How to Identify the Dun Color in a Horse
Horses come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Identifying the different colors can be fun as well as rewarding. This article will help you recognize the dun color in a horse.
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Instructions
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Identify the traits. The first and most important thing to look for in a dun horse is the dorsal stripe. All duns will have a darker pigmented stripe that runs from the base of their neck, at the withers, to the base of their tail, and very often carries all the way down to the root of the tail itself.
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Check out their legs. The second most important defining characteristic is the "cobweb" or "zebra" pattern of the darker shade on the legs. The legs will have dark pigment from the hoof up towards the belly, and at the top of this dark pigment you will see a pattern shaped like stripes or cobwebs that reach out and into the base coat color. It is a very striking and unique look.
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Understand genetics. The dun dilution gene acts a bit like the cream gene in that it dilutes pigments to various extents, but it acts very differently on different bases. Dun will dilute red pigment slightly to a pale/creamy red color. Black will become the rare grulla color. Bay will become the "yellow dun". Chestnut will be a red dun.
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Understand how genetics work. The dun gene can act in conjunction with other coat patterns, such as palominos, buckskins and creams, to name a few. But the most important feature, the dorsal stripe, will always be present and evident, all the way down to the skin level.
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Learn that the dun gene is a leftover from the "primitive" ancestor of the horse, as some of the most ancient of equine breeds, such as the Tarpan and Przylewaski horse, which only came in dun shades. The Norwegian Fjord is a modern breed of horse that only comes in the dun coat pattern, and is considered to be a throwback to the old genetics.
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