Here’s Your Guide to Horse Colors, From Appaloosa to Roan

Black is one of three base colors in horses.

Elegant black horses feature a shiny black coat, mane, and tail. Though it isn’t as common as other equine colors, in some horse breeds, like the Friesian, black is the main color. These horses often have long, voluptuous black manes that some owners prefer to braid to keep neat and tidy.

To prevent their color from fading to brown in the sun, protect your black horse from excess exposure to UV rays with a product like a UV protection fly sheet. Also, ensure their diet provides enough zinc and copper to keep the coat black. 

Bay is another one of the three base horse colors, and it’s also the most common color in horses.

With this coloration the body is brown, with the mane, tail, ears, and lower legs black, darker brown, or white, so the horse has two colors within the coat. 

Bay horse colors can range from dark brown to red-brown. The blood bay horse color is also possible and might even have a purplish tone.

The English Thoroughbred is an example of a breed that features the bay horse color.

The third base horse color is chestnut, and it’s another of the most common horse colors.

Unlike brown horses who have dark points, chestnut horses have a red-brown coat that ranges from dark to light.

Their mane and tail could match the coat or be lighter in color. If it’s a lighter shade, chestnut may be referred to as the sorrel horse color. On the other hand, a dark shade may be called the liver chestnut horse color.

A Haflinger is an example of a breed that has a chestnut body with a flaxen mane and tail.  

The term “sorrel” is sometimes used interchangeably with “chestnut” to describe a horse’s coat color. However, sorrel typically refers to a lighter chestnut shade. Flaxen chestnut horses are often called sorrel to distinguish them from darker chestnut hues.

The American Quarter Horse is an example of a breed that can have a sorrel coat.

A gray horse will display another coat color when born, like chestnut or bay, but as they grow and their coat changes, the color will transform into gray. And as they get older, their coat eventually becomes white, but they are still considered gray horses.

Gray horse colors may include dapples, or spots, that can be darker or lighter than the rest of the coat. And if small areas of gray color remain and look like freckles, the coat is called flea-bitten. 

Unfortunately, gray horses have a higher risk of melanoma.

The Andalusian is an example of a horse breed that’s commonly gray.

Horse coats that are golden in color with dark points are called buckskin. In addition to featuring various shades of gold, tan, or yellow, these horses have black coloration on their ears, lower legs, tails, and manes. 

Buckskin occurs as a variation of bay caused by the cream gene. This gene essentially causes the body color to lighten without causing the points to lighten.

The Mustang is an example of a breed that can have the buckskin coat.

The dun horse color is caused by a gene that makes the base color lighter.

• Bay dun (aka zebra dun) creates a tan color and black points.
• Red dun (aka claybank dun) creates a very light reddish-brown color from chestnut, along with reddish points.
• Blue dun (aka grullo or grulla) lightens black to a gray shade with black points.

Dun horses can have other characteristics, known as dun factors, that include a dorsal stripe, dark ear tips, shoulder stripes, leg stripes, cobwebbing on the face, and light hairs in the mane and tail.

The Lusitano is a breed that can have the dun coloration.

The palomino color is the result of the cream gene changing a horse’s chestnut base coat.

Palomino horses have a light to dark gold coat, so they could showcase pale yellow to rich golden hues. In contrast to their golden body, their manes and tails are white, cream, or flaxen.

The American Saddlebred is a breed that displays the lovely palomino color.

A roan-colored horse will have white hairs throughout another color in their coat.

• The red roan horse color, or strawberry roan, will have white hairs throughout a chestnut coat.
• Bay roan refers to white flecking in a bay coat.
• Blue roan is found on a black base color.

The Paso Fino is one of many breeds that can feature the roan horse color.

One of the rare horse colors is cremello. Not to be confused with albino horses, cremello horses feature a cream-colored coat that looks nearly white, along with pink skin and blue eyes. It’s the result of two cream genes affecting a chestnut base color.

Because they can be sensitive to the sun’s UV rays, cremello horses’ coats require protection; you can use products like blankets and sunscreen. The light coat might also show dirt and stains more than other colors, so consider using a shampoo for white horses in addition to brushing.

Many breeds, including the Missouri Fox Trotter, can exhibit this coat color. 

Appaloosa is the name for a spotted coat pattern, and it’s also an equine breed that features several colors and patterns. For example, in the Appaloosa horse breed, this pattern can be found with the bay, dun, chestnut, and grulla horse colors. Depending on the pattern, there can be many spots or just a few.    

In addition to the Appaloosa, the Knabstrupper breed can have this pattern. 

Pinto, also referred to as paint, is a horse color pattern that combines a base color with white.

There’s more than one type of pinto pattern, including overo and tobiano. A horse might be primarily white with splashes of another color, or vice versa. And this pattern consists of big patches or splotches of color instead of spots.

Pinto is a color found in multiple horse breeds, including the American Paint Horse.

This content was medically reviewed by Kaela Schraer, DVM.