Dear HN: Help! I don’t know what color my horse is

January 10, 2013Leslie WylieUncategorized#ADVICE46 Comments

Reader Arwyn Anthony is the proud owner of, well, a horse of a different color. Share your thoughts and then take our Horse Nation Name-That-Color Challenge!

Arwyn writes:

Hi Horse Nation,

I was just wondering if you guys could help me out on a coloring question. This is my horse Ty, he’s a 5 year old Thoroughbred (pictured above). When I met him last spring and he was a dark gray color and I was told he would lighten up to a dapple or flea-bitten gray. As the summer progressed he started getting a light brown tint to his coat. I was slightly confused, and at a show last summer I met another horse with this particular coloring. I asked his owner who said he was an 8 year old TB and would turn this brownish-gray color in the summer then turn dark gray again every winter but never seemed to lighten like normal gray horses. This winter he has turned back to a dark gray with no sign of brownish hairs at all. I honestly am not sure what to call his coloring, and I’m curious if anyone else has had experience with it and what color he might turn out to be.

Thanks!”

Have some advice for Arwyn? Leave it in the comments section.

BONUS! Horse Nation Color Challenge

What would you call the colors/coat patterns of the horses below? (BTW, there are no answers because we have no idea ourselves!)