Smoky black or black carrying cream is a coat color of horses which has the same phenotype as black. Smoky black is produced by the action of a heterozygous (single copy) cream gene on an underlying black coat color.[1] Therefore, smoky black is a member of the cream family of coat color dilutions, and found in horse populations that have other cream-based colors such as palomino, buckskin, perlino, cremello and smoky cream. All smoky blacks must have at least one parent with the cream gene, and a smoky black can only be verified through DNA testing or parentage. Smoky black has been mistaken for faded black, dark bay or brown, grullo or even liver chestnut.[2]
A single copy of the cream gene can have a subtle effect on the colour of an otherwise black horse.[3] However, this cannot be used to positively identify an individual horse as black or smoky black, as too much variation comes from other sources. An individual black horse may well be a lighter shade than an individual smoky black horse, even if the reverse is more common. Other factors that can influence the shade of black and smoky black horses include sun fading and nutrition.
Two copies of the cream gene on a black base coat produce a smoky cream, a cream-colored horse which cannot be visually distinguished from a perlino or cremello, but can be identified through DNA testing.
- ^ "Horse Coat Color", Veterinary Genetics Lab, University of California, Davis. Web Site accessed May 29, 2008
- ^ Sponenberg, D. Phillip; Bellone, Rebecca (2017). Equine Color Genetics (4 ed.). p. 97.
One rare horse color, which is usually missed as being part of the cream-related group, is smoky. Smoky horses are best described as "off-black" and are only included in the discussion of these colors because they have important genetic ties to the cream-related colors. Smoky horses are usually a flat color that is not quite brown [defined on page 48 as bay with black countershading], not quite liver chestnut, and not quite black (Figure 4.28). The points are black, but observers sometimes miss the subtle differences between the point and body colors. Smoky horses are frequently registered as either brown or dark liver chestnut despite the black points. They frequently have hazel eyes. Smoky horses occur rarely, and only in breeds in which palomino and buckskin horses also occur. Because smoky horses are likely to be misregistered as another dark color, they can often produce surprises when buckskin or palomino foals are born. A few horses are smoky with yellow highlights in the flanks, muzzle, and around the eyes. These are essentially light seal brown horses, and can be called smoky seal to distinguish them from ordinary seal brown.
- ^ "Cream". UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Retrieved Sep 11, 2023.