Foal Shades of Dun

The descriptions below are to aid in identifying the particular shade of a dun horse. All duns, regardless of their shade, must have a coat color that has been diluted, having yellow-tan or dove/slate tones, and have some combination of dun factor (primitive) markings, such as dorsal stripe, leg barring, wither stripe, and face or chest webbing.

Dun dilute foals do not necessarily have all of their dun markings at birth, with the exception of a dun dorsal stripe.

BLACK BASE COAT

Grulla/Grullo

Grulla foals can be born a light dove-gray, or buff with dove tones. The best way to determine if a buff colored foal is bay dun or grulla is to look at the dorsal and at any masking on the face. If the dorsal is definitely black, and the masking on the nose is darker dove-gray, then the foal is almost certainly a grulla.

Smoky Grulla

Smoky grulla foals may be born lighter shade than a grulla, though this needs to be studied further. They will still be born with black dorsal, and may have darker dove-gray masking on their nose.

Smokestorm, shown below as a foal and adult, tested by UC Davis to have a cream gene. His sire is a grulla and his dam is a dark palomino.

Smoky Cream Grulla

A Smoky Cream Grulla, is a horse with a black base coat, two cream dilute genes, and one or two dun dilute genes. Smoky cream grulla foals should still have a fairly visible dun dorsal, as seen in the example below. Even with the two cream genes acting to dilute the coat color to a near-white shade, the dun gene seems to prevent the full dilution effect of the two cream dilute genes on the dorsal stripe.

Bleu Smokendun, a Quarter Horse stallion, shown below as a fairly newborn foal. Note how clearly visible the dorsal stripe is even with two cream dilute genes.

BAY BASE COAT

Bay Dun (Zebra or Peanut Butter Dun)

Bay dun foals will be born a light peachy-buff to caramel-red shade. Clear coated bay dun foals will have a red dorsal stripe, which will become black as the dorsal enters and runs through the tail. If the foal also has some counter shading at birth, the dorsal may be some shade of brown-red. They often have red face masking on their nose just above the nostrils. They may or may not show evidence of leg barring at birth . . . many do not.

BROWN BASE COAT

Brown Dun

Brown dun foals will look very similar to bay dun foals at birth. However, brown dun foals may be born with more advanced leg points. Bay dun foals generally do not have discernable leg points at birth, but brown duns quite often will.

Dunskin

Dunskin foals will look similar to bay duns at birth, but will generally be a paler, creamier shade, with light peachy-red tones. Their manes and tails will often not have as much black hair as a bay dun. Some breeders have documented paler/blue eyes at birth (they darken quickly), which is not seen in bay dun foals. This is surely due to the addition of the cream gene.

RED DUN
Chestnut Base Coat

Red dun foal birth shades can range, but generally are a yellow-red to peachy-red shade, with a red dorsal. Their manes are often shockingly red in contrast to their body coloring, due to the dorsal running through the mane. Their tails will often be the primarily the same yellow-red or peachy-red as their bodies, except down the center of the tail where the dorsal runs through the tail, making the hairs distinctly red. Some red dun foals will ofen show a pink tone in photos, depending on the lighting and camera flash.

DUNALINO
Chestnut Base Coat

Dunalino foals will generally be very pale at birth. They will generally appear very similar to a palomino, usually with white mane and tail, except where the dorsal runs through them it will be red. As newborns, the mane may or may not show red hairs. This may not occur until a later, depending upon the individual foal. Their body coloring will generally be a pale peachy-yellow.

Dunalinos with a very dark chestnut base shade (liver or black chestnut) will generally be darker in overall shade, especially once they shed their foal coats, and their dun markings generally will be chocolatey or liver in color due to the very dark base color. Those with paler chestnut base colors will tend to mature with red markings, though some markings will be difficult to see due to the very pale base shade.