COLOUR CARD
Colour
Special
A guide to
pull out and
keep
Here at Redwings we have over 1,000 horses and
ponies in our care and if there’s one thing we’re
sure of, it’s that they’re all different! They all have
their individual personalities; they can be as
as Prince the Shire x Clydesdale or
tiny as Harry Potter the Shetland and
tall
as
although we have yet to find a green
horse (keep your
eyes peeled!), they come in an
amazing variety of colours.
Here’s an introduction to
the wonderful world of horsey
colours for you to keep.
bay
Katy the lovely adoption pony is a fine example of a bay. Bay
horses have a brown body and a black mane and tail. They
also have black legs although Katy has two white socks at the
back, just to confuse matters! Bay is the most common colour
for a horse.
black
grey
There are very few true black
horses, most are very dark
brown or their hair will turn
brown when the sun comes
out! However, Will Scarlett,
one of our newest adoption
horses, is true black – with
white markings on his face and
around his feet. This former
police horse lives at Redwings
Oxhill in Warwickshire.
As you may well know, horses
that appear white are actually
known as ‘greys’ because underneath their hair the pigment of
their skin is grey. (However, there
are exceptions… keep reading to
find out what we mean!) Snow
White here is a lovely example
of a grey pony! Often grey ponies
have a pink muzzle, which can be
prone to sunburn so they have to
wear daily suncream!
chestnut
Adoption pony Dolly is a
beautiful chestnut colour.
Chestnut horses are the same
colour all over their bodies,
anything from a pale brown to
dark ginger. They often have a
lighter coloured mane and tail.
dark bay
liver chestnut
Brown
There are some
horses that are classified
brown rather than bay as they
don’t have any black points and
their manes and tails
Although all bay horses have brown
are the same colour
bodies and black points, the colour of
as their
their bodies can vary enormously, from
bodies.
really bright (like Katy) to very dark.
Rummy, pictured here, is a beautiful example
of a dark bay horse – so dark he almost looks
black! He is a retired racehorse who came to
the Sanctuary when he could no longer race.
He was once shot with a pellet gun and still
has the bullet lodged in his shoulder.
A variation on the normal chestnut colouring,
liver chestnuts like Redwing, pictured here,
have a very brown-coloured coat (rather than
ginger) and a paler mane.
skewbald
piebald
Adoption Rumpel
from Redwings Oxhill is
a lovely example of a skewbald. He has brown
patches mixed with white patches. The brown
patches could be lighter or darker than this
and he would still be classified as a skewbald.
The pattern on each horse is totally unique,
just like the patterns on your fingertips!
A horse with black and white patches is called
a piebald. Oakley (left) and Bungle (right) are
both very handsome examples of piebalds with
surprisingly similar markings to each other!
Both piebalds and skewbalds can have manes
and tails which are either white or coloured, or
a mixture!
COLOUR CARD
palomino
dun
Palomino horses have a white mane and tail
and often have white markings on their legs.
Their bodies are golden rather than chestnut
although that colour can vary from very pale
to a rich gold. Chocolate Egg is a very pretty
palomino and she knows it too!
These are also horses with cream or golden
bodies (can be very light or very dark) but like
Spice they will have black manes and tails.
Often they will also have a black line running
down their backs, known as a ‘dorsal stripe’.
appaloosa
roan
Cremello
These horses are a
very pale golden colour to
almost white with a pink muzzle
and blue eyes - the closest to
an albino (an animal with
no pigment in its
skin at all).
Horses can be spotted or patterned in a variety
of ways - there are a great many combinations.
Seamus is a good example of an Appaloosa
and he’s a lovely friendly chap too! The term
‘Appaloosa’ can refer to both being spotty in
colour and a particular breed of horse.
Roan horses and ponies can be very varied. The
body will be coloured but with white hairs all over
the coat so the colour is faded. The type of roan
depends on the colour of the coat underneath the
white hairs! Blue, pictured here, is a ‘blue roan’ as
he has a dark grey coat. You might hear other terms
such as ‘red roan’ (like Icky the adoption pony).
Confused? You will be! Here are some more
horsey colour facts to make your head spin!
grey
two more things...
...to know about grey horses:
• There is one breed where the
normal rules do not apply.
The famous Spanish Lipizzaner
horses are referred to as ‘white’
horses, not greys!
Oliver Twist
(as he used to look!)
White (plus grey mane)
Although they are all called
‘greys’, these horses and ponies
can actually be any shade from
white to a very dark ‘iron’ grey.
In fact, you can often tell the
age of a grey pony just by its
colour. They are born black,
and their colour will fade as
they get older. Check out these
pictures to see what we mean!
• Donkeys are different! White
horses are called greys, but white
donkeys are called white!
chestnut
These horses can also be called ‘Sorrel’ horses and this term is often
used in America for quarter horses and similar breeds. This is
particularly true for lighter shades of chestnut. However, Arabian
breeders always use the term ‘Chestnut’, no matter what the shade!
tri-coloured
As if piebald and skewbald weren’t
enough to remember, some horses
can have both brown and black
patches as well as white on their
bodies, and these are known as tricoloured! Although Finnegan is
a skewbald he has some black hairs
in his mane, as you can see here.
Either way, he’s gorgeous, and he
knows it!
Fergie- Dapple Grey
Check out your horsey colours
knowledge!
Can you name the colours
of these Adoption Stars?
A) Misfit
B) Muffin
C) Rhadlon
Answers: A) Skewbald, B) Bay, C) Black
Storm - Iron Grey