Mealy or Pangaré Horse Coat Color Modifier

The genetic inheritance of pangaré is unclear and it’s believed not to have an affect on black coats. The gene varies in intensity from animal to animal and breed to breed, the expression ranges from very little white, to white extending up around the barrel and down the legs.

Mealy Modifier

The picture below is a comparison of two similar colored horses, one (on the left) with the pangaré gene and one without. Common to all breeds, mealy is most often found in pony and draft breeds. In fact, some breeds are almost exclusively mealy.

Identifying a Mealy

This is one modifier that is fairly easy to visually identify, they almost always have obvious pale hairs around their muzzle. The other soft spots tend to be affected in varying degrees. Here are some of the characteristics that define a pangaré animal and generally the easiest way to identify them.

Light hair around the eyes

Light hair around the flank

Light hair around the muzzle.

Mealy Breeds

This modifier may have a connection with primitive coloring as it can be found in various wild equid breeds including Przewalski’s horse as well as some of the old northern breeds like Norwegian Fjord horse, British Exmoor Pony and the Austrian Haflinger. In addition, almost all domestic (and some wild) donkeys also display the pangare modifier. Some might say that it’s part of their charm.

Mealy Shades

While mealy doesn’t affect black coats, it can have a rather dramatic affect on chestnut coats coat, often presenting itself as flaxen by creating a blonde mane and tail.

Chestnut Base
Chestnut mealy animals can be a bit less dramatic than darker colors and can often display flaxen mane and tail.

Chestnut Mealy

Bay Base
Chestnut mealy animals can be a bit less dramatic than darker colors and can often display flaxen mane and tail.

Bay Mealy

Seal Base
Seal mealy animals can be difficult to distinguish from brown, but will generally retain some red around the muzzle.

Seal Mealy

Mealy Modified and Diluted

Mealy animals may also be affected by other modifiers and dilutions, some of them can mask visual mealy identifiers.

Flaxen Modifier
The flaxen modifier changes the mane and tail hairs to various shades of flaxen, a trait that mealy can mimic.

Flaxen Mealy

Dun Dilution
While mealy is recognized by the light muzzle, dun is defined by their dorsal stripe, making identification fairly easy.

Dun Mealy

Silver Dilution
A rare combination, silver may mask pangare characteristics, but only affects black hairs, creating colorful results.

Silver Mealy

Champagne Dilution
Mealy only lightens the soft spots of an animal. This could be make them more difficult to visually identify.

Champagne Mealy

White Patterns on Mealy

The white patterns affect most of the other dilutions and modifiers in the horse color world, although they can mask identifying characteristics. Perhaps easier to recognize on roan or rabicano animals, appaloosa and pinto can mask mealy traits almost entirely.

Roan
Roan patterns can mask some of the mealy traits, but their face generally remains the base color, allowing the lightened muzzle to show.

Mealy Roan

Pinto
Some of the pinto patterns can mask mealy characteristics entirely, unless the muzzle is the base color, it’s difficult to identify.

Mealy Pinto

Appaloosa
Appaloosa patterns can easily mask mealy characteristics, depending on the pattern and amount of white on their body.

Mealy Appaloosa