Colour Question

[Kendra]

At my work, we've got a stallion in for breeding who's colour has me stumped. He's a Quarter Horse, sired by Shining Spark, and he looks like a golden palomino, except he has a LOT of black hairs in his mane and tail. His mane especially looks black from a distance, though up close it is still mixed with some white hairs. The girls at work and I were googling him, and it looks like as a young horse his mane and tail were white, but they sure aren't now! I wasn't able to find a photo of his dam, but his dam's sire is Reminic, who is a bay.

Any ideas?

 

[Candi]

At my work, we've got a stallion in for breeding who's colour has me stumped. He's a Quarter Horse, sired by Shining Spark, and he looks like a golden palomino, except he has a LOT of black hairs in his mane and tail. His mane especially looks black from a distance, though up close it is still mixed with some white hairs. The girls at work and I were googling him, and it looks like as a young horse his mane and tail were white, but they sure aren't now! I wasn't able to find a photo of his dam, but his dam's sire is Reminic, who is a bay.

Any ideas?

Sounds like a sooty palomino. Fairly common through Shining Spark lines. We raised a GSon of Shining Spark and he was a bright buttermilk, but his 1/2 sister was a darker and very sooty palomino. There's also a gelding locally that looks almost buckskin in the winter - but is a bright palomino w/dark grayish mane/tail in the summer. Also Shining Spark bred ironically (GSon I think)...

 

[Minimor]

It is fairly common for some palominos to have black hairs in their manes/tails. There is a rule in the palomino registry regarding what percentage of black hairs are allowed. If you're having one inspected for registration if there is too much black the horse won't get approved. Can't remember what the percentage is--I haven't looked at the application form in years.