[mojo7777]

Half of the people in our barn say that sorrel is a red chestnut (that's what I thought when I was a kid and I had a red chestnut horse), and half say that sorrel is a lightish chestnut with a lighter mane and tail and lighter hair around the edges, legs, muzzle, etc., like you find in some draft horses. Settle the argument...who is right?

 

[county]

Both, sorrel can be many shades of red same as chestnut. Genetically their one and the same. The only two groups that use the term sorrel are the AQHA and APHA the rest of the horse world only uses Chestnut.

 

[Jubilee Rose]

I've always thought that sorrel meant lighter chestnut, with almost a yellowish mane and tail, and around the "edges."

 

[RegalCharm]

Chestnut: A reddish body color with no black. Mane and tail is the same shade or lighter than the body coat. The main color variations are:

• Liver chestnut: dark very dark brown coat. Sometimes a liver chestnut is also simply called "brown."
• Sorrel: Reddish-tan to red coat, about the color of a new penny. The most common shade of chestnut.
• Blond or light chestnut: seldom-used term for lighter tan coat with pale mane and tail that is not quite a dun.

 

[RedHawk]

that definition is interesting, as my gelding is a chestnut but has a dredominantly black tail, or at least very dark. also, he has some white hairs flecked through his coat which i thought was unusual, but he's a TB so that rules out any possibility of his being a roan. :? will take some pics and post them.

 

[mojo7777]

According to Wikipedia:

Sorrel (horse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I hate to spoil everybody's fun at the barn by settling the argument, but this definition says it all!

 

[farmpony84]

I had always thought Sorrel was the term western people used and chestnut was the term english people used. But my vet told me that a sorrel is the darker redder color with the darker redder mane. My horse is a sorrel:

He will actually get redder in the sun where a chestnut will lighten in the sun. i wish I had a pic of a chestnut... that's where they can have that pretty flaxen mane...

 

[Vidaloco]

I had always thought they were the same color, just depended on what saddle you were using or what association you are dealing with :lol:

 

[iridehorses]

According to Wikipedia:

Sorrel (horse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I hate to spoil everybody's fun at the barn by settling the argument, but this definition says it all!

The link takes you to a page that says "no article exists"

 

[Vidaloco]

Here is the link I found Sorrel (horse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
I think its still a matter of opinion and controversy. Dependent on where you are standing :lol:

EDT
Wow thats bizarre it won't show up. Don't hit the link its not working! It came up when I googled it...Oh well

 

[KateS]

I found these on the AQHA website. Personally I would say that a chestnut has a darker mane and tail than their body color and a sorrel is the same all around or else a lighter mane and tail. But the 3rd and last picture don't agree with me so I'm probably wrong.

Red – chestnut or sorrel – is a recessive trait.
The color is caused by pheomelanin
(fee-oh-MEL-ah-nin). This sorrel is
Higher Math, owned by Julianna Hawn Holt
of Blanco, Texas.
AQHA PHOTO

These two horses are the same genetic color, but are different
shades. The horse on the left is a flaxen sorrel. The horse on the right
is a liver chestnut.
AQHA PHOTO

Love That Chapelle, owned by MJ Farms of Veguita, New Mexico, is a sorrel.
AQHA PHOTO

Big Daddys Caddy is owned by Robert and Sandra Ogden of Shadow
Hills, California. The mare is a sorrel with a sooty flaxen mane and tail.
PHOTO COURTESY OF OWNER

This youngster is a liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail.
AQHA PHOTO

 

[sandy2u1]

so what color is this horse...

 

[iridehorses]

According to AQHA and to registered horses that I've owned - Sorrel.

 

[DarkChylde]

Huh, I also thought it was whether you were western or english, that western used 'sorrel' and english used 'chestnut.'

But chestnut is the lighter version, and sorrel is the darker version? My half arab mare was a sorrel after all, then.

Does the mane and tail hafta be flaxen for it to be classified a chestnut?

 

[iridehorses]

I used to think that also (English = Chestnut, Western = Sorrel) but the Breed Registry uses definitions not disciplines.

As for flaxen, it's the other way around, flaxen = sorrel, black = chestnut.

 

[county]

Mane and tail can be any color on a Chestnut doesn't have to be flaxen. You can get a flaxen mane and tail with two sorrels, my daughter has a QH mare from my old sorrel stud and a brown mare that looks exactly like a Belgian just smaller. But blonde with a very flaxen almost white mane and tail.

 

[minihorse927]

this is the best definition I could find and the one that I agree with.

SORREL:
"Difficult to distinguish from light chestnuts but has more yellowish
body showing little or no red. Mane and tail are often same as body,
but with flaxen mane and tail, may appear similar to dark palomino."

I *think* the main difference between sorrel and chestnut is the color
of the mane and tail. Chestnuts have solid red manes/tails, the color
of their body hair (but they may have some darker hairs mixed in too).

Sorrels can have white or flaxen color in their mane/tail hair.
Sorrels are usually a little more orange than red in color.

Among the variations of sorrel are, that I remember hearing or using:
Cherry sorrel a dark deep red (Red Sonny Dee AQHA is listed as this
color) Chestnut Sorrel a dark red with lighter colored legs Light
Sorrel a strawberry blonde color (we call this orange)

On the subject of color, I disagree with the Sorrel coloring of mane/tail.
I have a dapple chestnut, with a flaxen mane/tail. Sorrels can have solid
mane/tails same color as the body, or flaxen mane/tail. Chestnut is similar
to Palamino, only darker, some people refer to her as a dark Palamino, where
as Sorrel is Red, either bright or dull, lighter shade.

I would classify the one above as a sorrel due to the lighter lower legs and slightly lighter mane and tail