Have you found a certain preference in your corner of the world for a particular color? Tell me what you think!
This is just my opinion, but it seems that in the US homozygous grays and grays in general are not as popular, as well as "most" chestnuts with a lot of white and/or roaning.

My ideal mare would be chestnut with a very thin blaze and four white feet. I am not a fan of the color grey--but many of my favorite horses are greys. Also like bays when they are dark or red. In general I prefer a horse with some white markings, so long as the face isn't bald. Helps them stand out in a crowd. There was one Saddlebred that showed around my hometown who had a diamond in the middle of his head--3 perfect sides and the fourth looked like somone had "smudged" the "paint" of his star when it was still wet. He was easy to pick out in a large class. I remember being sent out to catch a horse I had only ridden once or twice. In the field were three 15 hand hunter type bay horses in green blankets with no facial markings and no socks. I think it was sheer luck I brought back the right horse.

There is a striking difference in the percentages of grey, bay and chestnut between the US and Europe. Bays are most common in the US and greys most common in Europe.

In my opinion (no proof) the way horses are most commonly judged influences the color preference that one sees around the world.

Most horses shown in Europe are shown in halter where type is key. Grey is preferred in Europe because it is easier to see type in a grey horse than in horses of darker colors. This gives the grey an advantage.

Most horses shown in the US are shown under saddle. Colored legs with white markings are easier to see in performance classes as well as being striking with costumes. Type is less critical in a performance class. This acconts for the preference for bays in the US.

not fair, you need a box for NO color preference.

I really love all the colours (never have seen a spotted arab though!!) but the majority I have here are grey. It seems most of my favouirite arabs are grey too.

If by spotted you mean the pinto markings, look up WA Outrageous a daughter of Khartoon Klassic (sp?) a son of Khemosabi. She is a pure Arabian with pinto markings and is actually double registered as a pinto. Check out this link.
http://www.khartoonkhlassic.com/WA%20Outrageous.htm
Its very interesting!
She pretty too! Well Goodnight. Its way too late for me to be up :-)
Laura H M

I wouldn't have said the mare in the link is pinto (or piebald as we call them) - I would have just said that she is bay with a white face and stockings??? I know it is strange though because you don't often see bays with these markings, usually chestnut.
I voted for grey but I have always believed that a good horse is never a bad colour. I don't mind white markings but I have lots of friends who always go on about 'too much white' - I think you should be able to see past it.
I agree with Dick, in Europe you see so many more greys but in the last few years there have been as many chestnuts, probably due to the popularity of stallions such as Kubinec, Padrons Psyche and Monogramm.
I like bays to be mahoganny or dark - have seen a lot of this through Psytadels youngstock and FS Bengali.
My favourite bay is De Reema, she is a gorgeous rich bay colour with a perfect little strip down the centre of her face
I have seen some pictures of spotty arabs but they are really grey I think, Fax, Kulak (uk one) and a photo of a mare in europe called Kamilla or similar I think???
I hadn't seen a roan but I think I saw one at Rochdale last weekend, she was entered in the catalouge as chestnut/grey.

Hello Michelle,

I too love De Reema,
although how your post is worded , non UK readers may think she is sired by Bengali, as you know,
she is in fact by his full brother , Bay Dream.

I cannot vote because a am a non member, but my favourite is rich bay, or grey without the green stains <_<

Regards Pat

Hello, I made a little edit to the post..... I'm no A+ when it comes to grammar and punctuation!

I thought that I would add that I love liver chestnut colour, especially with a flaxen mane (I keep going on about that zzzzz) !
I have a liver but she looks like she is finally going grey - she won't be coming out of the barn for a few years! Plllleeassse stay liver!!!!!

Agrees with Fran! I have no color preference... though I used to say I hated grey, and that just cuz I couldn't keep them clean!! But whatever color comes with beautiful type on an Arabian that gives me the shivers... thats my favorite color of the day

Julia

hoi
I never liked grey , I'm into bay, but I must confess that I don't really mind the color anymore ....A good horse has no color.......
greetings saskia.

Are you sure you looked at the right pics? There are a lot of pics on the site her dad who does have only a white face and high white socks. but I think she has a lot more white than that. The site says she is registered as a pinto as well as pure arabian. I posted the pics below to make sure you looked at the right ones.







The article on the site on Sabinos explains the markings. I've always been attracted to the unusual! I agree I think you should be able to see past the "too much white" I think shes beautiful, though I can see how in the desert too much pink skin might not be a good idea, but as a kid I always dreamed of a pinto arabian, never thought I'd ever actually see one though!

michelle -

the horse at the top of that page is her sire, khartoon klassic. he is solid bay with a bald face and high white on his legs. if you look at the pictures below those, you will see that Outrageous has much more white than just a bald face and stockings! she is what we in the USA call Overo - solid color with white patches. I think she also has at least one blue eye too.

she is so beautiful!

if you want to see more spotted arabs, check out the Pandemonium Pintos website, and HAAP website. I heard of a Straight Egyptian colt that was wildly marked, i think he was gelded and wasnt registered - what a shame!!! I would love to breed spotted SE's.

Rachael

Had the pleasure of seeing the above mare at the AHANC Show and she is a show stopper. Absolutely spectacular and with gorgeous blue eyes. If we could breed the solid colored ones with as good conformation and beauty, we'd be way ahead of the game. This mare is truly splendid.

Ahhh ok I see what you mean by spotted then. I hear spotted and automatically think of a leopard appy!!!

The mare above is certainly very interestingly marked!! Im sure she does well in the ring being that eye catching.

You are right, I just glanced at the link without scrolling down, saw the sire! doh!

Wonder where her markings come from???

I have no true preference, although a rich fire bay does seem to catch my attention first. My least favorite color is a brown or black bay. When breeding, I avoid homozygous grays, as they often are found with skin pigment problems, and that tendency appears to carry on. If I used one for breeding, it would only be if the mare were colored. Deep black skin is of more importance to me than hair color.

I have absolutely no colour preferences, I have seen spectacular Arabians of all colours. The type, conformation and movement captures my attention, however an ethereal white grey is very enduring. Liz Salmon

hi
i love a nice dark bay the most, folowed by chestnut with flaxen mane and tail. grey is ok but they all show to much dust ! in our area it tends to turn them pinkish.
here in australia we have a pure bred chestnut mare that is covered in little white spots. her name is arabian park vonetta. there is a picture of her on
shalzara park arabians web site. ( i hope they don't mind me mentioning their web site)
she is a lovely mare and her markings are amazing.

I would have voted for "no preference" as well, but my new girl , San Emira Farazdac, is currently an unusual color. She will probably grey out, but it is sure fun now. The foundation mare of my program was registered as roan (Nafa'a/Inshass).


Samantha

I saw the spotty mare - I have seen a few of them, very pretty!
Would she be registered as chestnut or roan?

If you go to the mares website you will see a link on the left about Sabinos. The markings are from the Sabino gene. Khemosabi apparently carrried the gene and so do some crabbet horses. It is different from Overo. Read the link What is a Sabino to learn about this color pattern gene. I read somewhere else that Mesoud (or was it Masoud?) probably carried the Gene.
Laura H. M.

Hmmm, don't think it is Mesaoud alone. Instead think you find 3 horses working together as a unit that also appear on the other side of the pedigree...thus doubled in the resulting foal and with a good deal more color: The horses who seem to work so well together are Mesaoud, Mahruss II both straight Egyptian via Ali Pasha Sherif and then Rodania.

I've seen several grey arabians with white spots. My own Spanish/Egyptian/English gelding was born liver chestnut with over 50 Appaloosa type white spots. You can still see a few obvious spots now, as a grey 7 year old. At the Rochdale show Madrid Ibn Maximo was dark grey with some large, white spots. Prince Al Morafic (Ibn Morafic x AK Samiha) and his son (ex Ramses Ciba) were both chestnut roans.

Just thought I would bring this forward to see how people feel about colour today...it has been a few years since this topic started and those who are newer to the breed may like something different today. I will say my favorite colour would have to be grey & always has been, but at the moment I don't own a grey one

I have three equal favourites, followed by a 4th.

Dark Liver chestnut pref. with a light mane and tail
Black Bay or Dark Mahogany Bay
Black

and my fourth would be
Alabaster white, not a grey they dosent' go white, or one that flecks as they get older. I really don't like the grey's as they go grey unless they are born black, it's just not nice to photograph!!

Some of my favourite colours in photos, I don't have a photo of a Mahogany Bay, maybe someone else might be able to post a photo?

Thanks
Menna

I think a lot of people think of a gray Arabian when you say SE arabians.

I vote for spottted, too.
Although I don't like too much face white and blue eyes but I love chestnuts, bays and blacks with high white stockings, nice blaze and some spotts. It makes them special.
Like this eagleridgearabains filly Cinderella

Hi,

I saw Cinderella in person when I visited Eagleridge, I would have taken her home in a heartbeat!! The photo of her is lovely, but dosen't show how increadibly sweet this lovely filly is. It's such a shame she's gone overseas.

Menna

Hi,
I thought that since you haven't seen a spotted Arabian, I would put one on here for you.... This is one that was shown at the Australian Championships in 2006. Appaloosa isn't really a color that I like, but this one isn't too bad....

As far as color preference goes, my favourite would be bay, then liver chestnut, then grey. The only way I like chestnut is if it has a good dose of white.... doesn't have to be a lot, but solid chestnuts is a no-no for me! I love any color with a lot of white..... It's just so much more interesting to look at.
But, if the conformation is there, any color will give me goosebumps!
Sandy

GREY and for me best of all is not just grey, but fleabitten grey! To be honest I thought that was what you meant by "spotted".

HI,
OVER THE YEARS I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF VARIATIONS THE FOUR BASIC COLORS YOU LISTED BUT, I HAVE NEVER SEEN A COLOR GRAY ON AN ARABIAN AS STRIKING AS THIS ON THE BEAUTIFUL NK HAFID JAMIL.
Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Robert,
Echo Hill Arabians

Michelle, there are many, many pinto Arabs in the UK. However, because here we only recognise ONE pinto gene as such (tobiano = typical 'gypsy pony' pinto), most people do not realise that they have a pinto Arab. In fact, I would go so far as to say that probably 80% of the Arabs in the UK are pinto:)

Laura - no, sabino *is* part of the overo gene complex. However, it is a different gene from FRAME overo, which is probably what you are thinking of.

Personally, I believe country's colour "preference" is more a result of intense use of certain influential horses. Thus most Crabbets are chestnut or grey thanks to Skowronek, Mesaud and Rodania. Grey predominates in Europe thanks to El Shaklan and the Estopa family. And Bask is responsible for the preponderance of bays in the US.

Personally, I prefer seal bown - but there's nowhere to tick for that!

Keren

Chestnut for me! Four white socks and a blaze. It was my dream horse at the age of 8 and still is!

Just a question about color marking.
My 2 year old stallion is a odd color of chestnut and gray hairs. He's not dappled yet and the colored and gray hairs seem to be 50 50. Though his face and legs are more white with the rest of his body and mane being the 50 50 of gray and brown hairs... what does everyone think graying or possibly roan?
Messaoud is his great grand pa and I believe that roaning can be an expression/characteristic of the sabino gene...somebody correct me if i'm wrong.

Also it seems i've been leaning toward the grays and black (all thats in my little herd).... though to me the most eye catching is a blood bay.

I agree with every bone in my body!

IMO, when you breed for a color, you are missing a HUGE part of the picture. Color makes zero difference to me. Granted, i have my preferences, but i would not go out and purchase a horse (or breed one) based on color. That is how genetic flaws continue to be passed on, and unwanted horses are produced.

Bay would be my color of preferance, but it seems like the chestnuts are taking over at the farm!

I agree Robert! The dark gray with the white mane and tail is very pretty.

My one and only (thus far) SE, Simah was a lovely white-gray with no spotting. When clean he was ethereal with his long mane,snowy whiskers and gently waved tail. I should own an honorary part interest in the company that produces Quick Silver since I bought so much of it when Simah was alive.
I admit to being very horse vain and bathing (and Pantene conditioning ) him BEFORE most of our rides out. I wanted people to stop and stare and ask "Is that horse an Arabian"?, and then invariably say next something to the effect of "But, he's so well behaved"... Quite a few of our valley TB/Warmblood owning folks sure turned their heads when Simah came floating down the country lanes.
I must also admit to how much I did not like way that after a rain or when the snow melted he seemed to find the biggest squishiest place to mud -bathe that he could. I have never seen a horse wallow like that before. When I took him to pasture that had a high clay content he would be orange for a few days, or when the grass first came in so green and lush Simah would suddenly be green (and lush), too.
The non-SE filly ( Bask-bred) that I have left is a cinnamon- brown bay with black points, mane, tail, and legs. She doesn't show the dirt as obviously and I find that with my busy schedule this might not be such a bad thing. I do love the way that when she sheds out you can see her dapples and the nicest shine on her coat. I guess in coloration and conformation she is a pretty ordinary Arabian- but I love her mind and her willingness to please. The goofy horse actually had her head under the hood of an ailing Dodge pick-up today and was thoroughly inspecting the dead engine with two of my 80 year old nieghbor fellows as they tinkered around trying to fix it.

I guess my favorite color of Arabian horse is intelligent, inquisitive, kind and ready to try to do anything that is asked....

This is a really fascinating thread- I did not know that there is so much varation in Arabian coloration, including pinto. How interesting!- and this is why I so love this forum- you guys seem to know it all.... Thanks for the education.

Regards,
Stacey

A good horse is never a bad colour. However, if forced to choose, a deep liver chestnut will always make me look twice, and I think a snow white Arabian always looks magic.

Maybe spotted was just meant to mean "flea bitten grey"?

I love all colors- and Khartoon and Cleo are fantastic! So is Pikhasso (full brother to WA Outrageous aka Cleo). That's really a show-stopper for sure! And imagine if all those pinto and paint crazy people in the USA and Canada would actually start looking at Arabs in a new light b/c of the color... Course I don't vote for breeding for color at all... Conformation, temperment, performance- yes. But not breeding JUST for color. And you can see that http://www.khartoonkhlassic.com/index.html are concerned with more than just color- as those are USING horses too. Wonderful to see!

But if I had to pick, I'm partial to the greys- the dapple, the fleabitten... I just love how they evolve.

Kristen

For me it's anything but gray. I've seen too much gray and I definately stay away from any horse that is homozygous for gray (for breeding purposes)

Any gray horses that produce colors are just fine with me for breeding to.

Other than that, I don't really like the dark brown horses with the light mouse brown around their nose..I don't know what that is called. I prefer any chocolate colored horses to also have a dark nose.

Pigmentation loss weirds me out, I don't like seeing that.

Everything else is interesting to me. I do like white markings and dappling.

The (purple like?) colored chestnuts that I've seen with flaxen mane and tail are just super, I love seeing the pictures of those.

Kathy

Ah, "Burgandy" Chestnut color.. now there is a horse of a different color..what a color .. if you have ever had the pleasure of seeing one..!! I have dreamed of owning a horse of that color all my life. I can remember being in a bus going to church camp when I was about 12, we passed a farm with Arabians and there was a filly that looked right into my soul. I've never seen one like her, since that day. She looked like Burgandy wine!!

Now, my personal favorite is snow white.. (grey gets my vote - I like washing horses), since you can't seem to find the other color very easily.

Georgia

I'd never reject a horse because of it's color!.. unless it's combined with medical issues that compromise its health.

Georgia,
I was just reading your email and thought that I would send you a photo of a filly that a friend of mine bred. She is by Om El Shariekh out of an El Shaklan/Crabbet bred mare. I love her color.
Both of these photo's were taken by the lovely Jenni Ogden of Eagleridge Arabians.
Sandy

I like them all, a good horse is a good horse, but I must agree with the person who said it seems to be easier to see "type" with a grey horse. It's all that black skin showing through that seems to make their heads so sharply defined. I do have a chestnut mare though, that in summer sheds out so you can see the black skin through the hair, and she has a narrow star, strip and snip that help emphasize the features. I have alwasy been a sucker for a really pretty chestnut flaxen!

Since my mare is bay I have a tendency to prefer bay horses.

I always remember reading in "Classic Arabian Horse" by J Forbis the little saying that if you hear of a bay horse falling from a cliff and surviving, you should believe it. They seem to be tough and rugged. My horses are always protective of me. So I am biased, shoot me.

cheers
Karen

Grey being a non-colour and definitely transitional, it'll be interesting to see NK Hafid Jamil as a mature as well as an advancing mature (vetran) individual Will he be a snowy white (per his mane), flea bitten "rosewater" or simply grey. OR due to the transitions, all of the above at different times of his life.

My preference for my first arabian was chestnut with blonde mane and tail female (as illustrated in the Bahrain book). I was selected by a bay/grey colt who eventually at 23 was well and truly flea bitten / flecked Chestnut did come in my second choice, but without the blonding. My third arabian, reserved while in uetro and anticipated to be bay ((both parents were bay) was born chestnut with flaxen mane.

Any colour is a great colour.

Hi diane
Click to view attachment
A recent picture of NK Hafid Jamil courtesy of his owner Dr. Nagel
Your right all the colors and combinations are beautiful and we don't always have a choice in the matter, as you say they pick us.
Robert,
Echo Hill Arabians

If spotted means lots of white markings: I love them

Horses like my Nobless, chestnut with 4 stockings, belly spott, white hairs in mane and tail and a blaze that gives her a look as if she is always smiling.
Very typery and a lot of snort and blow.

Here is another picture of the beautiful Cinderella, picture by Eagleridge Arabians.
Jenny wrote that the new owner plans to show her, hopefully in Europe, too.

Next picture ist Christines (Al Acrisi) Mahabba, still waiting for his papers.

And if I win the lottery I would buy the third: Il Bint Magidaa by Thee Desperado x Bint Bint Magidaa (http://www.ldarabians.com/IlBintMagidaa.html)

As I recall, Beduin tradition favoured the arabian who was the colour of an ant. I haven't been to the Arabian Peninsular so I'm not sure what colour ants are over there, and if they're brownish or reddish you have to wonder whether it was a bay or chestnut, but there you have it.

I like lots of chrome too Anjuli Bai!

We're not the only ones, George Stubbs, my favourite horsey painter, painted this piccie of an arabian over 200 years ago, I still wonder who it was and whether or not its bloodlines still linger, if at all.

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