Due to decreasing use over the years, I have decided to disable the forum functionality of the site.

Forums will still be available to view but new posts are no longer allowed.

chestnut variations

colorfan November 11, 2009 February 22, 2011

Forums

I am quite fascinated by agouti and seal and the various shades of bay. As I was reading, again, the thread on seal, I wondered why so much fervor over bay? I mean, if you consider chestnut there are just as many shades and variants in that color scheme as bay. I have read long discourses on the differences between the terms chestnut and sorrel and yet, as far as I know, they test exactly the same. Then you get the bright red-need sunglasses- chestnut, the nearly black [i]liver[i] chestnut, the dull basic brown chestnut, chestnuts with darker manes, with lighter manes and the nearly pink, saw one don't know what other shade to call it, chestnut. Maybe this last question should go in the seal discussion but do seals for sure test differently than [i]regular[i][/i][/i] agouti?

accphotography Wed, 11/11/2009 - 17:21

I personally think we will find out there are chestnut modifiers just like there are black modifiers. We just haven't found them yet.

CMhorses Wed, 11/11/2009 - 18:34

Mushroom! Sorry lol, but I'm guessing you are talking more like flaxen, darker vs lighter chestnuts that are not sooty.

accphotography Wed, 11/11/2009 - 20:18

That actually IS a good example IMO as it is proof that there is a genetic cause for some odd color that tests chestnut. However I was talking about like true livers carrying a "liver modifier" or something and the like.

Maigray Thu, 11/12/2009 - 08:18

I think pheomelanin itself can account for much of the natural variation. I mean, it's a pigment, but it's not a color. It can appear pink, red, yellow, brown, etc. The same for eumelanin - it's not technically black - it's a black or brown pigment - presumeably why some black horses don't really appear that black - and it also ranges into the yellow, grey hues too, depending on how much of it there is.

colorfan Thu, 11/12/2009 - 19:23

natural variation, makes sense. But it also leads to the next question, are there factors that influence the degree of variation?
In the same way that [i]factor cream[i][/i][/i] dilutes would factor x cause a lighter shade or darker shade?

Umm, I think I may have repeated what acc said.