PalominoMost palominos are a yellow-golden color with a flaxen mane and tail. Very dark 'chocolate' palominos are the result of palomino on a liver chestnut or the sooty gene darkening the horse. These usually have a dark chocolate body and light flaxen mane and tail, a very striking combination. Some palominos are so red that they appear to be chestnuts-- and the opposite also occurs, where some chestnuts appear palomino. An example of this is the Halflinger, which is always chestnut, but many of them are light enough to be thought of as palominos. This is because they often have the flaxen and/or mealy genes which lighten them up, as well as a naturally light body color. However, there is no cream gene in the Haflinger breed-- otherwise we would see cremellos. Very light palominos, almost an off-white or cream color, are sometimes called 'Isabella' or 'Isabelo' palominos. They are as light as the color gets. A palomino's skin is almost always dark, although they can be born with pink skin. A very few palominos will have pink skin as adults, too. Brown eyes are the most common, but rarely amber, blue, or even green eyes can occur. The mane and tail are usually off-white (flaxen) but can have golden hairs or black hairs. Sometimes the flaxen and the sooty gene appear together and create a 'gray' mane. |