Buckskin is a colour of horse (sometimes misunderstood as a breed). Buckskins coloring is a hair coat color referring to a color that resembles certain shades of tanned deerskin. Similar colors in some breeds of dogs are also called buckskin. The horse has a tan or gold colored coat with black points (mane, tail, and lower legs). Buckskin occurs as a result of the

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

dilution gene A dilution gene is any one of a number of genes that act to create a lighter coat color in living creatures. There are many examples of such genes: General Diluted coat colors have melanocytes, but vary from darker colors due to the concentration ...

acting on a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

horse. Therefore, a buckskin has the

Extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (proof theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that ...

, or "black base coat" (E) gene, the

agouti gene Agouti-signaling protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ASIP gene. It is responsible for the distribution of melanin pigment in mammals. Agouti interacts with the melanocortin 1 receptor to determine whether the melanocyte (pigment ...

(A) gene (see

for more on the agouti gene), which restricts the

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

base coat to the points, and one copy of the

cream gene The cream gene is responsible for a number of Equine coat color, horse coat colors. Horses that have the cream gene in addition to a base coat color that is chestnut (coat), chestnut will become palomino if they are heterozygous, having one co ...

(CCr), which lightens the red/brown color of the bay coat to a tan/gold. Buckskins should not be confused with

dun Dun most commonly refers to: *Dun gene, which produces a brownish-gray color (dun) in horses and other Equidae * Dun (fortification), an ancient or medieval fort Dun or DUN may also refer to: Places Scotland * Dun, Angus, a civil parish in ...

-colored horses, which have the dun dilution gene, not the cream gene. Duns always have primitive markings (shoulder blade stripes, dorsal stripe, zebra stripes on legs, webbing). However, it is possible for a horse to carry both dilution genes; these are called "buckskin duns" or sometimes "dunskins." Also, bay horses without any dun gene may have a faint dorsal stripe, which sometimes is darkened in a buckskin without a dun gene being present. Additional primitive striping beyond just a dorsal stripe is a sure sign of the dun gene. A buckskin horse can occur in any number of different

breeds A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

. At least one parent must carry the

, and not all breeds do. Since 1963, the American Buckskin Registry Association (ABRA) has been keeping track of horses with this coat color, and although Buckskin is sometimes classified as a

color breed {{no footnotes, date=January 2013 A color breed refers to groupings of horses whose registration is based primarily on their coat color, regardless of the horse's actual horse breed, breed or breed type. Some color breeds only register horses wi ...

, due to its genetic makeup that depends on having one, not two copies of the dilution

allele An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or Locus (genetics), locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through Single-nucleotide polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), ...

, coat color cannot ever be a consistent true-breeding trait.

References

"Horse coat color tests"
from the

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

Veterinary Genetics Lab
"Introduction to Coat Color Genetics"
''from'' Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. Web Site accessed January 12, 2008 {{Equine coat colors Horse coat colors Color breeds

See also

References