Equine coat color genetics determine a horse's coat color. Many colors are possible, but all variations are produced by changes in only a few genes. Bay is the most common color of horse, followed by black and chestnut.
A change at the agouti locus is capable of turning bay to black, while a mutation at the extension locus can turn bay or black to chestnut. These three base colors can be affected by any number of dilution genes and patterning genes. The dilution genes include the wildtype dun gene, believed to be one of the oldest colors extant in horses and donkeys.
The dun gene lightens some areas of the horse's coat, while leaving a darker dorsal stripe, mane, tail, face, and legs. Depending on whether it acts on a bay, black, or chestnut base coat, the dun gene produces the colors known as bay dun, grullo, and red dun. Another common dilution gene is the cream gene, responsible for palomino, buckskin, and cremello horses.
Less common dilutions include pearl, champagne, and silver dapple. Some of these genes also lighten eye color. Genes that affect the distribution of melanocytes create patterns of white spotting or speckling, such as in roan, pinto, leopard, white or white spotting, and even some white markings.
Finally, the gray gene causes depigmentation of the hair shaft, slowly adding white hairs over the course of several years until the horse's body hair is near or completely white. Some of these patterns have complex interactions. For example, a single horse may carry both dilution and white patterning genes, or carry genes for more than one spotting pattern.
Horses with a gray gene can be born any color and their hair coat will lighten and change with age.Most wild equids are dun, as were many horses and asses before domestication of the horse. Some were non-dun with primitive markings, and non-dun 1 is one of the oldest coat color mutations, and has been found in remains from 42,700 years ago, along with dun. Non-dun 2, the version of the dun gene that most domestic horses have, is thought to be much more recent, possibly from after domestication.
Leopard complex patterns also predate domestication, having been found in horse remains from 20,000 years ago. The mutation responsible for black and grullo also predates domestication. The mutations causing chestnut, sabino 1, and tobiano appeared shortly after horse domestication, roughly 5000 years ago.
Silver and cream dilutions appeared at least 2,600 years ago, and pearl appeared at least 1400 years ago. The gray mutation is also post-domestication but thought to be thousands of years old as well. Dunis believed to be the ancestral or wild typecolorofhorses.
[1] Many equines appearing in prehistoric cave paintings such as in Chauvet Cave aredun, [2] and several closely related species in the genus Equus showduncharacteristics. These include the Przewalski'shorse, [3] onager, kiang, African wild ass, an extinct subspecies of plains zebra, the quagga, [4] and an extinct subspecies ... Discover the genetics behinddunhorsecolors, identify primitive markings, and explore breeds withdunhorses.
Learn care tips, famous examples, and FAQs. A classicdunis the most common type ofdunfound in thehorseworld. Classicdunhorsesarehorsesthat are golden yellow incolorand have the dark mane, tail, legs, and stripes found indunhorses.
Dunrefers to a specific type of coloring that is most commonly found in wildhorsesbut can be found in some domestichorsesand is a result of a genetic mutation. Thehorsehas a lighter-colored body with darker markings on the ears, legs, tail, and mane, referred to as primitive markings. Although the body is usually beige and the extremities a dark brown or black, the mutation can ...
When the averagehorseperson thinks ofdunhorses, they are typically picturing a baydunor a buckskindun. This dilution gene, though, can affecthorsesof every coatcolor. In fact, depending on the other genes thehorsemay carry, thehorse'scolormay not appeardunat all.
In order to understand thedungene inhorses, we should first look at how it is represented genetically, and ... DunHorseDunis a coatcolorofhorsesthat occurs due to the presence of a dilution gene affecting both the black and red pigments. Thedungene is responsible for lightening the body more than the primitive markings and point coloration of the ears, mane, legs, and tail.
The classicdunis a gray-gold or tancolor, characterized by a sandy yellow to a reddish-brown bodycolor. Depending on other underlying genetic coatcolorfactors, adunhorsemay appear as a light yellowish shade or a steel gray. Manes, tails, primitive markings and other dark areas are usually the shade of the non-diluted base coatcolor.
Learn all aboutdunhorsecoatcolorgenetics, stunning variations, and the breeds that showcase this unique coloration in our guide. BlackDunHorseBlackduns, also known as grullo/grullahorses, or bluedunhorses, range in shades from silver all the way to black. In blackduns, the dorsal markings are black and the face and legs of thehorsewill be darker than their coatcolor.
The blackdunhorseis considered to be the most rare type ofdunhorse.