Shades of Black

[Nazarach]

Hi there ^^
In recent times I noticed a lot of people stumbling through black and its various appearances when dilluted.

I breed for black in some projects of mine and - subsequently - have a bit of experience with the coats; so I wanted to make a small guide that may help people decide what kind of genes may be involved.

I will put up pictures of the foal- and 1 year appearances.

As I'm not always 100% sure when multiple dillutions are involved, you can always point out wrong or missing genes and I will do my best to correct them.

As for silver + double/tripple dillutes on black I will have to rely on other people as these always make me miss the correct shades x_x so everyone sure about a horse with these genes is very welcome

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For a reminder, the plain black coat (E_ a/a) looks like this:

a warm, brown/redish coat
0 years
1 year

Keep in mind though that all shades of a coat can always alternate between a lighter/fainter or a more vibrant/darker color!

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Cream ('Smoky')

Smoky Black (E_ a/a Cr/n)
in nearly all combinations does Cream change the shade to a more cold, greyish color
0 years
1 year


Smoky Cream (E_ a/a Cr/Cr) (sadly, I don't own one currently, so it's a forgein one with no 1 year pic)

0 years
2,17 years


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Pearl
Pearl is a recessive gene, so it's only visible in a pair - either with:
1 cream and 1 pearl
2 pearl genes.


Smoky Black Pearl (E_ a/a Cr/prl)
distinguishing it from double cream is not possible - you have to look at the parents genetic makeup or an indicating offspring
0 years
1 year


Black Pearl (E_ a/a prl/prl)

0 years
1 year


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Champagne

Classic Champagne (E_ a/a Ch/n)

0 years
1 year


Classic Cream (E_ a/a Cr/n Ch/n)

0 years
1 year


Champagne + multiple dilutes

Black Pearl Champagne (E_ a/a prl/prl Ch/n)
(distinguishable by the heaviest kind of freckles from champagne - similiar to a horse with just champagne)
0 years
1 year
freckle close-up


Smoky Cream Pearl Champagne (E_ a/a Cr/prl Ch/n)
medium freckles - less than with double pearl but more than double cream; still hard to differntiate from double cream sometimes, so take note of parents and offspring
0 years
1 year
freckle close-up


Smoky Cream Champagne (E_ a/a Cr/Cr Ch/n)
very faint freckles - like a bit of dust-covering
0 years
1 year
freckle close-up


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That's it for the dillutes - I will put the other shades like dun, roan, silver in seperate posts

[Nazarach]

Dun

Black Dun ('Grullo'/'Grulla') (E_ a/a D/d) (sadly, I don't own one a grown one, so I had to outsource)

0 years
1 year


Smoky Black Dun (E_ a/a Cr/n D/d)
(read about the effects of cream in the dillute post above)
0 years
1 year


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Roan

Black Roan ('Blue Roan') (E_ a/a Rn/n)
get a closeup and you'll notice distinguishable white hairs dilluting the original color; also, roan only reaches up to the cheeks while dun also wraps around the noses bridge
0 years
1 year


Smoky Black Roan (E_ a/a Cr/n Rn/n)

0 years
1,04 years


This should offer you a look at how roan will be layered above the original coat - so I'll refrain from going through all possible combinations (if you want to add a horse with any of these colors not mentioned just quote this post or ping me with the horses link)

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Silver
dapples can vary from non-existent to a heavy covering

Silver Black (E_ a/a Z/n) (outsourced - no 1 year pic)
0 years
1,25 years


Smoky Silver Black (E_ a/a Cr/n Z/n)

0 years
1 year

Silver (Dappled) Smoky Black Pearl Champagne (E_ a/a Cr/prl Ch/n Z/n)
medium freckles indicate the pearl involvement; dapples and the yellow-ish tint the silver
0 years
1 year
freckle close-up



Silver Black Dun (E_ a/a D/d Z/n)
a slightly warmer/pinkish color
0 years
1 year


Silver Smoky Black Dun (E_ a/a Cr/n D/d Z/n)
a more yellowish/grey shade
0 years
1 year



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The other Silver+Dun+Pearl/Cream and/or Champagne combinations are a true hassle to figure out (and I certainly don't have many), so if anyone wants to add a fitting horse feel free to do so - or just ping me with a link to the horse IF you are sure it has the correct shade.

In any case, they will just get lighter in color from this point on - ranging from a sun bleached gold to a pure white these combinations are hard to guess from just looking

[Nazarach]

added a multiple dillute "Silver (Dappled) Smoky Black Pearl Champagne (E_ a/a Cr/prl Ch/n Z/n)" to the silver section