How to Identify a Horse's Color

By eHow Pets Editor

Instructions

Appaloosa

Step 1:
Look for mottled skin around the muzzle or other areas of the horse. This is a distinctive characteristic of an Appaloosa.
Step 2:
Examine the eye of the horse. If it has a white ring that is clearly visible around the iris (the ring is also known as the sclera), combined with other characteristics, it allows you to identify the horse as an Appaloosa.
Step 3:
Check the horse's hooves. An Appaloosa's hooves are generally striped.
Step 4:
Take note of the location on the horse of any patterns. Appaloosas have distinctive "blanket" patterns that are generally located on the hips and back, the loins and hips, the body and the hips, or the entire body. The blankets can consist of white hair with black or other colored spots.

Bay

Step 1:
Check the horse's mane and tail. A bay horse has a black mane and tail colors that will help you distinguish the horse color by name.
Step 2:
Look at the horse's legs. A bay horse's legs will be black, and much darker from the rest of horse's body.
Step 3:
Examine the tips of the horse's ears. These also should be black.
Step 4:
Determine the color of the horse's body. If the main portion of the horse's body is "red" or a shade of brown, then combined with the black legs, ear tips, and mane and tail, the horse's color is bay.

Black

Step 1:
Look at the horse's legs.
Step 2:
Examine the horse's mane and tail.
Step 3:
Determine if the coat of the horse's body is one solid black color. If all three areas of the horse are black without any variation—-unlike a bay where there is a distinctive variation from the horse's body and his legs, ears, mane and tail—-then the horse's color is black.

Brown

Step 1:
Examine the horse's legs.
Step 2:
Check out the horse's mane and tail.
Step 3:
Look at the overall color of the horse's coat. If the horse is a mixture of brown and black over the entire of the horse's body, then the horse's color is brown. In Europe, a bay is a brown horse.

Chestnut

Step 1:
Examine the horse's skin.
Step 2:
Look at the mane and tail.
Step 3:
Check out the color of the horse's body. If the horse's body is reddish, the skin brown, and the mane and tail are the same color as the body or a shade or two lighter, the horse's color is chestnut.

Dun

Step 1:
Look at the skin of the horse.
Step 2:
Examine the horse's legs.
Step 3:
Check out his mane and tail.
Step 4:
Study the color of the horse's body. If the horse's coat ranges from a light tan to a yellowish color, and the horse's mane and tail are black, the horse's color is dun. A dun horse also has a distinctive black stripe down the middle of the horse's back.

Gray

Step 1:
Check the horse's mane and tail.
Step 2:
Look at the horse's legs.
Step 3:
Examine the body of the horse. If the horse's body is white but the tail, mane and legs are a darker shade, then you can distinguish the horse's color as gray. A gray can have darker spots in the body that are black or red. If the horse has light, black spots or dapples, then the horse's color is dappled gray. If the spots look like very small red spots, then the horse is a flea-bitten gray.

Paint

Step 1:
Check out the horse's legs.
Step 2:
Look at the horse's mane and tail.
Step 3:
Examine the horse's body. If the horse's body is a solid color with large spots over the neck, chest, and/or shoulders, combined with white legs and a mane and tail that's two colors, then the color is paint. The paint is also a breed distinguished by a body-type that is similar to a quarter horse. A pinto is any breed of horse with the paint color.

Roan

Step 1:
Look at the horse's body. If the horse has a mixture of brown and white hairs, then you can distinguish the horse's color as red roan.
Step 2:
Examine the horse's body. If the horse's coat is a mixture of red and white, then you can distinguish the horse's color as strawberry roan.
Step 3:
Search for a mixture of a mixture of white and black hairs on the horse's coat. If both are present, you can distinguish the horse's color as blue roan.

White

Step 1:
Examine the horse's skin.
Step 2:
Look at the color of the horse's eyes.
Step 3:
Check out the color of the horse's body. If the horse's skin is pink, the eyes blue, and the hair is pure white, then you can distinguish the horse's color as white. Unlike a gray horse, a white horse's coat will stay white.

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