Horse Colours

Horses come in all different shapes, sizes and colours, from black to white and lots of colours in between, the colour of a horses coat can vary greatly, you can even get multi coloured horses. See below some examples of different coloured horses

Coloured Horses - Horse can come in a black and white (piebald) brown and white (skewbald) or brown, black and white (tri-coloured). You can also get blue and white horses and red and white. Coloured horses are usually more traditional cold blooded horse types such as cobs and other heavy horses. But we have got some coloured warmblood horses, pictured is a coloured showjumping stallion named Fernando who is a warmblood sport horse, sired by Kannan out of out of mare sired by Kannan who was the first coloured stallion to be approved with the KWPN stud book in Holland. THere are very, very few coloured thoroughbred horses in the world.

Grey Horses - Grey is many people`s favourite coloured horse, some of these famous grey horses include the great Milton who was the first horse to win over a million pounds in the show jumping arena. Another famous grey is the great steeple chaser Desert Orchid who won among other races the Irish grand national and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Obviously a major down size of a grey coloured horse is they can be a knightmare to keep clean and show all the stains when they are going to a show or event, so make sure you have a good supply of shampoo if you are looking at buying a grey horse.

Black Horses - Another colour favourite is black coloured horses, especially with films such as Black Beauty that many horse lovers grew up loving. Often people mistake very dark bay horses as black but there is a specific difference between these two colours.

Some breeds of horses such as Friesian`s have a high percentage of black horses, The Spanish riding school are also famed for there grey Andalusian stallions, but they also have one black Andalusian stallion.

Chestnut Horses - Chestnut coloured horses are basiclly a red / ginger coloured coat, chestnut is one of the most common colours and can vary greatly from the bright chestnut to a more brown coloured liver chestnut. Chestnut mare`s have a reputation of being stroppy and moody but in reality i think this is more an stereotype than actual fact.

Chestnut horses include olympic gold medal winner Jus de Pomme, Grand prix jumping stallion Goldfever and`race horse L'Escargot winner of the grand national, beating the great red rum.

Bay Horses - Bay is probably the most common colour of horse and dominates most equestrian sports, bay is basically brown, but the colour can range from bright bay through to dark bay (which is nearly black). often bay horses will have a small amount of white on them, often on the face and legs.

Famous bay horses include grand national legend Red Rum, Olympic showjumper Its Otto and dressage great Valegro.

Dun Horses - Dun Horses are gray/gold or tan coloured horses giving a sandy colour coat, usually dun horses have black mane`s and tails.

Dun horses are very rare in the sports of showjumping / dressage and eventing but are pretty common as reigning horses.

Palomino Horses - Palomino horses have a gold creme coloured coat and white mane and tail. Palomino horses are pretty rare and often stand out in the crowed especially when competing in equetrian sports. Palomino horses have featured heavily in films and TV, famous Palomino horses include Mr Ed the talking horse and Trigger ridden by cowboy Roy Rodgers.