Sooty or Smutty Horse Coat Color Modifier

Thought to be a form of natural camouflage, the sooty or smutty gene causes black hairs to grow mixed into the body coat, generally concentrated along the topline and points. This often results in counter shading, dappling and in rarer cases brindle or dun type striping.

Sooty or Smutty Modifier

This modifier can display a seasonal effect, which is best seen in lighter animals affected by a creme dilution. The result is darker striping and shading certain times of the year. There is speculation about whether this is related to the primitive striping found in duns as well as dark bays, liver chestnuts and dark palominos (shading can actually conceal the animal’s original color).

Quick Sooty Facts

• Modifier darkens color from the topline down
• Can create brilliant dapples
• Can darken coat uniformly
• Also called countershading or coloring modifier
• Can express itself in smudges, patches, stripes, spots or dapples

Basic Smutty Shades

This coloring can be found on chestnut, black bases, bay and brown coats. Although for obvious reasons, darkening of the coat only has a visible affect on variations of bay, brown and chestnut animals.

Although the cause of this coloring and how it’s passed on genetically is unknown, it’s passed on readily enough to be dominant to some degree.

Chestnut Base
On a chestnut base the sooty modifier can be quite dramatic, creating dark patterns along the topline and face.

Chestnut Sooty

Bay Base
Not as obvious on a bay, the sooty modifier can be seen in varying degrees depending on the darkness of the base coat.

Sooty Bay

Brown Base
On a seal brown animal it can be difficult to distinguish the sooty modifier, save for the red hairs around their muzzle.

Sooty Seal

Diluted Sooty Colors

The sooty dilution is far more obvious on a lighter coat, so it tends to have the most dramatic effect on those displaying a single dose of the cream dilution gene.

Cream Dilution on Chestnut
Palomino is a single dose of the cream dilution on a chestnut base, sooty is not uncommon on palomino animals.

Sooty Palomino

Cream Dilution on Bay
Buckskin is a single dose of the cream dilution on a bay base, it is fairly common to see sooty shading on a buckskin.

Sooty Buckskin

Sooty White Patterns

The white patterns can mask or conceal sooty coloring, although when the sooty shines through it gives them a new depth of unique coloration.

Pinto
The dark hairs of a sooty gene can easily be masked by the white of pinto patterns, but when it shows, it is stunning.

Sooty Pinto

Appaloosa
Depending on the pattern, appaloosas may mask the sooty gene, or it could make their colorful spots even more colorful.

Sooty Appaloosa