Some browns have a brown body with 'mealy' (yellowish) or red soft points, and this is usually called 'brown'. Others are very dark or black, with lighter areas, and these are called seal brown. It is also called 'copper-nosed brown' or 'black and tan' in some areas. Some people group brown in with bay, but it should be considered a separate color.

Zippos Smokin Wunder, AQHA stallion. Owned by LANI GEETING.

Brown is probaby recessive to bay; it is caused by the Agouti gene At on a black horse.

It was thought in the past that seal browns were just black horses with the Pangaré (mealy) gene, but in 2001 when the "a" allele was isolated and researched in France, none of the seal browns tested were "aa"-- showing that seal brown IS caused by an Agouti allele, and not by Pangaré.

 

 

 

 

Cheval, Thoroughbred gelding. Owned by Kim Sobeck. Another seal brown. In Europe, this color is sometimes called "black and tan".

Coco, pony breed unknown. This mare gets very dark in the winter-- almost black- with just a little tan on her flanks, thighs, and muzzle. In the summer, like the photo above, she is a more chocolate brown color.