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Roan Black Biography & Facts

Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane, and tail—are mostly solid-colored. Horses with roan coats have white hairs evenly intermingled throughout any other color. The head, legs, mane, and tail have fewer scattered white hairs or none at all. The roan pattern is dominantly inherited, and is found in many horse breeds. While the specific mutation responsible for roan has not been exactly identified, a DNA test can determine zygosity for roan in several breeds. True roan is always present at birth, though it may be hard to see until after the foal coat sheds out. The coat may lighten or darken from winter to summer, but unlike the gray coat color, which also begins with intermixed white and colored hairs, roans do not become progressively lighter in color as they age. The silvering effect of mixed white and colored hairs can create coats that look bluish or pinkish. Identification Horses with the roan pattern have an even mixture of white and colored hairs in the coat. These interspersed white hairs are more scattered or absent on the horse's head, mane, tail, and lower legs. The unaffected color on the legs often forms a sharp, inverted "V" above the knee and hock, not seen in other roan-like coat patterns. The nonwhite background coat may be any color, as determined by unrelated genetic factors. Often, the background coat color is used in combination with the word "roan" to describe the shade of a roan horse's coat, such as bay roan or gold champagne roan, but colloquial terms also are used for some colors. The most common terms for various roan colors are: Blue roan is loosely applied to any roan with a dark underlying coat that gives it a bluish cast. In the strictest sense, though, "blue roan" is a common synonym for a roan with a black background coat. Red roan used to include both chestnut and bay roans. In 1999, the American Paint Horse Association changed its coat color descriptions; roans with a chestnut background coat are registered "red roan", while "bay roan" is its own category. The American Quarter Horse Association followed suit in 2003. Previously, the term strawberry roan described the pinkish color of a light chestnut or sorrel roan. While less common, the term lilac roan may be applied to a dark chestnut roan, and honey roan to palominos or the lightest sorrels. Bay roan replaced red roan as the term for a roan with a bay background coat. Some roan horses have more white hair than others, and even individual horses may look lighter or darker based on the season, and their coats may vary from year to year. While roan is always present at birth, the soft first coat of newborn foals may not show the white hairs well. Some roan horses get darker with age. Generally, roans appear to have more white hair when they have their short summer coats and darker when they have their winter coats. These peculiar tendencies of roans led to the Icelandic word for roan, which translates as "always changing color." Roans have other unusual characteristics. If the skin is damaged by even a very minor scrape, cut, or brand, the coat grows back in solid-colored without any white hairs. These regions of solid-colored coat are called "corn spots" or "corn marks", and can appear even without the horse having had a visible injury. Another trait is reverse dappling; many horses develop rings of hair that appear slightly different-colored, called dapples, which often indicate good health. Usually dapples are darker than the surrounding coat, but on a roan, the dapples are lighter. Terminology In the most general sense, the word "roan" refers to any animal with a mixture of white and colored hairs in the coat. Recent research into equine coat color genetics indicates that "true roan" or "classic roan" is distinct from several similar patterns that are collectively called "roaning". In studies of the white patterning genotypes of laboratory mice, no fewer than four produced roaning or flecking. Therefore, the existence of other types of roaning conditions not covered by those mentioned here is possible and likely. The patterns identified as "roaning" have particular qualities that can be used to tell them apart from true roan. Roan mimics Gray vs. roan Roans are sometimes mistaken for grays. However, grays lighten with age, while roans do not. Gray is one of the most common coat colors found in horses, and is found in almost all breeds. The defining characteristic of the gray coat is that it becomes progressively lighter over time. Gray foals may be born any color, and there may be no indication of the future gray coat at birth. Mature grays may retain none of their original coat color, and have a "white" coat, while the color of the skin and eyes is unchanged. The first white hairs are usually seen around the muzzle and eyes. As a gray may go from entirely colored to entirely white over the course of its life, the process of "graying out" can, at times, closely resemble roan. Thoroughbred and Arabian Horses registered as "roan" are often gray, especially chestnuts turning gray. Unlike grays, roans do not develop more white hair with age, and without white markings, roans retain colored heads. Dun vs. roan Blue dun or grullo (also grulla, mouse dun) coloring is created by the dun gene acting on a black base coat, and is a coat color with a bluish cast and darker points. Unlike blue roans, grullos are solid color and appear bluish due to low amounts of pigment in each hair, not interspersed white hairs. Like other dun coat colors, grullos have dark or black primitive markings, always including a stripe down the back. Rabicano vs. roan One pattern of roaning is rabicano, also called white ticking. While true roans have an even intermixture of white hairs throughout the body, except the extremities, the white hairs of a rabicano are densest around the base of the tail and the flank. Rabicano roaning frequently forms rings of white hair around the base of the tail, and in extensively roaned rabicanos, the white hairs may converge to form vertical stripes over the ribcage. Rabicano is found in many breeds, and may account for some "roan" Arabians. Sabino vs. roan Roaning is also associated with some of the sabino white spotting patterns. Many patterns in many breeds are called "sabino", and these patterns usually feature irregular, rough-edged patches of white that originate from the lower legs, face, and ventral midline. The borders of these white patches can be heavily roaned, and some sabinos can be mistaken for roans. The roaning of sabinos originates in a white patch, and the roaning is uneven. Varnish roan vs. roan The leopard complex colors, characteristic of the Appaloosa breed, have several manifestations that feature mixtures of white and colored hairs. A varnis.... Discover the Roan Black popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Roan Black books.