| 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 (primitive)
markings, such as dorsal stripe, leg barring, wither stripe,
face or chest webbing, etc. |
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Photo Copyright
vs. Current Owner of Horse
On these pages, photo copyright credits
are listed with each photo. However, the photo copyright owner
may not be the current owner of that horse, as it may have
been sold, or someone else took the photo of that horse and
contributed it to DCS for use here.
Please visit the Verified
Dun Morgans page for more up-to-date listing of the current
owner of any particular dun dilute Morgan shown on these web
pages. We will try to keep the current ownership of dun dilute
Morgans as up-to-date as possible on that page. If you see
any incorrect owner listings, please do not hesitate to bring
it to our attention. To email updated ownership info, click
here.
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GRULLA SHADES
~ BLACK BASE COAT
On an adult grulla, the dun dilution gene acts
to lighten the black base coat to that of a mouse, dove, or
slate color. The points; mane, tail, stockings, are left basically
unaffected, although the mane and tail often have frosting
closely matching the body color. The most striking characteristic
of the grulla color is that the head is usually darker than
the rest of the body.
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 or
charcoal, then the foal is probably a grulla, but it could
be a very dark seal brown dun.
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~ FOAL-TO-ADULT
EXAMPLE ~
GRULLA
Example pics of a grulla from foal to adult,
and in various seasonal coats.
Storm Quest ~ grulla Morgan gelding
(Images are full sized)
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GRULLA FOAL
MARKINGS
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Click this image to enlarge
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Click this image to enlarge
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Click this image to enlarge
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All three photos are ~ Amberfield's
Up In Smoke (Morgan) - Copyright Amberfields
Morgans
Left: Black dorsal stripe,
dark/black masking on nose just above nostrils, leg barring
visible on inside of right hind leg, and "leg patches"
on the front of the forearms of both front legs.
Center: Dark/black dorsal.
Newborn dun dorsals are generally quite thin, but this colt
has quite a wide dorsal. Wither bar also visible.
Right: Leg bars visible
on inside hind leg. Many newborn dun foals do not show leg barring
for several months, but some are born with visible leg bars
like this colt.
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Click this image to enlarge
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Click this image to enlarge
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Left:
Bar Non Glory (Morgan)
- Copyright Bar
Non Morgans
Dark/black dorsal, and a lot of dun dilute frosting matching
the body coloring at the tail head.
Center:
River Jordan (Morgan)
- Copyright Daymark Farm
Dark/black dorsal, and dun dilute frosting matching the body
coloring at the tail head along with some typical newborn foal
"white" hair in the tail.
Right:
1/2 Morgan foal (Morgan)
- Courtesy Mirabella Farms
Dark, charcoal colored wither and neck barring on a grulla foal.
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Left:
Tocara Jericho Blue
(Morgan) - Copyright Tocara
Farm Morgans
"Zippers" on the backs of the fetlock of grulla foal.
Center:
AlpineMist Black Pearl
(Morgan) - Copyright AlpineMist
Morgans
Cobwebbing, or concentric rings, on the forehead of a grulla
filly. Charcoal colored masking on the bridge of the nose is
shown here as well.
Right:
Amberfield's Up In Smoke
(Morgan) - Copyright
Amberfields
Morgans
Cobwebbing, or concentric rings, on the forehead of a grulla
colt. Charcoal colored masking on the bridge of the nose is
shown here as well.
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GRULLA ADULT
SHADES
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Click this image to enlarge
Stormwashed
(Morgan stallion)
Photo by Laura Behning
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Right >
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This young stallion is a very
dark grulla. Some might think he is black, but
upon closer inspection, his coat does have a
very dark slate coloring, and although not the
best angle to see it clearly in his adult photo,
his dorsal stripe is definitely much darker
than his body shade.
As can be seen in his foal photo
(above in Grulla Foal Shades section), he
was born a typical grulla foal color.
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Click this image to enlarge
Amberfields StarsNStripes
(Morgan stallion)
Copyright Lazy
S Morgans
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"Jackson"
(Paint/Percheron gelding)
Copyright Valverde
Morgans
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Jackson is very obviously grulla in summer coat. However,
in winter coat, his body shade can sometimes look very
pale dun or dunskin! But his face is still grulla colored.
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Click this image to enlarge
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Click this image to enlarge
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HCTF Moonlight Mist
(Morgan mare)
Copyright - photographer, Tami Johnson
Owned by Stone Pine Farm |
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GRULLA ADULT
MARKINGS
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All photos above are ~ Storm Quest
(Morgan gelding) - owned by Jackie Wyandt
Left:
The leg bars are black or near black, wrapping from the outside
of the leg around the back sides of the front legs.
Center:
Leg bars on the hind legs are often more visible on the insides
of the legs.
Right:
Ventral stripe ~ similar to the dorsal stripe, but appearing
on the belly of some dun dilute horses. Ventral stripes can
be quite wide, as shown here.
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Click this image to enlarge
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Click this image to enlarge
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All photos above are ~ Storm Quest
(Morgan gelding) - owned by Jackie Wyandt
Left:
Black dorsal, and a lot of dun dilute frosting
matching the body coloring at the tail head. Also visible ~
dun dilute mane frosting, and light ear tips.
Center:
Cobwebbing on the forehead. Also known as concentric rings.
Right:
Light ear tips, which is only seen on dun dilute colored horses.
Not all dun dilutes will have light ear tips, though.
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Left:
Amberfield's Indigo Skye
(Morgan) - Copyright Indigo
Morgans
"Zippers" on the backs of the fetlocks of dun dilute
colored horses is a common sight. When clipped, the light line
running up the back of the fetlock will be very crisp.
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Left:
Amberfields StarsNStripes
(Morgan) - Copyright Lazy
S Morgans
Although dapples are not a dun trait, and most dun dilutes do
not show much, if any dappling, some do show it at times. Click
to enlarge the above image to see the faint dappling on this
medium shade grulla stallion.
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