Dun Horses and Ponies

Dun horses and ponies may be any base or modified colour. They carry the dunning dilution gene which mutes their coat but leaves primitive markings in the undiluted coat colour. 

Welcome to Dun Horses And Ponies, the section of the website for anyone who loves these strikingly marked equine dilutes.

On these pages you'll find

• tips on feeding
• advice for showing duns
• the different shades of dun
• the different dun factor markings
• the differences between true dun factors and false dun factors

Dun horses....what are they?

To recap on the genetics side of things: 

Dun is a simple dominant; if carried it will always modify the external appearance or phenotype of the carrier.

Dun modifies both black and red pigment even when there are other dilutions present.

There is no visible difference between a homozygous and a heterozygous individual.

Duns are found in a number of horse and pony breeds. It is an ancient colouring. It is also a very intense colour. Duns very rarely exhibit ticking or dappling.

The colours....

Duns come in all shades due to being a simple dominant modifier. The most common are:

• Red Dun - dun on chestnut
• Yellow Dun - dun on bay
• Muddy Dun - dun on brown
• Grulla - dun on black
• Palomino dun or dunalino - dun and cream on chestnut
• Buckskin dun or dunskin - dun and cream on bay
• Smoky brown or brown buckskin dun - dun and cream on brown
• Smoky grulla - dun and cream on black

Then there are the more unusual ones like

• bay silver dun (dun and silver on bay)
• brown silver dun (dun and silver on brown)
• silver grulla (dun and silver on black)
• champagne amber dun (dun and champagne on bay)
• champagne sable dun (dun and champagne on brown)
• champagne classic dun (dun and champagne on black)
• champagne gold dun (dun and champagne on chestnut)

And so on.......

The dun factors....

Dun factors or primitive markings can be quite misleading because all genetic duns have them but not all horses with primitive markings are genetic duns!

• dorsal stripe
• shoulder stripe/shadow
• leg barring and/or mottling
• ear tips, ear edging and cream hair in ears
• face mask
• cobwebbing
• mane and tail frosting

A lot of horses carry primitive markings and in some cases it isn't until you see them alongside a true dun that you realise there is a huge difference. On some dun horses the factors are really 'in your face'.

As mentioned elsewhere, my favourite is probably the grulla with its slate grey coat and inky black factors.

Dorsal stripes

In all cases note that the dorsal is the undiluted colour of the underlying coat.

Black based dorsal stripes: 

Grulla or black dun

Bay or yellow dun

Brown or muddy dun

Smoky grulla

Buckskin dun

Brown buckskin dun

Silver dun

Classic cream dun

Buckskin silver dun

Red based dorsal stripes

Palomino dun (dunalino)

Red or chestnut dun

Dorsal barbs

Excellent example of barbs along a dorsal stripe, shoulder stripes and shadowing over the withers on a grulla.

Shoulder stripes

 

Also note the cream coloured hair in the ears and the black rimming around the ear edge above.

Leg barring and mottling

 Pretty awesome leg barring!!

Again, notice how the colour of the bars changes according to the colour of the base coat underneath. 

Mottling on palomino dun

Mottling on red dun

 Ear edging and ear tips 

You can clearly see the black edge around the outside of the dun's ears.

 

 

Frosting

 

Buckskins also exhibit mane and tail frosting which in the past has been mistaken for a dun factor. However, there are clear differences between their frosting and that on a dun.

On a buckskin the frosting is usually cream coloured, even on golden buckskins. Ever noticed how many bay horses have red hair at the top of their tail (guard hairs) and along the base of their mane....? On a
buckskin those hairs are diluted to cream because cream dilutes red pigment.


On a dun the frosting is the same colour as the coat. This can clearly be seen in these photos above. The frosting on the mane is the same colour as the coat and so are the guard hairs at the top of the tail.

Face mask

Dark mask in the undiluted base colour on the front of the face

 

Cobwebbing and cream hair in ears

Cobwebbing is the fine lines radiating out from the centre on the forehead of a dun.  Also note the cream hair in the ears.

Countershading or false dun factors....

Above:
Whilst they're pretty noticeable markings under ordinary circumstances, these are definitely not true dun factors. Where true dun factors are the undiluted colour of the underlying coat, these markings look more like black or dark hairs overlying the coat.
For instance, the top couple of leg bars here should be red or tan because the coat underneath has changed colour from black to red. The dorsal stripe should be a darker shade of the underlying coat but it's also more black than red.

There is a false dorsal visible on this buckskin.

False dorsal and ear edging on newborn foal.