Bay? Or Brown?

Hello all!
Drifter has gotten his winter coat. Last month, as said growing of coat started, I noticed he stayed lighter around his muzzle. A friend at the barn told me this meant Drifter is not a true bay. I am not 100 % certain about coloring and the rules and such so I was just looking for additional input! I will post some pictures of him from this summer and recently. He is what I would normally consider a bay (4 black legs, black tipped ears, black mane and tail and brown everywhere else) but I'm starting to notice instances where horses that I think are bay are really browns and vice versa.

Would love to hear thoughts!
First four pics are of him this summer. The rest were all taken last month. In the last one you can really see the lightening of his muzzle. He is also turning an overall lighter/reddish color. Sometimes he almost appears to be burnt orange instead of brown when in the pasture Thanks for the education!!

Looks brown to me, but it's not much to go on. Have you got any full body shots of him in his winter coat?

I snapped these while I cleaned his stall but they are not of the best quality-- perhaps they will work though..

The last pic was taken a while back, but it is still his winter coat. The others are recent. As in like, today.

His mane is really bleached out from being in the sun this summer. It is usually jet black. I let the ball drop on that one. He also has black tipped ears as well. But I am not sure if that means anything?

Also don't know if it matters but his dam was a bay, his sire was a sorrel. Not sure if that help determine whether he is bay/brown though.

EDIT TO ADD: The lighter area has always been black hair usually .. but the hair that has been growing back after his horriffic case of rainrot was lighter than usual and it has progressed to the muzzle he has now. I have only seen him 1 other time with a winter coat and he was so malnourished he didnt have much of one. This is the lightest I've ever seen him/his muzzle though before. His legs have stayed black though. No lighter hairs on them that I have been able to see

My (uneducated probably totally wrong ) guess is that he is a mealy bay because of the pangare gene? We recently touched on this in an animal science class and now that I am remembering it, that is what I think he is. Like I said though I know nothing. So would love to hear thoughts. If I need better pictures I can grab some

Definitely not pangare. Pangare has a very "whiteness" to it. Like this guy:

As I understand it, horses that look bay in the summer and brown in the winter are brown. This guy looks like he is just a furrier version of bay in the winter so I will say bay.

So far 1 vote for brown and 1 vote for bay then. Any more thoughts out there? Would also love to hear reasons why he is said color. I am trying to lean as much as I can.

And yes Melissaann he stays relatively the same. The lightening up of his muzzle area did not occur last year. And usually when he sheds out in the spring he is a deep rich red brown until he gets faded by the sun. He is a lot more red this winter.

I will try to get some more pics sometime this week in better lighting.
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My personal guess would have to be bay

I only see lightening of the muzzle in the one picture, which leaves me wondering if it's a trick of the lighting. In every other picture, I'd guess a bay horse, and since you say he doesn't vary much seasonally, I'm going to go with bay (at least until more pictures make me change my mind )

I went to see him yesterday evening and it is not a trick of the lighting. The lighter muzzle area is definitely there. I tried to get some pics while I cleaned out his stall but the sun angle was wreaking havoc. I will try again later this week. Still no appearance of those lighter hairs anywhere else. It's like it gets more prominent everyday though. If he turns out to be a brown I will feel so disillusioned!! Hahaha
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