Buckskin

For other meanings of buckskin, see Buckskin (Disambiguation)

Buckskin New Forest pony

Buckskin is a hair coat color of horses; referring to a color that resembles certain shades of tanned deerskin. Similar colors in some breeds of dogs are also called buckskin. The horse has a tan or gold colored coat with black points (mane, tail, and lower legs). Buckskin occurs as a result of the cream dilution gene acting on a bay horse. Therefore, a buckskin has the Extension, or "black base coat" (E) gene, the agouti (A) gene (see bay for more on the agouti gene), which restricts the black base coat to the points, and one copy of the cream gene, which lightens the red/brown color of the coat to a tan/gold.

Buckskins should not be confused with dun-colored horses, which have another type of dilution gene, not the cream gene. Duns always have primitive markings (shoulder blade stripes, dorsal stripe, zebra stripes on legs, webbing). Unlike buckskins, who have the creme gene, dun horses have the dun gene. However, it is possible for a horse to carry both dilution genes; these are called "buckskin duns" or sometimes "dunskins." Also, bay horses without any dun gene may have a faint dorsal stripe, which sometimes is darkened in a buckskin without a dun gene being present. Additional primitive striping beyond just a dorsal stripe is a sure sign of the dun gene.

This sooty buckskin exhibits the slightly paler brown eyes common in buckskins

A buckskin horse can occur in any number of different breeds, though at least one parent must be from a breed that carries the dilution gene, and not all breeds do. Since 1963, the American Buckskin Registry Association has been keeping track of horses with this coat color, and although Buckskin is sometimes classified as a color breed, due to its genetic makeup that depends on having one, not two copies of the dilution allele, it cannot ever be a consistently true-breeding trait.

See also

• Equine coat color genetics
• Equine coat color
• Cream gene

References

• "Horse coat color tests" from the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab
• "Introduction to Coat Color Genetics" from Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. Web Site accessed January 12, 2008
• Buckskin Horse Information, Genetics, & Photos

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