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# Silver bay
- URL: https://equinecolors.com/silver-bay/
- Published: 2025-12-15T13:49:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-10T10:49:57.000Z
- Description: Silver ay is a horse coat color caused by the silver dilution on a bay base. The mane and tail have a silvery color.
- Author: Hannelore Roodhooft
- Tags: Colors, Dilutions, #Import 2026-08-12 09:42

## Appearance

| Foals | ![Silver bay foal](https://equinecolors.com/content/images/2025/12/silverbayfoal.png) | Silver bay foals are often very **pale** at birth, with silvery eyelashes, mane and tail. The **hooves** typically have **vertical stripes**. |
| ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| Silver on a **[bay](https://equinecolors.com/bay/) base** dilutes the **mane, tail**and sometimes **feathering, eyelashes** and**facial hair** to a **reddish, silver** or nearly **white** color. The [**points**](https://equinecolors.com/dictionary/#:~:text=champagne%20or%20LP.-,Points,-The%20mane%2C%20tail) are usually **lighter**in color, and may appear brown. The coat is often **dappled**. Silver horses maydevelop **eye problems (MCOA)**. | ![Silver bay](https://equinecolors.com/content/images/2025/12/silverbay-1.png) | Adults |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------ |

### Bay shade variations

| Silverseal brown | ![Silver seal brown](https://equinecolors.com/content/images/2025/12/sealsilver.png) |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |

### Bay variations

| Sootysilver bay | ![](https://equinecolors.com/content/images/2026/01/sootysilver.png) |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |

### Mimics

Silver bay can look similar to (flaxen) chestnuts, especially on foals, since their dark points can take a while to develop fully. Dark/sooty [palominos](https://equinecolors.com/palomino/) can also be confused with silver bay. Dark (seal brown) silver bay horses can look similar to silver black horses.

![CTA Image](https://equinecolors.com/content/images/2025/12/Equinecolors_Icon_MagnifyingGlass-14.png) 

Look at the points of the horse. These should be black/brown in color.

## Genetics

Silver bay is the result of a **bay base** diluted by **one of two copies of silver**. The silver (Z) dilution is an allele of the [**PMEL17**](https://equinecolors.com/pmel17-gene/) gene.

![CTA Image](https://equinecolors.com/content/images/2025/12/Equinecolors_Icon_DNA1-32.png) 

****Silver bay:**  
Bay (E/\_ A/\_) + Z/\_

**Read more:**  
[Bay](https://equinecolors.com/bay/) | [Silver black](https://equinecolors.com/silver-black/)

[Back to Silver](https://equinecolors.com/silver/)

## Articles

1. Andersson L.S., Wilbe M., Viluma A., Cothran G., Ekesten B., Ewart S., Lindgren G.; ***Equine multiple congenital ocular anomalies and silver coat colour result from the pleiotropic effects of mutant PMEL***; PLoS One (2013) Doi: [10.1371/journal.pone.0075639](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0075639&ref=equinecolors.com)
2. Brunberg E., Andersson L., Cothran G., Sandberg K., Mikko S., Lindgren G.; ***A missense mutation in PMEL17 is associated with the Silver coat color in the horse***; BMC Genetics (2006); Doi: [10.1186/1471-2156-7-46](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1471-2156-7-46?ref=equinecolors.com)

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