horse Colors: Bay
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Bay or Brown Horses
Most brown horses are actually called Bay when talking about horse colors. Bay horses have black mains, tails and (usually) legs, and a brown or red body. Bay is the most common color among horses. |
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Genetics:
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Description: Bay horses have a brown or red body color with black main, tail and (usually) legs. The black on the legs often bleeds into the brown body color as it reaches higher up on the legs.
This horse has an almost red body color but a black main and tail. His legs have some red, fading to black.
Another Chestnut horse, this one's mane and tail are slightly darker than his body.
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This horse is a very typical bay with a light-brown body, black main and tail and mostly black legs.
This girl, on the other hand, has a main and tail that are almost exactly the same color as her body.
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This horse is dark enough to look black in some light. His body is a dark brown and his main and tail are black.
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Foal Colors
Though many horse colors are significantly different at birth from their appearance as adults, Red horses are born looking pretty close to what they will look like all of their lives. The only difference is that the red colors is often a bit lighter at birth and darkens out into deeper shades of red as the horse grows up.
Though many horse colors are significantly different at birth from their appearance as adults, Red horses are born looking pretty close to what they will look like all of their lives. The only difference is that the red colors is often a bit lighter at birth and darkens out into deeper shades of red as the horse grows up.
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Other Color Genes Mixed With Red
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Paint - If a paint horse's base color is red, then the paint will have big splotches of red mixed in with big splotches of white all over its body. Its main and tail will also be a mix of red and white.
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Roan - If a roan horse's base color is red, it will be what is known as a Red Roan. This is a red color on body, legs and (probably) main and tail (main and tail could be white instead) with white flecks all over the horse's body and legs.
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Other Colors Easily Mistaken for Red
There are few other colors which are easily mistaken for red.
There are few other colors which are easily mistaken for red.
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Bay - The bay coloring can sometimes produce a red body, but a bay horse's main and tail are always black, whereas a red horse's main and tail are either red or white, so these is easily distinguished from each other.
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This Bay horse has a very red body color, but the black main and tail make it impossible to mistake for Chestnut or Sorrel.
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Red Chocolate - Some red chocolates horses may be mistaken for red at certain times in their lives. Most of them have enough black in their mains and tails that if they are going to be mistaken for anything other than a chocolate, it will be bay, but sometimes the chocolate gene lightens the main and tail just enough to make them look red rather than either flaxen or brown. (The Red Chocolate horse is, by the way, not actually derived from a red base color, but from a bay base color. The Chocolate gene (also known as the Silver Dapple gene) alters the horse's coloring much less than a normal chocolate horse whose base color is either Red or Black and who has the distinctive brown body with the flaxen main and tail.) |
This Red Chocolate horse has enough flaxen in her tail to almost be mistaken for a Chestnut or Sorrel horse.
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Understanding the Breeding Process - Breeding Education
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