Sorrel is a reddish
coat color in a
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
lacking any black. It is a term that is usually synonymous with
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
The unrelat ...
and one of the most common coat colors in horses. Some regions and
breed registries distinguish it from chestnut, defining sorrel as a light, coppery shade, and chestnut as a browner shade. However, in terms of
equine coat color genetics
Equine coat color genetics determine a horse's coat color. Many colors are possible, but all variations are produced by changes in only a few genes. The "base" colors of the horse are determined by the Extension locus, which in recessive form (e ...
there is no known difference between sorrel and chestnut. Solid reddish-brown color is a base color of horses, caused by the recessive ''e''
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
.
[Red Factor]
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The term "sorrel" probably comes from the color of the flower spike of the sorrel
Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' ...
herb.
In practice, in England and the east coast of the United States, all of these shades are usually called chestnut. The term "sorrel" is more common in the western United States. The practical difference is most often not in color, but in usage: horses ridden in the Western tradition are more often referred to as sorrel and horses ridden in the English tradition are chestnut. The American Quarter Horse Association, which uses both terms, describes a sorrel as a type of copper-red chestnut, but allows that chestnut is also a correct term. Many organizations simply avoid the issue and choose one of the two terms to denote all reddish or brown colorations that are not bay.
Sorrel or chestnut coloration can be distinguished from dun
A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse.
Etymology
The term comes from Irish language, Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), ...
, which results from different genetics, by the dun's slightly washed-out yellowish color, with a darker mane and tail than the rest of its coat, a narrow, dark line down the middle of the back, and possibly areas of darker color on the shoulder and forelegs.
The base shade of a sorrel is similar to that of a blood bay, but sorrel can always be distinguished from bay by the bay's black "points"—a black mane, tail and lower legs.
Light-colored sorrels, sometimes called "blond
Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...
sorrels," especially if they have flaxen manes and tails, may resemble a palomino
Palomino is a genetic color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane and tail; the degree of whiteness can vary from bright white to yellow. Genetically, the palomino color is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called t ...
. However, true palomino coloration is the result of a horse's being heterozygous
Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism.
Mo ...
for the cream dilution gene.
Some definitions list sorrel as a self color, used to describe only horses whose mane, tail, and legs are the same color as the rest of the coat, with the exception of white markings. Other definitions are broader and include reddish-brown horses with flaxen manes and tails.
References
"Horse coat color tests"
from the UC Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
Veterinary Genetics Lab
"Introduction to Coat Color Genetics"
from Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. Web Site accessed January 12, 2008
External links
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{{Equine coat colors
Horse coat colors