Stable Minds - For Equine Enthusiasts

Dorsal Stripe: This is a required dun factor marking. If a horse lacks this, then it is not a dun or grullo. The dorsal stripe is a dark stripe running from the poll to the dock of the tail. It shows up along the horse's spine. Though it may have barbs extending off of it, it will have CLEAN and CRISP edges, and won't "gradually fade into the body color of the horse." It will also be an "intense" color, and does not fade away in the summer. It should not be a mixture of body hair color and dark hair color, but should instead be uniformly dark throughout.	Dorsal stripes on red dun (left) and grullo (right)
Ear Tips: The ear tips are generally the same color as the dorsal strips. Sometimes the entire ear will be rimmed or edged, but the actual ear tip is when the top half or third is dark. All duns/grullos that I have seen have had ear tips.	Ear tips on a sooty dun or graying grullo
Leg Barring/Zebra Stripes: These are horizontal tiger stripes that appear on the legs, usually around the knees and hocks. These are not always present on dun-factored horses.	Dunalino leg bars (left), grullo (right)
Shoulder Stripe & Shadow: A stripe or a shadow coming off the dorsal and crossing down the withers toward the ground. Some are thin, some have multiple stripes, and some are just shadows.	If you have a good example picture, please e-mail it to us for consideration on this spot! We'd especially like an example on a mature horse, rather than a foal.
Face Mask: Duns usually have a darker mask on the front of the face.	If you have a good example picture, please e-mail it to us for consideration on this spot! We'd especially like an example on a mature horse, rather than a foal.
Mottling: Some duns will show mottling on the arm and shoulder or gaskin and stifle. Mottling appears as dark splotches about the size of peas when viewed up close, or like tiny reverse dapples.	Mottling (above the leg bars) on a grullo
Neck Shadow:	Neck striping on a palomino dun (dunalino). This palomino's sire produced all dun and grulla foals, plus this dunalino and a gray that was born grullo...out of over 200 foals.
Frosting:	Silver grullo with frosting. Zebs Blue Revenue, Idaho.
Cobwebbing: Stripes that resemble a spider's web	If you have a good example picture, please e-mail it to us for consideration on this spot!
Dark Points: The legs will usually be darker than the body...similar to the mane/tail and dorsal stripe.	Dark points on a red dun: note that the legs, mane, tail, and face are not diluted (lightened) by the dun dilution gene.
Barbs off the dorsal stripe: Some dorsals will have barbs that extend perpendicular to the stripe and head down the rib cage. These are not required, and vary in length.	If you have a good example picture, please e-mail it to us for consideration on this spot! We'd especially like an example on a mature horse, rather than a foal.
Guard Hairs: Some duns will have white hairs at the base of the tail, called "guard" hairs. They appear to be a little different than the "skunk tail" that is associated with some roans' white tail hairs.	Note the light hairs on the sides of the tail at the top.

REFERENCES: This information was pulled out of Toni's brain in 2003, but her brain gained its information over the course of many years from internet sites, discussions with color genetics gurus, and from Equine Color Genetics, by Dr. P. Sponenberg, Ph D. Special thanks to Linda Coehoorn, Kris Enloe, IBHA, and Sharon Batteatte for helping Toni understand the genetics of the dun and grullo colors over the years.