You may know that horses come in many beautiful coat colors, but did you know that there are more than just the black, white, and brown?
Indeed, the world of horse colors is as diverse and captivating as the horses themselves.
1. True White
Color: Rare
True white horses are completely white from birth and have pink skin under their coats. They are not common and can sometimes be confused with other light-colored horses.
2. Camarillo White
Color: Rare
Camarillo White horses are pure white from birth, and unlike some other white horses, they retain the white color throughout their lives along with pink skin and dark eyes. This rare color is mainly found in the Camarillo breed and is uncommon. (ref)
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3. Metallic Sheen
Color: Rare
Horses with metallic sheen have a coat that appears like shiny metal. This rare trait is mostly seen in breeds like the Akhal-Teke, sometimes called “golden horses.” Other breeds, like Don, Karabakh, and Budyonny, also have this metallic shine.
4. Chimeric Coloring
Color: Rare
Chimera coloring happens when two twin embryos fuse inside the mother before birth. This is extremely rare. As a result, the horse is born with two different sets of DNA, and you can see both sets in its brindle coat, usually from a mix of bay and chestnut. (ref)
5. Brindle
Color: Rare
In 2016, scientists found the Brindle gene, known as BR1, in a specific family of American Quarter Horses. This color pattern gives the horse a tiger-like striped look, which is very rare. (ref)
6. Mushroom
Color: Rare
This color lightens the red tones in a horse’s coat, making the horse look like it has the sepia appearance of an old photograph. The mushroom coat color dilution that was responsible was found in Shetland ponies, according to researchers. (ref)
7. Cremello
Color: Rare
Cremello horses have a pale cream coat and are often seen in breeds like the Lusitano, Akhal-Teke, and certain ponies. They have pink skin and light-colored eyes, giving them a rare appearance.
8. Pearl
Color: Rare
Pearl horses are often mistaken for crenelles or purlins because of their light coat. However, they have a slightly darker, more yellowish coat. This color is especially prized in breeds like Andalusians and Lusitanos.
9. Perlino
Color: Rare
Perlino horses have a cream-colored coat that ranges from pale white to light brown, especially in the summer. They are considered “pseudo-albino” because they are close to albino but are not fully white.
10. Sorraia
Color: Rare
The Sorraia color is usually seen in dun-colored or grullo horses. These horses often have a black stripe running down their back, called a dorsal stripe, which is linked to specific types of wild-looking horses.
11. Silver Buckskin
Color: Rare
Silver Buckskin horses have a golden or tan body with a dark mane, tail, and legs. The “silver” part comes from a special gene that lightens their black parts, giving them a characteristic, shiny look. It’s a rare twist on the common buckskin color.
12. Sooty Buckskin
Color: Rare
Sooty Buckskins develop dark, blackish hairs across their shoulders, back, and thighs, making them look like they have a “sooty” overlay on their usual golden color.
13. Silver Dapple Pinto
Color: Rare
These horses have a dark base coat, usually black, with a silver gene that lightens the black, giving them a mixture of contrasting white and gray spots. It’s rare and is often seen in breeds like the Rocky Mountain Horse and American Miniature Horse. (ref)
14. Buckskin Pinto
Color: Rare
Buckskin Pinto horses combine the golden body color of a buckskin with the white patches of a pinto. Buckskins are a diluted bay color, ranging from cream to yellow or orange, with dark eyes.
Though often confused with duns, buckskins have black points but lack the dun’s primitive markings. “Zebra dun” refers to buckskin-colored horses with these markings.
15. Sabino
Color: Rare
Sabino is a color pattern where the horse has white patches on its legs, face, and sometimes the body, often with roaning (white hairs mixed with the base coat). This pattern is typically irregular and can vary in size. Some Sabino horses might even appear mostly white if the pattern is extensive.
16. Rabicano
Color: Rare
Rabicano is a rare coat pattern where white hairs are sprinkled on the horse’s flanks, tail, and sometimes the rib area. The rest of the coat remains the horse’s base color. This pattern is subtle but adds a distinctive look to the horse.
17. Red Rabicano
Color: Rare
Red Rabicano is similar to the regular Rabicano pattern, but the horse’s base coat is red or chestnut. The white hairs create a striking contrast against the reddish-brown coat, making the pattern stand out.
18. Chocolate Flaxen
Color: Rare
Horses with a chestnut base coat can develop a chocolate color with a lighter (flaxen) mane and tail. This is most common in Rocky Mountain horses, giving them a striking appearance.
19. Chocolate Palomino
Color: Rare
Chocolate Palomino horses have a golden coat, but darker than the usual palomino, with a rich chocolate hue and a light mane and tail, creating a beautiful contrast.
20. Champagne: Classic, Gold, or Amber
Color: Rare
Champagne horses inherit a special gene from at least one parent, giving them bright pink skin at birth, which may develop freckles around the muzzle, eyes, and other areas. Some champagne horses may have a shiny, metallic look. These horses pass the gene to their foals 50% of the time. (ref)
21. Smoky Cream
Color: Rare
Smoky Cream horses are a very light cream color, almost white, with blue or amber eyes. This rare color is usually seen in breeds like the American Quarter Horse, Saddlebred, Tennessee Walking Horse, Missouri Fox Trotter, Andalusian, or American Paint Horse.
22. Bay
Color: Common
Bay horses have a reddish-brown body with black mane, tail, and lower legs (called “black points”). It’s a common but beautiful color, known for its warm, rich tone.
23. Dark Bay
Color: Common
They have the same black points as regular bays, but their body is much darker, looking almost brown or black with a hint of reddish-brown in their coat.
24. Silver Bay
Color: Common
These horses have a bay base coat, but a special silver gene lightens their black mane and tail, giving them a striking, almost white or gray look. Their bodies remain reddish-brown, creating an unusual contrast.
25. Chestnut
Color: Common
Chestnut horses have a rich reddish-brown color all over, including their mane and tail, which match their body color. A famous chestnut horse is Secretariat, one of the greatest American thoroughbred racehorses in history. (ref)
26. Liver Chestnut
Color: Common
Liver Chestnut horses have a much darker brown color compared to regular chestnuts. While chestnut horses are reddish, liver chestnuts have a deep, chocolate-brown coat. The mane and tail still match the body color, making it different from the lighter chestnut.
27. Brown
Color: Common
Brown horses have a rich, dark coat that is almost black but with warmer brown tones. Unlike dark bay, they don’t have the black points on their legs, and their entire body can vary from light to dark brown.
28. Gray
Color: Common
Gray horses are born with a dark color, but as they age, their coat gradually lightens to white or gray. Some gray horses stay darker for longer, while others turn fully white as they grow older.
29. Flea-bitten Gray
Color: Common
A Flea-bitten Gray horse has a white coat with small, dark gray or brown dots scattered over its body, almost like freckles, that gives the horse a speckled appearance.
30. Dapple Gray
Color: Common
Dapple Gray horses have a gray coat with circular, lighter spots called dapples, usually scattered across their body. The dapples create a lovely, textured look and tend to appear more in younger gray horses.
31. Dun
Color: Common
Dun horses have sandy or tan bodies with darker markings, such as a stripe down their back (called a dorsal stripe), darker legs, and sometimes zebra-like stripes on their legs. This pattern gives them a rugged, wild look.
32. Palomino
Color: Common
Known for their beautiful golden coats, Palomino horses feature a light or white mane and tail. Their shiny, warm color makes them stand out, and they are especially popular in Western riding.
33. Roan
Color: Common
Roan horses have a solid-colored coat (usually black, brown, or chestnut) mixed with white hairs, giving them a “frosted” look. The color pattern stays the same throughout their life, but it varies in intensity depending on the season.
34. Appaloosa
Color: Common
Appaloosa horses have solid-colored skin with leopard-like spots scattered across their body. The spots can be different colors and sizes, making each horse unique. This coat pattern is one of the most recognizable and beautiful in the horse world.
35. Pintaloosa
Color: Common
Pintaloosa horses combine the spotting patterns of both Pinto and Appaloosa horses. They can have the large, irregular patches of color from Pintos mixed with the leopard spots of the Appaloosa.
36. Pinto
Color: Common
Pinto horses have large, irregular patches of white and another color, like black or brown, on their bodies. One example is the American Paint Horse, a breed known for this color pattern.
37. Sorrel
Color: Common
Sorrel horses are a reddish-brown color, similar to chestnut but typically with a more vibrant red tone. Their mane and tail often match their body color, giving them a warm, rich look.
38. Tobiano
Color: Common
Tobiano horses have large, overlapping patches of white and another color, such as black or brown. The white usually crosses over the back, and the color patches are distinct and clearly defined.
39. Overo
Color: Common
Overo, a term primarily used by the American Paint Horse Association (APHA), refers to horses that are Paint breeds but do not have the tobiano pattern. (ref) It encompasses patterns resulting from three distinct genetic mechanisms: frame, splashed white, or sabino.
40. Splash Overo
Color: Common
Splash Overo horses have a distinctive pattern where white markings typically appear on the bottom of their legs and extend upward, often creating a “splash” or “dipped” appearance. These markings can also include white on the face and underbelly.
41. Cream
Color: Common
Cream horses have a very light, almost white coat, with pink skin and light-colored eyes, often blue. This rare color gives the horse a soft, creamy appearance and is seen in breeds like the American Cream Draft Horse, which originated in Iowa in the 1900s.(ref)
42. Grullo
Color: Common
Grullo horses have a mouse-gray or smoky appearance with a dorsal stripe and often have black points on their mane, tail, and legs. This unique color is rare and striking.
43. Skewbald
Color: Common
Skewbald horses have patches of white and any other color except black. The patches are irregular and can cover the entire body, creating a colorful and distinctive appearance.
44. Piebald
Color: Common
Piebald horses have patches of black and white on their coat. The black and white patches are usually sharply defined and are in various patterns across the horse’s body.
45. True Black
Color: Common
True Black horses have a solid black coat with no lighter hairs mixed in. Their mane, tail, and legs are also black.
Black is dominant over chestnut. A horse with two copies of the black gene is homozygous black, while a horse with one black gene and one red gene is heterozygous black. (ref)
These horse coat colors with their unique and common shades show the incredible diversity found in these majestic animals.
Davin is a jack-of-all-trades but has professional training and experience in various home and garden subjects. He leans on other experts when needed and edits and fact-checks all articles.