To keep you busy, though, how about you tell me what color Quiet Storm is? Her paperwork lists her as sorrel, but I'm not so sure about that. Others have stated she may be a silver bay. What do you think?
First, a profile shot. Her base color looks sorrel enough, but she's got mottled stockings, a dark muzzle and a rather odd colored mane/tail.
Her mane has dark roots, but that frosted tip isn't just baby or bleached; back near her withers she has new grown that is not as dark as the roots shown here. She also has a dark muzzle which turns black in the winter.
There is a line barely visible down her back. Actually, you can barely see it up near the withers, not at all down her back, but it shows up again here on her butt. Note the tail color, too; silver and gray hairs there at the top.
Another look at the tail coloring, plus a better look at those legs. Darker hair, but not solid. It's mottled, both in front and back. You can see the backs of her front and that the 'stockings' come up well past her knees.
So, all you color gurus...what color is this horse?
11 comments:
Well, Arabians don't have all of those color designations. it would be chestnut or bay for her. I kinda think bay. Don't know if there's a test for the agouti that causes it or not. LOL
Maybe she is a dun? She has a faint dorsal strip, black legs, frosting in the mane, and some tiger bars?? Sounds like a dun to me. I am bad at color...thought mine was a buckskin and then found out she was a dun.
Photogchic, I used to think the striped ones were buckskin, too.
Quiet Storms legs aren't really black; they're just a darker, deeper red, really like a chocolate, as is her mane down at the roots.
MiKael, I never heard of most of the colors that other breeds have until we got this horse. Like you, we had chestnut or sorrel, bays and grays...the standard box of crayolas and not the big 64 crayon set!
She's one of two colors. Bay or dun. I've been researching the color genetics like crazy lately.
That said...
She's most likely what they call a wild bay that carries the dun factor. The wild bay has the darker legs, but they aren't solid in color, it's described as 'faded' in spots. The manes and tails are also 'based' in the dark color but have lighter ends.
Dun factor means that they have the dorsal stripe (dark stripe down the back), barring (stripes of dark color) on the shoulders and legs. But since QS's stripe does not go all the way down her back and there are no distinct bars on her shoulders or legs, she would NOT be a dun. She just carries the dun factor and displays part of it. And the stripe on her back is most likely considered counter shading not a dorsal stripe.
Does that help any? You can have her color tested if you like. :) But I say she's a wild bay. Which by the way is most common in mustangs and crosses.
The BLM is awful with color. They list Nahima as brown on her papers and she is either a smutty buckskin or a bay. The BLM lists Chauncey as grey on her papers and she is actually a silver grulla.
Color testing is not expensive and there are 3 different places that do it. All you need is to pull some hair out by the roots to send it in. Easier than it sounds.
I say wild bay.
Do you know what's bothering me about this whole conversation? I've been reading your blog for awhile, and month ago there was an article in one of the big horse magazines (can't remember which one)... Anyways, it was talking about rarer-type colors, and there was a horse in there that looked EXACTLY like Quiet Storm. I remember wondering if you knew Quiet Storm's color, and if I should tell you.....
If I could juuuust remember what color it said, then I might have the answer. :/ It's something like silver bay, or something like that. Anyways, if I can remember, I'll let you know.
Okay, I'm almost 100% certain it was "Silver Bay".
A lot of the photos out there of silver bays are of extremely flashy cases (very, very flaxen manes and tails), but the photo in the magazine had one with a frosted/highlighted mane like Quiet Silver.
Here's a couple of articles I found: (I split them up into two lines to fit on this page better... you'll have to paste and copy)
" http://www.thedreamhorse.com
/redchocolate.htm "
"http://www.mindspring.com/~morgans/
foxtonpegasus.jpg "
"http://www.mustangs4us.com/
Horse%20Colors/z_silver_dapples.htm"
Okay, I promise that after this I'll leave you alone.
" http://www.horsetesting.com/
CCalculator1.asp "
This has nothing to do with Storm's color, but it's just grand fun to play with. It shows you what the chances are of different-colored foals depending on what you breed to. Anyways, you'll see what it is once you go there. It's actually fairly addicting.
And since I've never introduced myself before, I'm a friend of MustangnCowboys, and I found your site through them, and have been following you religiously since then. You and risingrainbow are two of my favorite blogs to stalk.
Hi Becky! Glad you introduced yourself :)
Silver Bay is what I'd been told by an icelandic horse owner. Red Chocolate is what the Rocky Mt Horse folks call the same color. I had the editor of the Gaited Horse Magazine introduce herself at the adoption when we got QS; she talked about doing an article on Quiet Storm, but then decided to do it on the gelding that hadn't been adopted (he was from the same HMA.) The BLM got calls from all over the nation for that horse afterwards!
I do think you're right, though; that is most likely the color she is. I may just send away like Rachelle suggests and find out, just for the fun of it :>
I don't know anything about horse colors but I hope you are all better, by the time you read this.
Mari-Nanci
Definitely not dun, the stripe is countershading and because dun is a dominant color, the striping has to show up (you cannot have a hidden dun gene). To be a dun, she doesn't have to have barring on her legs or a jack stripe on her withers. Duns can display any "dun factor," and not necessarily all. Here's a good link; www.duncentralstation.com. I'd say she's a silver bay as well.
Hello, was browsing the internet and came across your old post. Your horse is a silver bay also known as red chocolate. She has a bay based coat with the silver dilution gene that changes the black hairs to a lighter color, from chocolate to light flaxen, grayish or nearly white. I just sold a filly that was a Silver Bay. She also had the lighter stripe down her back. Feel free to email me with pictures of "Callie" who is similarly colored to your horse. If you can do that on this site....anyhow, I could post them to this site if I know how.
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