Colors and Markings

Barring

Dark lines along the legs of the horse

Star

Designates a small, clearly defined area of white hairs on the forehead

Zebra Dun

Dun with black points and a zebra stripe or stripes on legs and withers

Red Dun

Dun with reddish orange cast, often with a red stripe down the back and a red mane and tail

Microchipping

Electronic devices the size of a grain of rice that are easily implanted after local anesthesia in the horse's nuchal ligament (just below the base of the mane) halfway between the horse's poll and withers.

Chestnut or Sorrel

Basic coat color that resembles red, but varies from bright yellowish red to a rich mahogany red. The mane and tail are normally the same shade as the body, but may be flaxen. The mane and tail is never black.

White

Basic coat color with snow-white hair, pink skin, and brown eyes. Horses of this color are not effected by seasonal changes or age.

Steel Gray

Black horses with the gray gene possessing a higher proportion of black hairs than white

Grullo

Body color smoky or mouse-colored (not a mixture of black and white hairs, but each hair mouse-colored); mane and tail black; usually has black dorsal stripe and black on lower legs

Freeze branding

Branding animals by depigmentation of the hair coat with supercooled instruments. A carefully gauged degree of cold application causes selective destruction of the pigment-producing cells (melanocytes).

Cross

A dark stripe across the shoulders

Bald Face

A face which has white over most of the flat surface of the face, often including the eyes and nostrils or portions thereof

Flame

A few white hairs in center of forehead

Broom-tailed or Bang-tailed

A heavy, course tail

Mealy Mouthed

A horse whose color is faded out around the mouth and is found especially in bays and browns. Also called "mulish".

Pinto or Paint Color

A major coat color variation which is a combination of white and any one color (bay, black, brown, chestnut, dun, gray, palomino, grullo, sorrel, buckskin, or roan). Markings can come in any shape or size and be located anywhere on the body

Palomino

A major coat color variation which is golden in color varying from bright copper to light yellow with white mane and tail. These horses have no dark hair. The ideal color is that of "newly minted gold coin"

Dun

A major coat color variation with dominant hair in some shade of yellow, varying from a pale yellow to a dirty canvas color with mane, tail, skin, and hooves grading from white to black.

Silver Mane

A mane or tail which is white with a few black hairs giving it a silver cast

Brand

A mark of identification. A privately registered mark burned on cheek, shoulder, or hip

Flaxen Mane

A straw yellow or dirty white color typically caused by a mixture of dark hair in the white

Lip Tatoo

A tattoo placed on the inside of the upper lip that is a series of letters and numbers. Common and often required for racehorses.

Coronet Marking

A white strip covering the coronet band

Blaze

A wide white stripe down the face

Dappled Gray

Gray coat pattern that looks like small white rosettes or bursts of white against a darker charcoal background

Trichoglyphs

Hair Sworls

True White Mane

Mane and tail having only white hairs

Black Points

Mane, tail and legs black or darker than the rest of the horse

Brown

Many horses with this basic coat color are mistakenly called black because they are so dark, but upon close examination the hair on the muzzle and around the lips is slightly lighter. The mane and tail are always dark.

Hot branding

Method of identification in which heat is used to scar the skin with a specific mark

Wall-eyed

One eye is defective

Red Roan

Roan horse with a combination of bay and white hairs intermingled

Blue Roan

Roan horse with a combination of black and white hairs intermingled

Strawberry Roan

Roan horse with a combination of chestnut and white hairs intermingled

Outlined leg chestnuts

The FEI horse identification manual states, "The shape of a chestnut should be drawn in outline and related to the vertical."

Glass Eye

The eyeball is clear, some shade between white and blue

Roan

The major coat color variation in which white hairs intermingled with one or more base colors. These horses do not change color as they age and is not uniform on the body

Tucked Up

Thin and cut up in the flank like a greyhound

Black

This basic coat color has black eyes, hooves, and skin. The points are also black.

Bay

This basic coat color is a mixture of red and yellow. Shades may vary from more yellow to more red, the darkest of which being a mahogany color which is almost the color of blood but without the red overtone. These horses always have black points.

Gray

This major coat variation color would be present when a foal is born solid dark and white hairs appear as the horse ages.

Rat-tailed

Very sparse hair in the tail

Flea-Bitten Gray

When small dark colored specks are present on a Gray coat

Ankle Marking

White extends from the coronet to and including the fetlock

Full Stocking

White extends from the coronet to and including the knee or hock

Half Stocking

White extends from the coronet to the middle of the cannon

Pastern Marking

White from the coronet to and including the pastern (may be half or full pastern)

Signalment

a description of the animal with information about the animal, including the species, breed, age, and sexual status

Stripe

a long narrow band of white working from the forehead down toward the muzzle

Snip

a small patch of white which runs over the muzzle, often to the lips

Dorsal Stripe

a stripe down the back of a horse that is darker than their base color