Bay dun

Appearance

Foals		Bay dun foals have a golden brown coat color and primitive markings. Leg primitives may be harder to see. Foals that also have grey often have intense primitive markings.

Foals

Bay dun foals have a golden brown

coat color and primitive markings.

Leg primitives may be harder to see.

Foals that also have grey often have

intense primitive markings.

Dun on a bay base dilutes the coat to a tan or light golden color. It also causes primitive markings. Points and primitive markings are black. Frosting may be present.		Adults

Dun on a bay base dilutes the coat to a tan or

light golden color. It also causes primitive

markings. Points and primitive markings are

black. Frosting may be present.

Adults

Mimics

Some shades of bay dun can look similar to buckskin. However, the dun dilution also causes primitive markings, which are not present on buckskin horses.

	Buckskin

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The dun dorsal stripe goes through the tail, while nd1 dorsal stripes don’t.
Dun is more likely to cause striping at the back of the ears than nd1.
Foals with dun tend to have a darker lower face mask, while nd1 foals have a darker forehead.

Genetics

Bay dun is the result of a bay base diluted by one of two copies of dun. The dun (D) dilution is an allele of the TBX3 gene.

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Bay dun:
Bay (E/_ A/_) + D/_

Dun is dominant, so horses could carry nd1 or nd2 (located on the same gene) without it being noticeable, but still pass it on. D/nd1 horses possibly tend to be lighter than D/nd2 horses.

Read more:
Black | Chestnut dun | Black dun

Back to Dun

Articles

An, T.; Dugarjaviin, M.; Han, H. Expression and Analysis of TBX3 Gene in the Skin from Three Locations on Dun Mongolian Bider Horse; Genes (2024); dOI: 0.3390/genes15121589
Cieslak J, Brooks SA, Wodas L, Mantaj W, Borowska A, Sliwowska JH, Ziarniak K, Mackowski M.; Genetic Background of the Polish Primitive Horse (Konik) Coat Color Variation-New Insight into Dun Dilution Phenotypic Effect; Journal of Heredity Hered. (2021); Doi: 10.1093/jhered/esab034
Imsland, F., McGowan, K., Rubin, C. J., Henegar, C., Sundstrom, E., Berglund, J., Schwochow, D., Gustafson, U., Imsland, P., Lindblad-Toh, K., Lindgren, G., Mikko, S., Millon, L., Wade, C., Schubert, M., Orlando, L., Penedo, M. C., Barsh, G. S., & Andersson, L.; Regulatory mutations in TBX3 disrupt asymmetric hair pigmentation that underlies Dun camouflage color in horses; Nature Genetics (2015); Doi: 10.1038/ng.3475
Masuda M. Tsunoda J., Nomura H., Kimura N., Altangerel G., Namkhai B., Dolj U., Yokohama Y.; New Primitive Marking (Bider) in Mongolian Native Horse and Equus przewalskii; Journal of Equine Science (2007); Doi: 10.1294/jes.18.145