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Horses
Seventeen horse colors explained in plain words: what each one looks like, the simple genetics behind it, which breeds have it and how to tell similar colors apart. Russian names are given too, for readers of Russian books and breed standards.
All other colors grow from these: a horse either has black pigment or not, all over the body or only on the mane and legs.
The cream, dun and silver genes lighten a base color, giving golden, sandy and mouse-grey horses.
White hairs appear with age, are mixed through the body or cover the whole horse from birth.
Large patches or small spots on top of any base color.
| English | Russian | Shades |
|---|---|---|
| Bay | Гнедая | light bay, dark bay, blood bay |
| Black | Вороная | jet black, sun-bleached (fading) black |
| Chestnut | Рыжая | sorrel, golden chestnut, dark chestnut |
| Liver chestnut | Бурая | dark liver, light liver |
| Grey | Серая | dapple grey, light grey, flea-bitten grey |
| Seal brown | Караковая | dark brown, brown |
| Buckskin | Буланая | light buckskin, golden buckskin, dark buckskin |
| Palomino | Соловая | light palomino, golden palomino, chocolate palomino |
| Cremello and perlino | Изабелловая | cremello, perlino, smoky cream |
| Bay dun | Саврасая | light dun, zebra dun |
| Grullo (mouse dun) | Мышастая | grulla, blue dun, mouse dun |
| Red dun | Каурая | claybank dun, apricot dun |
| Flaxen chestnut and silver | Игреневая | flaxen chestnut, silver dapple, chocolate with flaxen mane |
| Roan | Чалая | bay roan, blue roan, red (strawberry) roan |
| Pinto (piebald and skewbald) | Пегая | piebald, skewbald, tobiano, overo, sabino |
| Leopard spotted (Appaloosa) | Чубарая | leopard, blanket, snowflake, few-spot |
| White | Белая | dominant white |
Every color page has a tip on which fabric and yarn to use for a hobby horse of that color. Sew your own with our free pattern or browse the hobby horse catalogue.
Bay: a brown body with a black mane, tail and lower legs. It appears in almost every breed.
True white (dominant white) is one of the rarest. Leopard spotting, cremello and some silver shades are also uncommon outside specific breeds.
A grey is born dark and turns white with age; its skin stays dark. A true white is white from birth and has pink skin.
There are three base colors (bay, black and chestnut). Genes for dilution, greying and spotting turn them into dozens of shades. This page covers the seventeen best-known ones.
Any! Hobby horse makers use the same color names as real horses, so a «bay» or «palomino» hobby horse looks like a real horse of that color.