# Looks Bay, Marked Like a Dun?



## Tracer (Sep 16, 2012)

Something has been niggling at me for a while now, purely for curuiousities sake.

Dozer looks very much a bay. BUT, today especially, there are hints of dun markings. My mother has been noticing the shoulder barring lately, and he's always has a strong dorsal stripe. Last summer, I'm certain I spotted hints of leg barring too.

Whilst I don't think a dun could look so much like a bay, I'm curious what the experts think. Primitively marked bay, dun, or are we seeing things?































​


----------



## BreezylBeezyl (Mar 25, 2014)

The "classic" dun color is actually a bay dun. Your horse is almost certainly a bay dun.

He _could _be a plain bay with countershading, but I personally wouldn't put my money on it as countershading tends to blend in to the outside surrounding hairs. My bay tobiano mare (the one in my avatar) has countershading and while it's certainly noticeable it's also clearly not a representation of a proper "dun" dorsal stripe. Plus, with countershading you will not see those wither/shoulder stripes as it's not strong enough to produce those types of markings.

Can we see pictures of his legs? I'm almost 100% certain this horse is a dun, but I'd like to see none the less.

Dun is actually not a rare gene and is a simple dominant, meaning the horse only needs to carry one copy for him to be a dun.


----------



## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Question: how long have you owned him? Dun doesn't hide for years and then pop up later. A horse can develop distinct primitive countershading without a dun gene, but it will change seasonally. A dun horse is always a dun, doesn't lose its primitive markings based on the year or the seasonal coat changes ;-)


----------



## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

A little off topic, but this post reminded my of something long hidden in the recesses of my aging brain, lol.

I had a friend who showed in buckskin association and duns in halter. She had a very nice solid dark brown mare, and she would use clippers to clip a line from her tail to withers and then enter her in color classes. I should have known then that she was a shady person, but I was a newbie back then.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Tracer (Sep 16, 2012)

WillowNightwind said:


> The "classic" dun color is actually a bay dun. Your horse is almost certainly a bay dun.
> 
> He _could _be a plain bay with countershading, but I personally wouldn't put my money on it as countershading tends to blend in to the outside surrounding hairs. My bay tobiano mare (the one in my avatar) has countershading and while it's certainly noticeable it's also clearly not a representation of a proper "dun" dorsal stripe. Plus, with countershading you will not see those wither/shoulder stripes as it's not strong enough to produce those types of markings.
> 
> ...


I'll grab some current photos this afternoon, but in the mean time here are two from early this year.


















SunnyDraco said:


> Question: how long have you owned him? Dun doesn't hide for years and then pop up later. A horse can develop distinct primitive countershading without a dun gene, but it will change seasonally. A dun horse is always a dun, doesn't lose its primitive markings based on the year or the seasonal coat changes ;-)


I've had him for two years. He's always had the dorsal stripe, and I could never be convinced whether I was seeing things on his shoulders.



HombresArablegacy said:


> A little off topic, but this post reminded my of something long hidden in the recesses of my aging brain, lol.
> 
> I had a friend who showed in buckskin association and duns in halter. She had a very nice solid dark brown mare, and she would use clippers to clip a line from her tail to withers and then enter her in color classes. I should have known then that she was a shady person, but I was a newbie back then.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


That is so dodgy O.O


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

He looks VERY bay to me, with possibly strong counter-shading causing the faux primitive markings.

My friend had a brown Arab gelding who had a very distinct "dorsal stripe" to the point that for the longest time she SWORE he was dun. Impossible since Arabs don't carry dun.

If your guy was dun, I'd expect his body color to be more diluted and almost "peachy" in color, not the strong red it is.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

My dun gelding's sire was as bay as bay can be. You had to look close to see his dun markings because they didn't stand out since there was no dilution to his coat color. He threw dun babies when bred to non-dun mares though so he was definitely dun.


----------



## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

In this case, I would actually suggest pulling some hairs and getting a coat color test done to test for dun. He looks extremely bay with how red he is but there are a very few bay duns who don't get much color dilution, a coat test would give you the definitive answer ;-)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

Tracer said:


> I'll grab some current photos this afternoon, but in the mean time here are two from early this year.
> View attachment 710290
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, she actually went on to a life of crime, embezzlement, theft, assault, took an elderly man for over $100 grand. Now she's a "cough-cough" respectable grandma?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

My bay qh has a distinct dorsal stripe. Absolutely no duns in his background - all bays and chestnuts.


----------

