Coat Color and Pattern likes and dislikes

[Tab]

A good horse is never a bad color but we do develop preferences. What are your likes and dislikes? I have found that I am just not that into appies or overos. I do not like blue eyes or bald faces. I do not like seeing sclera. That said, in spite of these preferences we can see beauty in every horse regardless of color or pattern. Fads can come and go. It is good to know what you like and stick to it. What do you like /dislike?

 

[targetsmom]

Has to be a pinto (eligible for PtHA registry) but any color, including gray, is fine! And minimal pintos are fine too - they don't have to be flashy. I LOVE blue eyes in a dark face and/or with eyeliner, but don't like bald faces. Being a pinto purist, I avoid Appaloosas or even app blood in a pedigree.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I guess I love them all but really love wild toveros, the mixing of patterns is the best for me. I also love appies and pintaloosas. Blue eyes are great even on a bald face. I guess I really dont have a huge preference in patterns but prefer color over solids. Only "pattern" I might actually not prefer is an extreme varnish, just not my fave.

 

[Minimor]

At one time I liked solid color horses--I did not like white markings. We had Morgans, and for many years Morgans could not have high white nor could they have blue eyes. That rule was of course rescinded years ago, but still.....we preferred dark legs and little or no white on the faces. We did have two white faced Morgans that we thought very highly of, but they were exceptions to our rule.

Now--if you look at our Minis and ponies you will guess that we like white--we have one Mini with 4 white legs; we have several pinto Shetlands, and we have several more Shetlands that have LOTS of white thanks to their sabino genes. We have one pony with blue eyes--she is pretty and while I don't mind her blue eyes I do still prefer dark eyes.

I am not a fan of double dilutes--I don't like all the pink skin. I would never buy a double dilute, and thankfully we have never raised one though a couple of crosses we made could have resulted in a cremello foal. We lucked out and got smokey black and palomino from those two crosses.

The one color that I really, really dislike.....is that brown/bay that I call mule brown. I don't care how perfect the horse was in conformation, nor how wonderfully talented the horse might be, I cannot imagine myself ever buying a horse that was mule brown, with the dull bay/brown coloring and the mealy muzzle. Happily it doesn't seem to be a common color in the small equine; I saw that color fairly often in Morgans, but to date have come across only one mini with that coloring.

 

[Tremor]

I'm pretty lame.

Plain Jane chestnut and bay.

I like Appaloosas but I do not like excessive mottling on the eyes. I don't find it attractive at all, but I haven't had to worry about it since I have appies with little Appaloosa characteristics.

 

[MiniNHF]

I like those striking colors, be them solids or patterns. Love silver dapples, deep golden palominos, reddish bays, leopard apps (full of spots), blanket apps, paints for me have to have a very unique pattern to catch my eye even though I love the patterened horses. My boy is a rich chestnut sorrel which I love, he is not your typical "chestnut."

Not a big fan of blacks and whites, light colored palos, really any dliuted colors. Not a fan some of the palomino, gray pintos, when they are shaved their color just doesnt come up enough for me.

I would take those however a black with a lot of chrome, I love blazes, socks and stockings on a horse. Sometimes that makes up for the color with me.

IDK maybe over time my preferences will change. I use to not like chestnut and bays and wanted a black or white horse lol Might have been because ive always had chestnut horses my whole life go figure.

 

[Jenny]

I'm with Tremor. I like the solid colours. Chestnut is my favourite, but I like blacks, bays, palominos, and buckskins too. I'm not too fond of pintos or appaloosas, but I can appreciate why a lot of people like them!

 

[chandab]

My all-time favorite color is palomino, a rich dark golden palomino; but I'll take what I can get, so I love my pale palomino and my fake palomino (silver bay dun) mares.

I've gained an appreciate for silver since having the miniatures, and love my silver buckskin stallion.

My least favorite is probably sorrel/chestnut, but I've seen a few that I really appreciate their rich copper color.

I like solids and pintos, not too fond of appies, but do have two horses with appy characteristics (a mare and her son) and varnish roan gelding.

 

[romewhip]

I never thought I'd get used to blue eyes but I have, and don't notice Jake's eves as much. I have to say that I really do prefer a blue eyed horse have dark pigment (eyeliner) around the eye if it is in a white area. Jake's white side has black eyeliner around the eye.

Also not really that much of a fan of pintos, and that's what I have. I love a dapple grey, or a really bright blood bay. Also a very dark silver bay with really white mane and tail.

 

[MyMiniGal]

Gosh, I like so many...I love Halo and her being Bay, but I would love to have a Buckskin with black mane/tail too. But, right now, if I could go and get me another mini, it would be a Bay Appaloosa...snowcapped would be my favorite. I've seen many foals, online lately, with these markings. Thank goodness they are clear across country, or I would be trying to figure out how to have one.

 

[Barefootin]

Well for our crowd we like pretty much all colors. Not big fans of Appies though. Pintos work for us. Mom was an inspector for PtHA in the 70's so that has pretty much set that in stone by now. As breeders we try to stay away from the Frame Overos. Mostly because APHA is such a pain about Solid foals and breeding two Frames doesn't up your odds of anything but a lethal white foal. My Mom prefers Chestnut bases and I prefer Bay bases for colors. Then add any and all dilutes and modifiers. So naturally we have a whole rainbow of colors and patterns when you look at either the small people herd or the big people herd.

 

[BSharpRanch]

My absolute favorite color is buttermilk buckskin with four white socks and a blaze! I have an assortment of colors at my house. Trying to get a herd of appies and pintaloosas together though.

 

[bevann]

My absolute favorite color is a black and white tobiano since almost 71 years ago my BEST birthday present was a black and white grade pony Beauty-black and white of course.My least favorite color is bay .When i was married we had Standardbreds and they come in mostly bay-a few black,ocassional sorrel or grey. I also love Appies.Not a big fan of blue eyes.Interesting thread.

 

[Danielleee]

Always depends on the horse. But! I love solid blacks and black and whites. Love all dilutes. Love bays. Love / hate relationship with appaloosas some are gorgeous and some not so much. My least favorite color is silver black. Which is funny because most of our herd is made up of them even my filly who I absolutely adore. But I don't hate any colors.

 

[Tab]

That is one thing that is just awesome about this breed. If you like diversity in color and type this is your breed. Not into appaloosas but I saw a picture of a leopard today that was just gorgeous. Love leopards. Someone also mentioned double dilutes. Not my favorite either but I drool over Billy Idol and since I saw Sami's Lil Moonman driving I loved him. Then there is also freaky blue eyes, but if everything else is perfect I'll overlook it. (Sorry, blue eyes and appy people!) I respect all of your likes and dislikes. The sky is the limit in this breed as far as coat color, pattern, and type! It sure is as individual as the person!

I love pintos, but it seems that I have a solid black and bay budget. Lucky for me, minis are a treasure trove of color genetics. You can have a rainbow-colored herd of all different shades of bay!

 

[Danielleee]

So true Tab!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Very interesting thread! I just have to jump in here for the appies! I've loved them and raised them since waaay before anybody else liked them. For years I was a purist, no pinto allowed. Then I bought a mare in foal (thanx Deb!) and she produced a beautiful pintaloosa colt. Now I love them! I also love dilutes off all kinds! One of my favorite mares is a cremello pinto. Course I'd love Bluebell no matter what color she was!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I prefer a solid coloured horse, love silver and chrome. Think blue eyes are lovely and can appreciate a nice overo. I'm not a huge fan of tobianos (short fat pinto ponies are pretty common around this area) nor do I care for roaned appys but the only pattern I truely dislike is a pintaloosa. I just can't look past that pattern no matter how good the conformation is.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I love all the colors. appy and pinto are my absolute favorites and pintaloosas too. Not overly fond of blue eyes though, however if the horse had an outstanding temperament, color doesnt' matter much to me at all if the personality and temperament are outstanding, so I guess I love them all but spots and splashes make me take a second look. I am a sucker for a nice head. My two favorite biggie horses in my past were a red and white paint and a appaloosa, so that might be tainting my eye toward pintos and appys in my minis. I had two bad wrecks in my past, one on a white horse and one on a chestnut horse (biggies) so I guess that is why those two colors are my least favorite colors, but as I said, i wouldn't care if the horse was green and moldy looking if it had an outstanding one of a kind unique temperament I would be taking a second look. haha.

 

[MyMiniGal]

Shorthorsemom, that is what I feel too...when I think about getting another mini, I don't totally think of color. To me they need to have a good temperament and personality and for me, that means, they love to please and are super sweet. I know I couldn't handle a difficult mini, that was never sweet. That would be hard for me. But if I could find all of that, in a Bay Appaloosa, then hey, I'm there! LOL