Colour experts - what colour is my pony?

Cortez said:
Yeah, wot I thought too. He also does have a dorsal stripe.
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Dorsal stripes can be misleading. Both my grey and her sire have them although they showed up better before they greyed out. Neither has the Dun gene. Also sooty can cause dorsal stripes.

Cream is quite a common gene in the Welsh cob and pony sections, so it's possible that the dam was also a smoky black. He could be a faded black or he could be a 'black' liver chestnut (however this is the least likely option of the three).
 
KatPT said:
Interesting comments thanks guys! In his passport it says his sire is a black pre called Danes Fiel (although someone on here told me the stallion went white, can't find any pictures of him so don't know) dam was written as bay, dark. She was half pre and half Welsh b. Two grey grandparents and 2 bay ones. He is 7 now so think he will stay this colour. If he has a hidden highland relative it is well hidden, his bone is so tiny I can almost touch my fingers together around his cannon bone!
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Danes Fiel was black at birth and turned grey and did not carry cream, I do not think he is a cream dilute - is his dam grandsire Lengueto IV, he is one of the only bay PRE's old enough? If so he does not get cream from that side either. The eel stripes are from his spanish side, a lot of PRE's have these 'primitive' markings, especially those that turn grey, not that your boy will if neither of his parents were grey there is absolutely no chance of him being grey, regardless of the colour of his grandparents.

He looks black to me, the picture of him looking lighter is probably just sun bleaching.
 
Yep, lengueto was his grandad! No, I didn't imagine he would go grey! Thanks for this guys, all interesting reading!
 
No comment on his colour just to say he is absolutely beautiful! I bred one that looks quite like him out of a black mare. I would say they are the same colour nad I had him as a dark brown/black. Love the last pic!!
 
Faracat said:
????? :confused:

Smoky blacks don't have pale eyes. In fact you often have to DNA test to prove that the horse does indeed have a single copy of cream.
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brownhead
 
Apart from the fact that your beast is totally beautiful......if he is black.....he will have grey skin.

Bryndu
 
Thanks for the photo Wagtail. :) The paler fur inside the ears is typical of smoky blacks. I see what you man about his/her eyes being paler than the standard dark brown. The SB that lived near me had brown eyes, but they weren't dramatically paler like you get with champagne (see pic below).

champagnefilly.jpg


Photo of another champagne horse's eye colour (link because it's huuuuge ;) ).
http://www.ichregistry.com/images/blue_dakota.jpg
 
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His points look blacker to me in the top pic than in the second one, where his coat looks bay. Bays can have dorsal stripes, I think; don't know about blacks. I would guess bay or brown, possibly a very dark liver chestnut as someone else has said.

What time of year was that top pic taken? Are those oaks in the background? (because of the leaves; doesn't look like actual winter)
 
Top pic I would guess was august time when he was 4 (hawthorne hedges in back). Second down was Sept this year at 7. He was rugged a lot in first pic and had been kept elsewhere so forage nutrition may have been different, this year hardly rugged so more exposed to sun, and working harder so more sweat.
 
My Smokey Black New Forest mare's eyes were not really lighter in comparison to other horses.
She had palomino and buckskin half siblings (same sire), sire had a buckskin half brother, plus buckskin ancestors.
My mare produced a palomino foal who was by a bay stallion that had only ever sired bays and chestnuts, and had no dilute ancestors in his pedigree.
DSC_1253.jpg
 
LittleWildOne said:
My Smokey Black New Forest mare's eyes were not really lighter in comparison to other horses.
She had palomino and buckskin half siblings (same sire), sire had a buckskin half brother, plus buckskin ancestors.
My mare produced a palomino foal who was by a bay stallion that had only ever sired bays and chestnuts, and had no dilute ancestors in his pedigree.
DSC_1253.jpg
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I do actually think her eyes are slightly paler than the average horse. However, the amber eye, whilst very common in horses with the cream gene is also possible in other colours. My bright bay mare has the most stunning amber eyes.

ambereye.jpg
 
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One of ours is passported "black" but has red / bay inside of ears and belly. He also has the most beautiful silver dapples in the summer. He is out of a long line of black natives. I'd say mine was dark bay, but they do tend to get registered on their passport as the colour that most 'suits' their breed ;)
 
Looks beautiful - same colour as my friesian, who is 'black' on his passport. I think he looks very friesian like! Though if I was honest I would call my friesian dark bay with henna highlights. Interesting about the copper deficiency I'd not heard of that before and just put fading down to the sun.
 
Amaranta said:
Danes Fiel was black at birth and turned grey and did not carry cream, I do not think he is a cream dilute - is his dam grandsire Lengueto IV, he is one of the only bay PRE's old enough? If so he does not get cream from that side either. The eel stripes are from his spanish side, a lot of PRE's have these 'primitive' markings, especially those that turn grey, not that your boy will if neither of his parents were grey there is absolutely no chance of him being grey, regardless of the colour of his grandparents.

He looks black to me, the picture of him looking lighter is probably just sun bleaching.
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I was just googling a bit on horse colour and came across my own thread! Came across this comment about Danes Fiel and thought I would add that he didn’t go grey, he stayed completely black with a white sock, exactly like BBP. His owner sent me some lovely photos a few years ago. They look so alike!

I think in the end we established that Smokey black was the most likely.

So here’s another one for you colour people. Not showing whole picture as it’s not mine, but really dark chocolate coat, same coffee ear fur like BBP, black muzzle, hazel eyes, Tina Turner mane. Buckskin sire, not sure about dam line. Is it a more extreme version of smokey black that has gone blonde in the sun instead of red like BBP?
B1B7AE5E-DD7D-45BA-A6A7-39784831D0B8.jpeg
 
My Dales had a black winter coat and a brown summer coat. The sun would also bleach red highlights in his mane. People often thought he was two different ponies. His sire (Broscoe Joseph) was jet black and his dam (Rosebarr Kizzie) was grey. ETA he also had white hairs all through his coat in common with the Dales breed.
 
My new forest who is either very dark brown or dairy milk coloured with dorsal stripe, black points and orange in her mane, is officially a chocolate dun. Just putting that out there
 
BBP said:
I was just googling a bit on horse colour and came across my own thread! Came across this comment about Danes Fiel and thought I would add that he didn’t go grey, he stayed completely black with a white sock, exactly like BBP. His owner sent me some lovely photos a few years ago. They look so alike!

I think in the end we established that Smokey black was the most likely.

So here’s another one for you colour people. Not showing whole picture as it’s not mine, but really dark chocolate coat, same coffee ear fur like BBP, black muzzle, hazel eyes, Tina Turner mane. Buckskin sire, not sure about dam line. Is it a more extreme version of smokey black that has gone blonde in the sun instead of red like BBP?
View attachment 80368
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I'm going to suggest silver, which used to be called taffy.
 
My youngster is a chocolate dun, actually a sooty bucKskin. He is Connie X TB and the Irish don't seem to use the term buckskin so on his passport he is chocolate dun.
twix2may2020.jpg
I think the Op's horse is black with sun fading.
 
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