Let’s compare and contrast two similar coat colors. Can you tell which animal is dun in the picture above?.
The Science
Horse color genetics are as complicated as they are mysterious. Animals with completely different genetics can look almost identical to one another and telling the difference with any real accuracy requires genetic testing. As it’s such an interesting topic, we thought it would be fun to share more of what we learn about it, try to unravel some mysteries and (of course) take a look at some beautiful horse pictures.
Dun or Buckskin?
The most obvious way to identify a dun horse is by their dorsal stripe running from the withers to the dock. It’s not very often we get such great comparison shots to show color differences. Unfortunately they aren’t our animals, so we can’t test their genetics. We will just have to give their actual coloring our best guess.
The animal on the left is a bay animal affected by a single dose of the cream dilution in addition to the sooty modifier. The animal on the right is another bay affected by the dun dilution.
Sooty buckskin
Bay or yellow dunDun or Buckskin?
The range of colors both of the above genetic types create is spectacular. You can find more information about the cream dilution in the cream color section and the dun modifier in the dun color section.