What color do you think he is?

[LostandFound]

The mystery is unsolved. This little stinker is looking chocolate, I was certain that he would be. But the test results are negative, the mare doesn't have silver.
I've really got no idea at this point.

 

[MaryFlora]

He does remind me of some grulla horse’s I’ve seen. Cedar Ridge Quarter Horses had an interesting article on the grulla color in their website. It is older but interesting.

 

[LostandFound]

I couldn't find that article specifically, but they probably have the most detailed color information out there. I emailed them and asked for the link. I've been using their website since I started having funky colored foals. To the best of my knowledge though, he would still need black points as well as a dorsal stripe to be grulla.

 

[chandab]

Knowing he doesn't have silver; then I'm going to lean to black carrying cream with nd1, can't really see the tell tale signs of the nd1, but it can cause fading, so I'll lean that way.
This filly is black carrying cream and I'm 99% certain she has nd1, cause she fades like crazy. [I'll post a "black" pic of her next.]

 

[chandab]

I couple of pics of her looking more black, one showing the typical buff colored inner ears of one with nd1 (doesn't always mean nd1, but coupled with her extreme fading, it's a pretty good indicator). I need to get new pics, I've been very remiss in taking pics the last few years.

 

[LostandFound]

She is gorgeous! The color is very similar, unfortunately, smoky black or buckskin was my first guess, and he is negative for cream. I'm not too familiar with nd1, could it cause all the black to fade off bays? I should have done the full color panel instead of testing one by one, I may have to do that. He doesn't have the lighter colored inner ears. A liver chestnut is a possibility, but according to the color calculator chestnut was only like 3% possible.

 

[chandab]

She is gorgeous! The color is very similar, unfortunately, smoky black or buckskin was my first guess, and he is negative for cream. I'm not too familiar with nd1, could it cause all the black to fade off bays? I should have done the full color panel instead of testing one by one, I may have to do that. He doesn't have the lighter colored inner ears. A liver chestnut is a possibility, but according to the color calculator chestnut was only like 3% possible.

Could just be straight up black, like all colors, black comes in shades too. nd1 is a gene on the Dun locus, it's literally "non-dun 1", it can cause some primitives, usually no dilution (homozygous nd1 can cause a little dilution), and often leads to fading.

 

[LostandFound]

It's possible that there is a lot of fading, but he is very light grayish tan around his nose, which I don't think blacks are supposed to have. And he shed out that way so it shouldn't have gotten that faded. His baby shed was very light, he's getting darker now as he gets his winter woolies. His eyelashes are a light tan too. And inside his ears is the same color as his mane. I guess the real question is can you have nd1 with no primitive markings? Mare doesn't have a hint of dorsal, striping, or anything, and neither does he.

 

[chandab]

primatives without dilution are harder to see. I don't see any on my filly, but she has the light colored inner ears and fades like crazy. The nd1 could come from the sire side of it. IIRC nd1 is fairly common in minis.

 

[LostandFound]

I can't imagine his daddy has anything that causes fading. He is black, and black all year even though he lives outside.

 

[chandab]

I can't imagine his daddy has anything that causes fading. He is black, and black all year even though he lives outside.

I couldn't remember which parent was which color.