What color do you think he is?

[LostandFound]

This boy's color is driving me nuts. He looked a grayish shade of bay when he was born. When I clipped him, I was sure he was going to be buckskin. Now I'm wondering if he might be a liver chestnut. Or is he just late getting dark points and mane and tail? What do you all think? Mom is buckskin, although her points are dark brown, not black. And daddy is black.

 

[Standards Equine]

Oh that's a good question! Minis seem to have their own set of colours that they come up with, compared to big horses, don't they?

 

[LostandFound]

That's for sure! I'm used to guessing color patterns, not what color is this? Last years colt was confusing too. I would have thought brown, but now I'm reading that they have decided brown doesn't really exist, it's just a shade of bay.

 

[chandab]

Clipping removes most of the pigmented portion of the hair shaft, so we need unclipped pics to assess color.
If you have them, newborn pics are usually best to determine color (at least without waiting 3-5 years for them to be settled into their adult shade); but at least unclipped pics will be helpful.

 

[LostandFound]

He does have about an inch of hair on him now, the entire head and lower legs are unclipped. Shed out from his baby color, but not clipped. Baby pics he looked like bay to me, but it didn't quite look right for bay either.

 

[HersheyMint]

Beautiful! I think the color is beautiful

 

[chandab]

He does have about an inch of hair on him now, the entire head and lower legs are unclipped. Shed out from his baby color, but not clipped. Baby pics he looked like bay to me, but it didn't quite look right for bay either.

I'm leaning silver bay. The silver gene dilutes black pigment to shade from as light as flaxen to as dark as nearly still black, although miniatures tend towards the lighter shades.

 

[LostandFound]

Hmmm....I could go for that, but daddy is black and I think mom is too dark to be silver. If I remember right he needs one parent to be silver, unless it can express minimally.
I've got to edit this to say that now I'm reading that it's possible for sooty plus cream plus silver to do some odd things. Momma has some slightly odd colored horses in her pedigree, but most are too old for me to find pictures of. One of her previous foals was a very grayish looking buckskin that I could see being silver by a bay stud.

 

[LostandFound]

Last year's foal from this mare started out this color, and ended up here at a year and a half old. His points were just a very dark brown instead of black, but he looked more bayish to me.

 

[LostandFound]

Beautiful! I think the color is beautiful

That's funny, I kind of thought the same thing. But the registry likes something a bit more specific than that. I'm thinking I may show him next year. And he has the most adorable attitude.

 

[LostandFound]

I'm leaning silver bay. The silver gene dilutes black pigment to shade from as light as flaxen to as dark as nearly still black, although miniatures tend towards the lighter shades.

After hours of research, I think you may be right. I'm going to spend the money and send some of my mare's hair in for genetic testing. I never would have guessed silver in a million years, but it seems possible anyway.

 

[chandab]

Minis don't do dark silvers very often, but some do. There are a fair number of Buckeroo bred silvers that are dark enough to non-silver, they just have minor hints at their silver. Time will tell or just test silver and find out.

 

[LostandFound]

She does have buckeroo in there somewhere, but if my research is right it would come from her dad...mountain meadows sovereign. He's the one with the brown registered horses in his pedigree. Will the foal likely get more obviously silver as he ages if he is? I read the mane and tail get darker as they age. I'm kind of excited that means he may keep his silver tail. I figured he would grow out of it, and was surprised he had it this late.

 

[MaryFlora]

Genetics and color always overwhelm me with the variables but I like trying to follow along, it is very interesting.

Quite a few years ago I saw AMHR Riverdance Marbled Tigress (?), who was a brindle color and very unusual. If memory serves, it is one of those ‘random’ events you can’t plan on repeating.

Whatever the official color, your little guy is gorgeous and so are the others!

 

[chandab]

Genetics and color always overwhelm me with the variables but I like trying to follow along, it is very interesting.

Quite a few years ago I saw AMHR Riverdance Marbled Tigress (?), who was a brindle color and very unusual. If memory serves, it is one of those ‘random’ events you can’t plan on repeating.

Whatever the official color, your little guy is gorgeous and so are the others!

If I remember correctly, Marbled Tigress is a skewed dun. Actual brindle color doesn't exist in equines, but there are a few situations that cause a brindled appearance.

 

[chandab]

Black and regular buckskin should not produce a silver anything, so perhaps he is just bay; but he does seem to have more light colored hairs in his mane and tail than you expect from a regular bay.

 

[LostandFound]

Mom is a kind of off looking buckskin. Her legs are dark brown, and her mane is more dark brown than black. I always figured she was a brown based buckskin. But now they say brown doesn't really exist, it's just bay.
I had to look up Marbled Tigress, wow, that is a neat color.