What colour would you say my boy was?

[RachandDuke]

Hi all…

This is my first post but thought this may be the right place to ask this question. I have a 3yo cob x Trotter and I’m struggling to decide what colour he is. He’s passported as skewbald, but doesn’t look skewbald to me.

His colour changes through the seasons, but over summer he is grey and white, with the grey being very roan and getting more roan the older he gets. He has patches of red roan across his body too. His head has always been brown so stands out. Mane is white & black, tail white with the odd black area.

I’ve attached a few pics - some from early summer, some late winter.

Help!

 

[Spotherisk]

He is skewbald. His base colour is bay and therefore he has black points, ie mane and tail.

Why don’t you think he is skewbald?

 

[Lois Lame]

He looks like a red roan to be, or maybe a buckskin with roan. So, apart from being skewbald, he is bay + roan and maybe a dilution gene.

ETA: though the dilution gene seems unlikely.
E(again!)TA: Yes, he is definitely skewbald. What's throwing you off is the white through the brown - roaning.

Roan is something that changes through the season. The head stays solid-coloured.

 

[Lexi 123]

He definitely gray guys skewbaled isn’t a color or a pattern it not equine genetics correct.

 

[Maddie Moo]

He definitely gray guys skewbaled isn’t a color or a pattern it not equine genetics correct.

Your reply isn’t correct! Nor doesn’t it make a lot of sense…

 

[Fred66]

Piebald is a horse with large irregular patches of white and black only
Skewbald is a horse with large irregular patches of white and any other colour, it can include black if it’s a tricolor.
A roan is a horse that has a mixed coat of any colour with flecks of white throughout.
As your horse has large white patches with large patches of other colours he is definitely skewbald (albeit some of his patches are roan patches)

 

[Lois Lame]

He definitely gray guys skewbaled isn’t a color or a pattern it not equine genetics correct.

If he were grey (with skewbald) he would not have the solid-coloured head.

Also, grey is another pattern. It's not a colour unto itself.

 

[toppedoff]

hes lovely!!!

 

[RachandDuke]

He is skewbald. His base colour is bay and therefore he has black points, ie mane and tail.

Why don’t you think he is skewbald?

Like people have said it was the roan that’s been throwing me off as when you see him in person it is very roan and it’s roaning out more as he grows. His head always stays a solid colour which is common in roans.

I’ve had vets mentioning his colour to me recently saying they weren’t sure his passport was entirely correct so it threw me massively!

 

[RachandDuke]

Piebald is a horse with large irregular patches of white and black only
Skewbald is a horse with large irregular patches of white and any other colour, it can include black if it’s a tricolor.
A roan is a horse that has a mixed coat of any colour with flecks of white throughout.
As your horse has large white patches with large patches of other colours he is definitely skewbald (albeit some of his patches are roan patches)

Thank you. I hadn’t been aware that he could be skewbald and roan so it threw me massively. He’s roaning out more and more as he grows!

 

[Jenko109]

Skewbald; specifically a bay roan one.

 

[Spotherisk]

Skewbalds which grey out completely are known as historic skewbalds. In a show ring you might only be able to see the difference in skin colours with the whole coat very nearly the same colour.

 

[Cloball]

If you want the genetic term he's Bay roan tobiano E_A_T_Rn_. In the UK anything that isn't a piebald is a skewbald which isn't very specific.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I’d also say bay roan skewbald, so as @Cloball says above in more correct technical terms.

 

[equinerebel]

He is skewbald, and very cute

 

[Trouper]

Well whatever he is, he's lovely!!! Enjoy the seasonal changes.

 

[hobo]

In old money Fred66 is spot on and in new money cloball is correct . In real money he is lovely. if you are young you will wonder what I am on about .

 

[poiuytrewq]

He is really cute! What size is he?
I very much like him what ever he’s officially called

 

[TheOldTrout]

He is lovely!

 

[RachandDuke]

Skewbald; specifically a bay roan one.

Oh I hadn’t thought of bay roan! I didn’t realise bay roan could be so grey! If you didn’t look at his giant brown head, you would think blue roan when you see the colour of his body

 

[RachandDuke]

Skewbalds which grey out completely are known as historic skewbalds. In a show ring you might only be able to see the difference in skin colours with the whole coat very nearly the same colour.

Thank you for the information! We’ll see whether he ends up greying out as he ages I guess. At the moment the patches are darker in winter and very roan in summer

 

[RachandDuke]

If you want the genetic term he's Bay roan tobiano E_A_T_Rn_. In the UK anything that isn't a piebald is a skewbald which isn't very specific.

Thank you! I hadn’t realised that bay roan could look so grey. If you didn’t look at his giant brown head you’d think more blue roan looking at his body in person.

 

[RachandDuke]

He is really cute! What size is he?
I very much like him what ever he’s officially called

Thank you he’s currently 14hh at the withers and 14’2 at the bum. He’s just went bum high. He’s 3 in a few weeks too.

 

[RachandDuke]

Thank you all for your information, that’s been really helpful! I’d tried to upload the attached pic here with the rest but for some reason it hadn’t let me - just a closer look at his side. You can see the bay roan on his belly and more grey in the other places.

I knew he was officially skewbald in the UK as the UK doesn’t really differentiate between the different colours if not piebald, but even the vet who had done the checks for his passport was unsure due to the roaning and the solid head!

No one had really given a straight answer so showing him was a little difficult as I didn’t know where to put him

And thank you for the lovely comments. He certainly stands out and I can’t wait to see how he grows.

 

[Cloball]

Roans can vary quite wildly in colour and amount of roaming depending on the season and throughout their life time. Some breeds such as Connemaras do show more roaning on the face. He also has inverted dark Vs above his knees which is typical of a roan. Grey horses tend to grey around the eyes quite quickly.

 

[Jenko109]

I believe they call it 'varnished' if they are sort of greying but not like an actual grey.

 

[DabDab]

The other option is that he had an Lp gene rather than roan. Lp (sometimes called varnish) gives the white roan like flecking through the solid coat, makes them gradually lighten as they age and can cause the base coat colour to throw up some funny shades on different parts of the body.

There's a thread on here somewhere showing the colour of my horse who has Lp, showing it changing as she ages (she also has a pattern gene giving her spots though).
ETA here is the thread: Thread 'What colour will she be?' https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/what-colour-will-she-be.747351/

 

[ester]

He's not LP he doesn't have any of the mottling that is typical.

He is definitely classic RN roan - as confirmed by the inverted leg V's and the lack of roaning on the head.

I actually think he is possibly buckskin roan tobiano rather than bay due to the tone on his face and at his stifle.

 

[Cloball]

@ester I did wonder that too with the golden muzzle.

 

[Lexi 123]

Your reply isn’t correct! Nor doesn’t it make a lot of sense…

What I meant skewbald or piebald isn’t correct terminology . It like how people in the uk calling buckskin dun . When real dun looks completely different they aren’t yellow and there is chestnut dun , black dun and bay dun . Looking at pictures again he is Bay roan tobiano.