21 Southwest Highways & Fields
Buckskins Versus Duns
By Bridget & Susan Decker
Buckskin and dun are both colors of horses that look very similar from a
distance because both have a light tan color with dark points. But buckskin and
dun coloring come from two different genes, so they are different. You can
distinguish them up close most of the time.
All horses have a combination of red and/or black genes, so all horse
colors some from black genes, red genes, or a combination of black and red.
The other genes that lighten black and red create many color combinations.
Buckskin is a light tanned deerhide color on a black base. A black base is
a horse that has black color genes and therefore has a black mane and tail and
usually black lower legs. But a black gene horse can have other genes as well
that lighten the color of the coat, like the cream gene that creates a buckskin
from a black.
Dun is a color from a gene that lightens either a
black, a chestnut, or a bay. A black comes from
black genes, a chestnut comes from red genes,
and a bay is a black with an agouti gene. Dun hor-
ses are distinctive by having a narrow, dark dorsal
stripe that goes from the withers to the tail. It also
has horizontal zebra striping above the knee or
hock, and black lower legs. A classic dun is a bay
horse with the dun gene and it has a body color
that ranges from sandy yellow to reddish-brown,
with dark mane and tail and often a darker face.
A chestnut with the dun gene is called a red dun,
and it has a lighter reddish coat and points that
are a darker red than the body. It has no black
points because it comes from a chestnut that has no black genes.
Photo of a dun's dorsal stripe
-Arsdelicata