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Eye colour in liver chestnuts?

I was at the stables where I used to live taking pics of my old landlady's new warmblood, he is liver chestnut and he has quite light goldeny brown eyes. Is this normal for a liver chestnut? I'll look through my pics and see if any show it. You can sort of see it here [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v343/DogRose/oliie2.jpg[/img]

Adell Wed, 06/24/2009 - 18:27

I have a liver chestnut Morgan stallion that I will check out this weekend... but I don't think his eyes are any different then any other horses... hmmm but we will see :)

accphotography Wed, 06/24/2009 - 20:33

That particular eye color seems to pop up on pretty much any coat color. I feel like I see it more on black than anything else, but that may be merely coincidence. I don't think anyone knows why it happens.

rabbitsfizz Thu, 06/25/2009 - 03:05

He isn't really dark enough for me to term "Liver", but I just see slightly lighter eyes, nothing unusual, perhaps the photo just doe snot show what you are saying???

Dogrose Thu, 06/25/2009 - 05:20

Photos don't really show it, its more noticeable in real life, all the other horses there have very dark eyes, with this one you can clearly see his pupil. So its just something any horse can get? Like some dogs have golden coloured eyes even if they are black? I like it, I like anything that shows contrast in animal colours. He is a Hanoverian.

Body shot.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v343/…]

Closeup of eye.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v343/…]

rabbitsfizz Fri, 06/26/2009 - 03:31

That's a lovely eye shot!
I agree it is slightly lighter than average, but I do not think it is light enough to be unusual....I also do not think he is dark enough to call Liver, but there you go...differnt people see different things...

Sara Fri, 06/26/2009 - 10:50

near liver? False liver? :lol:

I'd call it liver. It's enough darker than the average chestnut to need another adjective in there to describe it... if you were missing him and told everyone you were looking for a chestnut they'd have a totally different color in mind.

I have no opinion on the eye color though, which I realize was the real question here!

accphotography Fri, 06/26/2009 - 11:05

Is he wet in that photo? (He looks it, at least the mane and tail does.) If so he probably looks alot lighter dry. Even Lacy looks liver when wet (actually, truthfully she looks classic chocolate palomino :rofl ).

Jordie0587 Sat, 06/27/2009 - 02:12

Agreed, I don't think I'd call him liver. I reserve that for horses that look black.... but aren't.

He's definitely pretty, I love light colored eyes on horses. He looks like a sweetie.

Krickette Sat, 06/27/2009 - 18:21

[quote="Dogrose"]Photos don't really show it, its more noticeable in real life, all the other horses there have very dark eyes, [b]with this one you can clearly see his pupil.[/b] So its just something any horse can get? Like some dogs have golden coloured eyes even if they are black? I like it, I like anything that shows contrast in animal colours. He is a Hanoverian.[/quote]
Jazz is the only horse I've ever had with an eye so dark you could barely make out the pupil.

Dogrose Sat, 06/27/2009 - 20:42

Thanks for the replies! The pics don't really show how light his eyes are, compared to the other horses there, they are quite noticable in real life.
He wasn't wet. He doesn't have much of a reddish tint in his coat, its sort of a dark yellowy chestnut. He is very pretty but dim, last time I went he had just accidently rolled under a barbed wire fence, scratched his thin skin all down one side and gone wandering on a very busy city road!

slaneyrose Wed, 07/15/2009 - 19:23

This is an interesting subject, and prompted me to ask this question......how many of you can visually tell the difference between a liver chestnut and a smokey black? I ask because my mare looked liver chestnut to my inexperienced eye when I got her but most on here at the time thought her to be a smokey black. :love

rabbitsfizz Thu, 07/16/2009 - 03:04

Smoky Blacks can look like ordinary Blacks, no problem.
I can tell if a horse [i]looks[/i] Smoky Black rather than Chestnut as easily as I can tell if a horse looks Silver Bay instead of Chestnut.
That does not mean that just because a horse looks Smoky Black that it is, any more than a horse that looks Cremello is not Perlino, the only real way to know is to test.