Quarter Horse Colors

The colors of American Quarter Horses, so named because of their ability to outrun other horses in a quarter mile or less, depict the animals genetic makeup. As of 2006, there are 17 accepted colors of the Quarter Horse breed for newly registered foals. The colors are sorrel, chestnut, bay, black, brown, gray, dun, red dun, grullo, buckskin, palomino, red roan, blue roan, cremellos, perlino, smoky cream and champagne.

Predominant Colors

Predominant colors are those that happen most often according to the quarter horses registered. These colors are sorrel and chestnut. Sorrel is a American term, as many horse people in the UK and other countries are not familiar with it. Sorrel is thought to be a lighter shade of chestnut, which is a reddish brown color.

Dun and Grullo Colors

The dun, red dun and grullo colors are all considered separate. This is a point of contention with some quarter horse owners because all three colors are caused by the dun gene. Red dun are those horses with a sorrel or chestnut base coat. Grullo is used for horses with a black base coat. Dun is said of horses with all other base coat colors, such as bay or brown.

Buckskins and Palominos

A single copy of the cream gene results in Buckskins and Palominos. Buckskins usually have a gray or brown base coats, but there have been a number of smoky black coated horses registered as Buckskins. Palominos have a sorrel base.

Cremellos, Perlino, Smoky Cream

These colored horses are referred to as double dilutes and until very recently were not able to be registered even if both parents were 100 percent purebred. Cremellos have a cream colored coat with pinkish skin that glows under the coat and white mane and tail. Perlino quarter horses are often called pseudo-albino, or cream horses, and can be a very pale off-white to a light coffee color. Smoky Cream horses are much like Perlino's with a black base and creamy toffee colored coat.

Red and Blue Roan

Roans are shaded of gray and often hard to distinguish from the real grey. They do not eventually turn white as some people think, but do change in shades of grey throughout their life.