Sooty
Black hairs like soot over the back and shoulders, darker on top.
What does this colour look like?
Dark (black) hairs sprinkled along the topline, making the horse darker on top than below. Gives, e.g., a dirty palomino or a dark buckskin.
- Body
- darker along the topline
- Skin
- dark
- Eyes
- brown
How does this colour arise?
Sooty sprinkles dark hairs over the back, as if soot lay on it.
More about the genetics
Sooty (countershading) is a not fully understood modifier that adds dark hairs, strongest along the topline. No commercial test.
What is this colour often confused with?
- Bay
A bay horse has a brown body with black mane, tail and lower legs.
- Seal brown
Almost black, but with brown shading on the muzzle, flanks and above the eyes.
Discover more
Sources: Sponenberg, D.P. & Bellone, R.R. (Wiley-Blackwell). The source lists this as still to be verified; provisional.