Sorrel and buckskin colours?

Question

I am in Ireland and have been trying to work out the colours.

From what I can tell a buckskin is a dun. Is there any difference?

Also what is the difference between a sorrel and a chestnut? Is there any difference because I can't spot any?

Answer 1

I can't fit all the info in here.

This website explains it the best!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_color...

Oh and the difference between a buckskin and a dun is:

Duns have primitive markings, like a dorsal stripe on their back and horizontal stripes on their legs.

Answer 2

sorrel and chestnut are different they are not the same. they are the exact same gene though chestnut is darker

chestnut

http://www.murmurfarm.com/yarrowb.jpg

sorrel

http://image4.equinenow.com/equine/data/...

Answer 3

If you'll pay for the trip, I'd happily come and teach you myself!  I'd LOVE to go to Ireland, maybe someday.....

OK - buckskin.  The term commonly refers to a horse with dun markings who's base color is yellow.  Dun refers to a gene that produces a certain pattern of color points.  Legs that are black and often striped horizontally at the top where they blend into color, a black or dark stripe down the spine, black or dark mane and tail - dark ear tips and muzzle are usually the marks of a dun horse.

- A grulla dun is a base color of gray with dun markings

- A red dun is a horse almost rose colored with deep brown or red dun markings

- A buckskin is yellow coat color with dark markings

- Buttermilk often refers to a yellow or light coat with dark markings perhaps overlaid with lighter tones - likea dark mane with the edges in white or palomino color.

You can have a grulla horse that is steel gray though but the dun markings are what make it a grulla dun.  Likewise, a yellow horse with lighter mane and tail and even lower legs is Palomino which I think Europeans designate a breed where Americans classify as a color.

I have a wonderful filly that's dun through and through - she's got prominent stripes on the tops of her legs - I feel she's the definition of "buckskin".

The difference between sorrel and chestnut I believe is quite slight - the two are used interchangeably - I have always referred to a lighter brown horse as chestnut while leaving the sorrel desination for a horse a deeper red color.  For example, my old QH I grew up with was red and his coat gleamed in the sun due to hollow hair follicles that collected and reflected the sun - a long like an Akhal Teke's.  He was always considered sorrel with his deep red coloring.  I have seen horses that are a typical flat brown color with only slight red coloring that is not irridescent or deep - these I consider "chestnut".

Blood bay is really deep, iridescent almost red.

I have 6- the buckskin filly.

A mare that's bay -she's almost a honey color with black hairs that make her look like she really glows - not really brown at all.  

Her daughter is colored exactly like her.

Her other daughter is Bay Tobiano

Then there's the old Morgan gelding that I call brown or chocolate brown because he's just  the color of milk chocolate.

Finally there's a flea bitten horse - he's black skinned, white hairs with little ticks of brown clumps of hair throughout his coat.

What's your favorite colour?   I can't decide, I love them all.

Answer 4

A buckskin and dun are different colors. They both vary in coloring and markings. There are red duns, dunalinos, and line back duns and there are champagne buckskins, golden or dappled buckskins. Here are a few links that can better explain as it does get confusing.

http://www.ibha.net/colors.htm

http://www.americanbuckskin.org/Registra...

Chestnut colored horses often have the some of the dun factors but sorrel horses will not. This includes mottling and masking. These are not found on sorrel horses which appears to be dull in color with an over all even color with no dark points.

To ADD- If you look at a horse and can't determine whether or not the horse is sorrel or chestnut. Look from the feet up. If the hair is darker in appearance at the hocks and knees along with darker hair in the tail- it is considered a chestnut colored horse. Some registries don't recognize the color Sorrel so be careful.

EDIT- Found another link to help you out to better understand rules and coloring.

http://www.equinecolor.com/chestnut.html

Answer 5

This is the difference a think a dun id darker than a buckskin but i am not sure on that one

Buckskin

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/images_...

Dun

http://www.holderquarterhorses.com/kiowa...

As for chestnut and sorrel they are exactly the same its just that most people who ride english refer to it as chestnut and most people who ride western refer to it as sorrel but the color is the same. At least that is what i heard

Answer 6

a buckskin is NOT a dun. duns have the zebra stripes, dorsal stripe, and dark 'block' underneath their withers on their shoulders. a buckskin doesn't have any of those characteristics.

a sorrel and chestnut are the same thing. sorrel is more used in western/ on the west cost of the usa and chestnut is more used in english/ east coast. some consider sorrel the more red tone and some consider chestnut the more brown tone. but all in all chestnut and sorrel are the same color.

buckskin: http://grulloquarterhorses.homestead.com...

this is a grulla, but is a type of dun/ has dun genes. notice the characteristics i told you that the buckskin doesn't have: http://www.horsecity.com/ARROWCHIP/MAGIC...

Answer 7

Buckskin - tan, golden, buttermilk color with black points.

Dun - light reddish gold, tan, yellow, buttermilk with or without black points WITH A DORSAL STRIPE.

Sorrel - mainly a western term, meaning any shade of red with or without a flaxen mane and tail, but not black mane and tail ( that's a bay).

Chestnut - includes sorrel descriptions in most areas (and there is no such thing as a sorrel Appaloosa  - they're all called chestnut) but can range into the deeper reddish liver color (liver chestnut) that is usually not included in the sorrell description.

Hope this helps!

Answer 8

Most have answered your buckskin/dun question, but once again, the duns have the dorsal stripes, zebra striped legs normally a brown colour.  Buckskins can have them but normally have BLACK points, (Ear tips, manes, tails and legs.).

Jockey Club throws Sorrels and Chestnuts into the SAME catagory, but AQHA separates them.  The more reddish tones are referred to as "Sorrel" the browner tones referred to as "Chestnuts".

Answer 9

although sometimes they may look the same there are some big differences genetically between a buckskin and a dun.  

A buckskin is produced by the same diluent gene that creates palomino, called creme.  just palomino is a chestnut base and buckskin is a bay base.  creme does not dilute black, hence the black points on a buckskin.  creme is also a incomplete dominant gene, meaning that there is a visible difference between a heterozygous (normal, one creme gene horse who has only 50% probity of producing a creme diluted foal)horse and a homozygous horse ( two copy's of creme, will always produce a creme diluted horse).  a homozygous "palomino" is all white looking and commonly called a cremello, and a homozygous "buckskin" is all white body with off white points and commonly called a perleno.  there is a genetic test for creme.

dun will dilute all colours producing red duns out of chestnuts, normal duns out of bays, and grullas out of blacks.  it is also a complete dominant, so there is no difference between a homozygous and a heterozygous horse.  I do not believe that there is currently a test for dun.

sorrel is just another shade of chestnut and there is no difference genetically.  you will have to look at some of the links others have posted here to tell the difference.  

  

Answer 10

I think a buckskin and a dun are the same color, it has been a long time since my 4-H days when i learned colors, so i could be wrong.  But i know a sorrel has a flaxen, almost white mane, and a chestnut mane is the mostly the same color as the body, meaning that it can have some flaxen, it would look like highlights, but it is mostly the samereddishh color of the body.  My friend had a sorrel, but because very few people knew what a sorrel was she said he was a chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail.  

Answer 11

The color buckskin is caused by the creme gene.  It is basically a bay horse with one creme gene, so you get the bay body turning lighter color - yellow to gold, and still have the black mane and tail and legs.  The creme gene is the same gene that turns a chestnut into a palomino.  A double creme gene gives cremellos and perlinos.

The dun gene is totally different, even though duns and buckskins look fairly similiar.  The obvious physical difference is the primative markings, which are a dark dorsal stripe down their back, and sometimes shoulder markings and sometimes leg barring.  The dun gene is the gene that causes the colors dun, red dun and grulla.  You cannot get a buckskin from breeding a dun to another horse, and vice versa.  They do look similiar in body coloring, but it is the primitive markings that make the obvious difference.

Sorrel and chestnut are very similiar.  Many breeds don't use the terms sorrel, it is found in Quarter horses and Paints.  Basically sorrel is considered the lighter tone of chestnut, more a bright penny red.  Some sorrels will have a flaxen mane and tail.  Chestnut is considered to be a darker and deeper red tone, they can be as dark as a liver chestnut.  There are variations in both sorrel and chestnut, so they can be very tough to tell apart - what one breeder considers a chestnut another might consider a sorrel.

Hope that helps.

Answer 12

There actually is a difference between a buckskin and a dun, duns often have a dorsal stripe and striped hooves, while buckskins do not.  Sorrel and chestnut is the same, sorrel is used by the Western riding community and chestnut by English.