (I just find it interesting), but thanks for the input! What's counter-shading, by the way? Does it just occur as a stripe along the topline, or does it have other forms?


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

Counter shading is kind of a false dorsal.


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

Counter shading is actually just another form of sooty or smutty. It can appear in many forms, sometimes altering the entire color of the horse, and can often present false dun markings such as dorsal stripes and zebra barring.

Example of a bay Arabian with countershading making him look dun:



















It's typically the only cause of these markings in non-dun horses. However, it can take extreme forms such as this one, referred to as sooty:










That's a photo of a buckskin with sooty.

Here is an example of a sooty palomino:


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Thanks, that was really helpful


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## Strange (Jan 11, 2009)

I don't think she looks palomino at all. I agree with others that have said she looks sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail. The funny thing about horse colors is that they really can come in all shades and variants, so I think it's more possible for her to be a flaxen sorrel than a palomino.


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## savvylover112 (Jul 17, 2009)

I don't know much about colours but agree that she is not palomino


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## Erin_And_Jasper (Jul 5, 2008)

what is she bred to? im just wondering


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

a Welsh type A, the one in my sig


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