Coat Colours
A horse's coat colour is worked out from its Extension, Agouti, Cream and Gray genes. The rules are checked in the order below, and the first one that matches decides the colour.
Order of rules#
- Gray (G): any horse with at least one G is gray, whatever its other genes say.
- Double cream (CrCr): the horse is creamy.
- No dominant Extension (ee): the horse is chestnut.
- Dominant Extension with Agouti (E and A): the horse is brown (a bay). With one cream copy (nCr) it is a darker brown.
- Dominant Extension without Agouti (E and aa): the horse is black.
Quick reference#
| Colour | Genes needed |
|---|---|
| Gray | At least one G |
| Creamy | CrCr |
| Chestnut | ee |
| Brown | At least one E, at least one A |
| Dark brown | At least one E, at least one A, and nCr |
| Black | At least one E, and aa |
Things worth knowing#
- Gray hides everything. A gray horse can carry any other colour genes underneath and pass them on.
- A chestnut horse is always ee, so two chestnuts will only ever produce chestnut unless one of them is gray or creamy.
- To get a black foal, both parents need to be able to pass on a, and at least one needs to pass on E.