So,,,,just what is a Chestnut color???

[Frankie]

It seems to me, when someone is unsure of what color a horse is,,,,,,,,all of a sudden they just call it a Chestnut. I have read numberous threads, seen numerous ads on the Saleboard,,,,,,,,and have seen 29 different colored horses all called, Chestnut.

Is that a, I'm not sure color??

What is Chestnut???

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Chestnut and Sorrel are the same.

 

[Shari]

Yup,,sure is as Jane said.

I have two shades of chestnut here... Dark liver chestnut that fades and a medium bright chestnut that doesn't.

There are many, many shades of that color.

:

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Oh I have Red Duns...Red Dun + flaxen...Red Dun + Flaxen + sooty- it does get fun, but, basically, red is red.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Sure seems that way, doesn't it?

Chestnut is RED. Plain and simple red, no black, no modifiers, no nothing fancy. You get a chestnut when there are two red genes, which are recessive and only show up as chestnut when there's nothing else present. If you breed a chestnut (or sorrel, same genetics different shade) to a chestnut/sorrel you can only get a chestnut, just like two blue-eyed people will have all blue-eyed children.

There are different names for all the different shades, but they're all chestnut genetically. The problem is people see a brown horse with no black mane or tail and they think "chestnut!"

: And sometimes it's hard to tell as we all know.

Leia

 

[Margaret]

Tee Hee, Frankie, Ive always considered this mare a Chestnut,... (although she could be hiding a silver gene for all I know)..

To me a Chestnut is a red mare with a matching mane and tail..

 

[Karin - NaKar Miniatures]

Carolyn - Here is a link to a website that talks about "Chestnut" coloring. Rabbitfizz is correct that "Sorrel" & "chestnut " are the same - red. I usually call a horse Chestnut if the mane color is the same as the body color.

http://www.equinecolor.com/chestnut.html

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Chestnut can have a Flaxen mane and tail, it is just a relational term.

Historically ALL Suffolk Punches are Sorrel yet I have seen them range in colour form Black/Chestnut right through to almost Haflinger colouration.

It just depends on what part of the country/word you are in.

 

[Loren&Rocky]

My gelding Slick is a liver chestnut, even though my vet listed him as black on his helth cert. He was copper red chestnut as a baby.

 

[Songcatcher]

I'm in agreement with the others on here. Chestnut and Sorrel are the same genetically. They are RED. However, that being said, there are MANY different shades of Chestnut, from very light to very dark. I had one that as a two year old looked ALMOST Palomino. I sold her and two years later her new owners said she had turned a very bright Red. I have one that looks like bright copper in the sun.

However, before the research in genetics, many horsemen in SOME areas differentiated between Chestnuts and Sorrels. They referred to the dark sooty looking ones as Chestnuts and the redder colors as Sorrels. I know for a fact that what many old timers (my father to be exact) referred to as Chestnut is genetically Silver Bay. The pedigrees of many of our Minis reflect this also, which makes it extremely difficult to trace colors. Two Chestnuts (genetic) cannot produce a Black foal, but two Silver Bays can. (Was that off topic? I get carried away.)

 

[EAD Minis]

Slick looks GORGEOUS in that picture.I just love that boys head

:

 

[joylee123]

Carolyn - Here is a link to a website that talks about "Chestnut" coloring. Rabbitfizz is correct that "Sorrel" & "chestnut " are the same - red. I usually call a horse Chestnut if the mane color is the same as the body color.

http://www.equinecolor.com/chestnut.html

[SIZE=12pt][/SIZE]

That's how I was taught back in the old days by my riding master. Red body with the same color mane and tail were Chestnuts. Red body with flaxen mane and tail (or lighter mane and tail than body))were called Sorrels

:

Mr. Tom Outland was 95 years old and his son Zelma was 65, at the time I rode at their barn, so I still, and always will, describe Chestnuts and Sorrels that way

:

:

 

[sdmini]

I was taught that a horse like Slick was chestnut while a horse like Margrets was sorrel.

Chestnuts were a deeper, darker "burnt" red color and never had flaxen mane and tail. Nowadays I know that red is red but I still use the two terms when describing the shade , kinda like Midnight Blue and Baby Blue.