Color?

Here are some pictures of my yearling Bruno with his summer coat.

I am curious as to what you all think his color is?

http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...hinnybruno.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...Bruno2/run.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...2/cuteboy1.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...o2/cuteboy.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...runosmane2.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...brunosmane.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...noandannie.png

Thanks for reading.

Is one of his parents gray? It looks to me like he is either going to gray out or maybe he has a silver dilution with a black or bay base. IDK.

He looks like he's going grey to me

Yes his dam is gray.... but what makes you so sure he is going to gray out?

I just did some googling and from what I gathered horses that are going to gray start showing signs on their faces... not on their mane/tails... As you can see from the pictures he has no gray on his face or his body.. the light colors are on his mane/tail. I also saw it said that horses that are going to gray are born very dark..with dark legs.. and he was born brown with light legs.

I also realize that there is such a thing as gradual graying where he might not even gray out until he is 7, 8, 9 that is IF he even inherited the gray gene (50% chance). But, wouldn't you still see some gray on his face even as a youngster?

Maybe I'm completely confused.

A friend of mine has a Morgan mare, about 15 years old, with coloring IDENTICAL to Bruno's! She has a very dark chestnut body, with a mane and tail that look like they've been bleached or highlighted, lol. Some Rocky Mountain horses have similar coloring, I think their registry calls it chocolate with flaxen mane and tail. He looks really brown on his body, but maybe that's just the pics? I don't think he'll gray out, though. He's a beauty!

He looks like a chocolate or dark chestnut with a silver dilution. Are the hairs on his body shimmery?

What breed is he, & what colour is his sire? Do you know what colour his dam's parents were (or what colour she was before she grayed out?) Or do you have pictures of either of the parents? That would help narrow down the colour options.

Too early to tell if his mom was grey. They can take up to 5 years to grey out, so a yearling could go any way. And, it doesn't always start on the head. It can start anywhere, and they can be any color before they grey. I've seen a gorgeous sorrel colt turn pure white by the time he was 4.

He's a Grade. His sire is a Tennessee Walker x American Saddlebred mix and his dam is a mixed gaited horse. I do have a pictures of his parents.

His sire Cloud is a chestnut (second image). Cloud's sire is a chestnut tobiano and his dam is a chestnut.

His dam Smokey is grey (obviously ) Her sire is black and her dam is grey. I have no clue about her color before she greyed out. I do know that she greyed out before she was a year.

Someone mentioned on another forum that he could be a black silver and sent me a picture of this foal.


He looks identical in color to that foal. So, what do you all think?

It's possible that he's silver. He most likely would have had to inherit the silver gene from his mother, who would have inherited it from her mother. It's hard to say though, since you don't know what colour she was. It's possible that he got it from his sire, since silver doesn't show up on red based horses, so you'd either have to look at any other foals that the sire or sire's parents produced or see if he's been tested for silver to know for sure. Did he have white eyelashes as a baby? A lot of times, that's an indication of silver. Manes & tails of silver horses tend to have darker roots, while flaxen tends to have more of reddish yellow roots.
If he's not carrying the silver gene, I'd say he's a liver chestnut.