Black or dark Bay????

[Perfect Pony]

My horse Shadow is to me black although on his documents is down as dark bay, in the summer he is jet black and his nose is grey but in the summer he goes lighter but not bay and his nose goes bay???
So technically is he black or dark bay???
Hmmmmm!!!!
Also would it not depend on what time of year his documents were done as to what colouring he is!!! Will tru get some pics of head so u can see his snosum!!!
:D

1st pic is in height of summer with m,y friend anna
2nd is when its getting a bit cooler, havent got any on puter of him in winter, will try get one 2night!!!

[chev]

He looks like a dark bay to me. :) One of my fillies looks very black, but she's not, when you look closely. If the brown is around the muzzle, the eyes or the flanks, then chances are it's a dark bay. Blacks that fade tend to stay very black around the nose, but fade on the parts the sun gets to like shoulders and quarters, or where they sweat (especially under the saddle).

A brown nose usually means it's not a black. Plus the fact that his papers say dark bay is a clue; often dark bays are born brighter bay, and then shed out very dark bay when they lose foal coat. A black is never born bay at all - they're usually a sort of mushroomy or grey colour, or occasionally black. It's very difficult to mistake a black foal for a dark bay.

[Perfect Pony]

ok thanx very much!!!
that has cleared it up!!!
Def dark bay then!!!
He gets light bits where his girth is and on his nose!!!
I love the way he changes colour!!! :D
Another question can black horses get dapples????
My sister in laws hos Warwick (the 14hh 5 year old cob) is classed as black on papers and has dapples on his bum!!! Is this common???

[Pink's lady]

oooooooooooooo, me too! What colour would Pink be? She's down on her passport as a black cob, but from the photos you can see that she's not (but vet came out this time last year, just after her coat change)


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Pink/Pinkscolour.jpg
This is her mid summer, looking very brown. The line on her, with the darker coat underneath is her clip growing out. That's after a couple of months in the summer and isn't nearly so obvious as it was (she was truely two-toned :eek: ), but shows quite how faded she is.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Pink/pinkscolour2.jpg
This is her in March. Again, she's changed colour. The clipped area was a light grey orginally, but faded to a red/brown.

Unfortunalty I don't have a picture of her with her new winter coat in, but she's black right now. However, it's already starting to fade.

Is she black? Her mane and tail are jet black (the red bits are highlights) but her body quite obviously isn't.

[Perfect Pony]

shes bootiful, she looks dark bay to me, but then again shadow will always be black to me coz his body is jet black aswell as his mane, just his nose!!!
This whole black, bay thing is quite confusing especially since they keep changing dam colour!!! :o

[Perfect Pony]

Oh i Absolutly love her numnah!!!

[Mehitabel]

Pink is definitely dark bay, and yes, black or bay horses can get dapples.
i've got a pic of a black foal at home, which i will put up when i get back tonight, to show the colour they start out as. if you only know them as adult, then a good tip to see which they are is to look at them in the sun - blacks will shine bluey-grey (like superman's hair in comics) and bays will shine red.

[Perfect Pony]

Pink is definitely dark bay, and yes, black or bay horses can get dapples.
i've got a pic of a black foal at home, which i will put up when i get back tonight, to show the colour they start out as. if you only know them as adult, then a good tip to see which they are is to look at them in the sun - blacks will shine bluey-grey (like superman's hair in comics) and bays will shine red.

ahhh thanx will have a good inspection of shadow 2night!!!
and warwick!!!
Didnt know they could get dapples, would like to see that pic please!!!

[chev]

Just to illustrate how dark some bays can be... This is Blod as a baby, jet black to the eye. Then later as her foal coat shed out - still looks pretty black, but she's not. Her muzzle shows a dark liver colour if you look very closely, and around her eyes there's a definite brown tinge too. She's an extreme example of dark bay, but dark bay she is. :D Finally one of her taken from a video, where she's just shedding out the last of her baby fluff (you can see that fawny brown colour on her legs still) where you can see how dark the new coat growing in is - she's almost pitch. But her muzzle still has that liver tinge, which gives away the fact that she's not actually black.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/bronyfelin-ponies/OhWow.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/bronyfelin-ponies/prettybaby.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/bronyfelin-ponies/blodvid4.jpg

[*Sez*]

Chev, she's beautiful! :D

[Perfect Pony]

ahhhh she is sooooo cute, quite a stunner i must add!!! That is what shadow is like!!! very extreme dark bay then!!!
ahhhh cant get over how lovely she looks!!!

[Mehitabel]

these pics are of our little chap - the first one was at a few hours old, and the second at about four months - taken last september. although in the second he looks pretty much the same as chev's blod, (who has one of the most kissable noses i have ever seen) but you can see they started out very different.

[notpoodle]

some icelandics have an odd colour like that, first you think 'black' but as you veer closer theyre actually kind of bay!

next question: are exmoors brown or bay??

[Cherokee]

Quote - Pinks lady
(the red bits are highlights)


You did make me laugh , you mean natural highlights don't you :p .I had visions of pink standing tied up with bits of foil in her mane. :D :D

[love4horses]

A common term that we use over here in America is a Black Bay. Makes sense, right? We used to have a quarter horse that was like this. During the summer her body would be a deep dark brown and her nose would be black and you could differentiate her brown from her black legs. In the winter her nose would turn bright red and yet the rest of her body was dark chocolate. My mother asked one of her horse buddies at work what she thought, and she said that the color is considered a black bay... well, I've never heard of it, but Okay! But yet is does make perfect sense. So a Black Bay :p .

[ponylover88]

...

[Cherokee]

definately skewbald , only black and white horses are piebald.

[love4horses]

Ponylover88, another term for horse's color is a tobiano.

[mandagirl26]

My friend had a registered Morgan mare that was considered "seal brown" on her papers. Very dark but dappled and had lots of brown underneath a seemingly black coat. Almost shimmered chocolate brown during summer. Had brown nose, ear tips. Varied during seasons. Looked just like your horse.

I've been told Mister is a true bay. True bay is when the black goes from hoof up and tips of ears, nose and black mane and tail. Even still considered true bay with socks or white markings.. as long as the black starts. Mister has a white star and snip and one white sock with white hoof.. but the black shows up on all other legs and above his white sock. Has black points on ears, nose and black mane and tail. Brown to dark brown on rest of body.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a67/mandagirl26/HayHog.jpg

I've heard of dark bay too.. It's such a beautiful color! I think over in the USA I've heard "seal brown" to describe your horse.

[chev]

There are several types of bay. It's not actually neccessary for a horse to have black ear tips to be bay, although lots do. The bay gene (agouti) works on a black horse to restrict where on the body the black pigment occurs, which is why bays are brown with black points.

One type of bay is wild type bay. That type of bay has a lot less black on the legs - to the point where there might just be a little black on the knee or hock, and the lower leg is bay - sometimes slightly fawn in colour.

Seal brown is another type - at least, in theory. Seal brown horses test positive for teh bay gene, but that doesn't rule out another gene that makes them brown. Seal brown horses have near black body colour with a pale brown muzzle, and sometimes flanks and other soft parts.

Dark bay is a bay with 'sooty' - sooty spreads black hair through the coat and darkens bay to the poitn where it can look very black. It's also known as countershading. Countershading can be as little as a pseudo dorsal stripe (often mistaken for a true dorsal stripe) right through to black hair spread right down the sides and flanks.

Exmoors do have bay - what other brown type genes might be at work are unclear. They often have wild type bay, and also carry panagre - which is responsible for the pale fawn on soft parts like flanks and muzzle.

ponylover - your horse carries tobiano, so would be classed as bay tobiano (I think I can see black in his mane?). Skewbald is the most used term for that pattern.