smoke-colored hair, and in such cases the shade is uniform over the entire body. The main difference between the smoky black and faded black horse is that in a smoky black animal there is almost no difference between the color of the neck and head. The skin and hooves are pigmented, and the eyes can be a walnut color, causing this color to sometimes be called “yellow-eyed black.”
The smoky black color is on a very rare occasion similar to dark bay or seal brown. In such cases a precise determination of color can be accomplished by an analysis of pedigree data and by performing appropriate DNA tests. For example, if one of the parents of a black horse is double cream (cremello or perlino—see p. 20), then the horse in question must be smoky black. It can also help to study the offspring of the particular horse mated with horses of colors not connected to Cream. If a questionable “black” horse mated with a bay or red produces a buckskin or palomino foal, then the horse must be smoky black. Similar logic would apply if this “black” horse produces a double cream dilute (cremello or perlino) foal.
Smoky black foals are born looking similar to regular black—ashy, sometimes with silvery nuances (Photo 20). Also at a young age they frequently have broad darker bands, which run from the spine parallel to the ribs. The eyes are dark blue and the ears are frequently light inside with black edges. Young smoky black horses can for some period of time acquire dark brown shade. Smoky black horses that have a noticeable dark coffee shade are frequently seen in the Akhal-Teke breed, but this color is also encountered in other breeds carrying the Cream Dilution in their gene pool.
Sponenberg (2009) also mentions a very rare color he refers to as smoky seal brown. This color is most commonly encountered in Morgans and Quarter Horses, although in principle it can be encountered in any breed where the Cream Dilution gene is present. Smoky seal brown horses are visually not different from faded black. Their bodies are almost black but with the expressed red nuances around the muzzle and eyes that are characteristic for seal brown color (see p. 12). The legs as a rule are black. So far the only registry using appropriate names for genetically seal brown horses that are also carriers of dilution genes is the International Champagne Horse Registry (www.ichregistry.com). In almost all other registries, such horses are recorded as brown, dark bay, or black.
Palomino
Palominos are horses with chestnut base color, carrying one Cream Dilution allele. They appear bright pale yellow with white mane and tail (Photo 21). The skin is dark gray, although it can be somewhat brighter than the skin in chestnut horses, and the hooves are pigmented. Palomino eyes are typically brown color and only rarely hazel or amber. Eyelashes are yellow or light red.
In palominos the hair has a light red color with the characteristic cream tone, but the determination of shades requires practice. Dark palominos have saturated honey-red color and can be mistaken for chestnuts with flaxen manes and tails. Light palominos are characterized by a sandy colored body, and the mane and tail are practically always white (Photo 22). Sometimes a palomino can be so light that you mistake him for a cremello, but the main difference is the pigmented skin (see p. 20).
There is a special version of light palominos with sooty countershading. Such horses show a significant admixture of dark brown hair concentrated along the spine and extending downward to the sides. Bright, contrasting, yellow dapples and admixture of dark hair in the mane and the tail are frequently present (Photo 23). From a distance, some of these horses appear dirty yellow. This shade is so unique that in Australia it has its own name: lemonsilla. In other places it is common to designate such horses simply as dark palominos. The extremely rare countershading against the light background is expressed so strongly that such horses look practically completely dark brown, and the mane and tail have a significant admixture of brown and dark yellow hair, or they can be almost completely dark brown. This horse can be erroneously labeled “brown,” and a precise color identification is, in such cases, possible only through DNA tests (or less reliably by pedigree analysis). It should be noted that many palomino horses noticeably change color tone according to the season.
Palomino foals are usually born very light cream or almost white-colored, sometimes with pink skin, which becomes darker in the course of time.
Palomino color is commonly found in the Quarter Horse, Akhal-Teke, Lusitano, Kinsky, and Byelorussian Harness Horse, but rarely in the Thoroughbred, among others. In spite of wide belief, this color is not characteristic for heavy draft horses of European and Russian origin; those registered as palomino are usually, in reality, light chestnuts.
Double Cream Dilution
Horses homozygous for the Cream Dilution gene (double cream) are characterized by light-beige color, varying from pale cream or almost white to saturated yellow (Photo 24). The skin is pink and eyelashes yellow or reddish. The eyes are most often blue, although you can also find golden, green, and greenish-blue with amber specks. In old literature on the subject, this color was not differentiated from light palomino (see p. 19).
In the past double cream diluted color was considered the manifestation of albinism, but this is incorrect. Albinism assumes the absence of any pigment in the hair and skin. White marks on the nose and legs are clearly visible in double cream diluted horses, consistent with the presence of pigment. The mane and tail could be the same color as the body, but it can also be brighter (white), or darker. When present, dapples on these horses have a light coffee color. The intensity of the color can be of an average shade, or light or dark.
Regardless of their base color, double cream horses all have the same name in the Russian language: “Isabell.” However, there are distinctive terms used in the United States and elsewhere, depending on the base colors: cremello (chestnut base), perlino (bay base), and smoky cream (black base). Barbara Kostelnik (2008) uses brown cream for homozygous cream combined with the seal brown base. In reality, all these terms are names based on genotypes. In the United States the opinion exists that it is possible to make a conclusion about the genotype of a horse from the shade of the color. It is believed that in cremello horses, the mane and tail can be white, pale cream, or reddish; in perlino the mane and tail are light brown or ashy, as well as the lower part of the legs; and in smoky cream there is a light ashy tone of the body, mane, and tail. However, studies have not revealed a precise correlation between these nuances of hair color and the genotype of double cream horses.
Foals are born very light, almost white, with pink skin and light blue eyes. Sometimes, when grown a little more, the foal’s coat can have a light golden tinge. Double cream horses are vulnerable to the sun and frequently suffer from burns on the nose, and sometimes also from skin cancer. Their eyes are sensitive to the bright sunlight. Long sun exposure can cause their skin to become spotty, as they develop reddish pigmented areas (so-called “pumpkin color”), and sometimes can even become gray, especially around the eyes. Because of the sensitivity to sun, this color was actively selected against by breeders in different parts of the world, Australia or Turkmenistan, for example.
Double cream dilute colors are relatively rare, and as might be expected are found in breeds in which other variants of Cream Dilution occur (palomino, buckskin, smoky black). Examples include the Lusitano, American Saddlebred, Tennessee Walker, Icelandic Horse, Miniature Horse, Paso Fino,
