I'd always assumed my guy was just bay until a few weeks ago when someone mentioned he could be dun. Since then, I've done some research and am still not sure what to think, so I'm seeking others' opinions. I haven't found any pictures of a definite bay who has as bright & rich a color as he does. He definitely has the Agouti gene, though of course this doesn't make him a dun. In the shade, his summer coat seems like red with dull orange, [
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii173… ] but out in the sunlight he's all orange highlights. He gets plenty of golden tones too, but they don't show well in this picture. [
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii173… ] Can't find a pic where his dorsal stripe shows well. It isn't consistently dark from his withers to tail; gets darker from front to back, is about an inch or inch and a half wide and nearly black at his tailhead. His mane, tail and forelock all contain very light hairs (which I understand is common in bay duns). At first I assumed this was only fading, but upon pulling one of these hairs out they're light brown all the way to the root.The ones in his mane are only on the last third of his neck, near his wither. They vary in color. Definitely much much lighter than the reddish fading on the end of his tail. [
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii173… ] Sorry about the picture. It was a few months after I got him; coat was dull from malnutrition and my old camera didn't handle cloudy days well at all. Since this pic, his mane has grown a good 3-4 inches at least, as have the light brown hairs, which seem to get lighter and lighter near the root as time goes on. Same with the ones in his tail. I suppose it's worth mentioning that he has about 6 or 7 birdcatcher spots (small white dots) on his lower back, croup, and hindquarter. All are near the spine, usually appearing on top of the dorsal stripe, and are about the size of a pencil eraser. He has a larger (but not solid) white patch under his mane that can be seen faintly in the first picture. When wet, he has many small freckles scattered on where his neck ties into his chest, between his front legs, under his chest and some on his belly, and plenty on the inside of his hind legs, though none on his sheath. On the bay side, his dorsal stripe is not extremely dark and he doesn't have distinct barring. On the dun side, he has a dorsal stripe and agouti gene, very faint dark areas on upper front legs that I can't make out as lone dapples or bars, and what I gather to be an unusual color for a bay. Perhaps his body color is the effect of a single dun allele on a very dark bay? Bright bay (again, can't find any this shade with a dorsal stripe): closest I could dig up. [
http://www.boblangrish.com/images/galler… ] Bay duns: this one is called bay dun, though he has no barring [
http://horsezone.com.au/user_images/2642… ] Stallion about my horse's color in the light [
http://www.deleuranch.com/images/wallaWa… ] good example of the light mane hairs of duns [
http://www.dungenes.org/images/kiger_cou… ] Any and all opinions you have are greatly appreciated!
