What Color Is A Horse?

What color is a horse? The words for a horses coat color have very specific meanings.

A bay horse has a body coat that is a shade of brown with black legs, mane, and tail. Within the bay group, there are blood bays which is a more dark reddish shade of brown and bright bays which can look a golden brown. There are also black bays, which might appear to most people as a black horse. Truly black horses are a more rare color.

Most horses that you might think look black are black bays, which is a very dark brown. You will see lighter colored hair between the hind legs and tummy area and around the muzzle. This makes them black bays instead of black horses. People also call this seal brown.

A chestnut horse has a coat that is a shade of red, while the legs, mane, and tail may be lighter or darker than the body, or the same color, but never black. A chestnut horse can be any shade of red, reddish-brown, or orangey-red. A very dark brownish red with no black on the legs, mane, or tail is known as liver chestnut. It is a more rare color. Sorrel is another word for a light chestnut color.

Grey horses have black skin with white or gray hair. A grey horse might look white, but if its skin is dark, it is a grey. Grey horses are born a dark color, such as black or brown, and their coat grows lighter as they grow older. There are light grey, dapple grey, flea-bitten grey, and steel grey variations in coloring. A white horse must have pink skin, which is more rare than grey horses.

Dun horses have a sandy yellow to reddish brown coat. Their legs are usually darker than their body and they sometimes have faint zebra stripes on their legs. Dun horses always have a dark stripe down the middle of their back along their back bone, known as a dorsal stripe.

Sometimes the dorsal stripe continues down the horse's tail and through the mane. Many dun colored horses also have face masking, which makes the horse's nose and sometimes the rest of the face a darker color than the horse's body.

A buckskin horse has a sandy yellow or tan color with black legs, mane, and tails. Buckskins are similar looking to duns, except that buckskins do not have a dorsal stripe or other primitive markings that are seen in duns.

Palomino horses have gold-colored coat with a white or light cream colored mane and tail. A palomino coat can range from a light off-white shade to a deep shade of gold.

Roan horses have white hairs mixed with a body color to produce blue roan, which is roan mixed with black, red roan, which is roan and bay, and strawberry or rose roan, which roan and chestnut.

There are other white body markings and spots that can affect the horse color to be a Paint or an Appaloosa, which also have breed registries just for them. (We'll save those topics for another article.)

So next time you see a brown or black horse, look carefully - What color is the horse?

Jennifer Allbright writes for http://www.NewtoHorses.com which provides information to new-comers on caring for, riding, and showing horses. The site offers a wide range of information from safety around horses and resources for horse items to specifics about dressage training and showing.

The Best Football Season Ever: Sports Widows Can Have Their Own Fun!

The football season offers great opportunities for us women to rediscover ourselves, while keeping a distance from those who remain perpetually glued to the tube and their munchies week in and week out. So, dont go in to hibernation heres how you can take control of this season in some exciting and memorable ways.

Around this time of year I hear of women who feel abandoned. Yes, Im talking about that unique seasonal male bonding ritual, called NFL Sundays and Monday Night Football.

If you are one of those women who begin looking at the T.V. set and plasma screens with hatred and envy, or whose mind starts to numb at the very word football, start thanking your guy instead for the wonderful opportunity youve just been handed.

What is that, youre wondering? The chance to create your own Fall season ritual with your women friends. As the men become oblivious to you while tossing back a few beers, chowing down on their favorite junk foods and cheering on their chosen teams, take the ball in your own hands and organize your own celebration.

Remember, if youre out of the house, you dont have to deal with listening to the ongoing football commentary, requests for stuff from the kitchen or the assumption that you will be volunteered for clean up duty. If your partner is hopeless with organizing child care or cleaning up after the guys, write him a little love note, or say something that goes like this:

Dear Football-Fan Hubby,

I know how much you love the football season. Sundays and Monday nights are holy for you until the day after the Super Bowl. This year I want you to really enjoy yourself. Ive arranged a baby sitter/cleaner for the kids so that you can watch the games undistracted with your buddies. Im getting out of the house, as well, so you can really hang out with the guys. You wont even have to worry about the clean up.

Have a great time and know I love you,

If on the other hand, your partner shares duties with you, you might try writing or saying the following:

Dear Football Fan Hubby,

I know how much you love the football season. Sundays and Monday nights are holy for you until the day after the Super Bowl. This year I really want you to enjoy yourself. Thats why Ill plan on getting out of the house so you and your friends can have a good time alone. Im leaving the babysitter and clean up arrangements to you so they suit you best. Have a great time,

Love,

Thats Stage I. Now for the best part Stage II.

Gather together a group of your friends and create your own version of female bonding. While its always nice to go out to a restaurant or a movie, why not try something a little different?

Consider forming a womens club that meets every Sunday afternoon or Monday night during the football season. Have a different woman plan each weeks fun, according to her interests and specialties. That way, you may enjoy a spa night, a night tour of historical sites, famous homes, or great architecture in your area, a home crafts evening or one of decadent desserts. If one of you is a bookworm, ask each woman to come dressed as one of her favorite book characters and bring books to swap. The holidays are coming up brainstorm with your womens club on creative gifts for your family, while sipping on exotic wine punches and eating warm chestnuts. The possibilities are endless.

So, leave the couch potatoes in their most comfortable position this years football season will never be the same.

Tzippi Moss is an expert in the areas of imagery, expanding creativity, dream work, stress reduction, and goal setting. She is the author of "A Dash of Soul" and "Real Women Sizzle". Read more about them at: http://www.WomensBirthdayClub.com.

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