New to the QH breed and completely confused about sorrel, chesnut, roan…we have two red fillies and I need to get their paperwork sent in. How do I know if I have a red roan vs a sorrel or chestnut? Is there a genetic test for roan? Help!
A roan will have white hair interspersed throughout the coat, and a roan parent. The head will be dark, with no or little white hair on the face (not including white facial markings), although there may be some on the cheeks. They look a bit like a horse in the early stages of going grey, but without the lighter head.
If you do not have white hairs interspersed throughout the coat and a roan parent, you do not have a roan.
Roan is in addition to a base color–blue roan is black + roan, red roan is bay + roan, strawberry roan is chestnut/sorrel + roan.
You seem to think roan is another name for a red horse?
Will a roan have white in there tail? Not coming from the base, like a skunk tail, but the insides of the tail?
Lisa
Roan should have base-colored points. Dark head, dark legs, dark mane and tail.
I had one with a skunk tail, but the inside of the tail was black. She was a seal bay roan.
http://pets.webshots.com/album/155541088PlnTkU
My going grey filly has light hair inside her tail, though. Grey and roan are often confused when the horse is young.
Roan CAN be so minimal as to look like sabino or rabicano ticking.
I HAVE seen a Roan without a solid face (that wasn’t due to white marks). It’s not common at all, but having a solid head is not a requirement.
Yes, there is a test.
Titan, what do the parents look like? One HAS to be Roan for this horse to be Roan.
Thanks for the info. I’m not confused about the base color of the babies. I know they are red (e/e) but the chestnut vs sorrel choice, not so sure. The roan question is separate.
The mare is registered sorrel but she has a lot of white ticking and a dense white patch on her hip. The father is a palomino with a “chestnut” mother from 2 “sorrel” parents. What I’ve been told though is the owner can fill out whatever they choose on the foal registration so I’m wondering if someone just omitted the roan part?
I’ll have to get a pic of the baby’s coat, she has a ton of white ticking. So since the parents have no registered ‘roan’ in their bloodlines, I want to test and see. I did not see a roan test on Animal Genetics website, can you tell me who offers it?
Thanks!
Red Roan will look “pink” except for their points + head. They’re really, really distinctive. And hideous, imo. 
It’s hard to mistake a red roan for anything other than a red roan.
White ticking in the coat but not roan can be rabaciano, especially if you’ve got a skunk tail.
The dense white patch is probably a somatic mutation - entirely unrelated to color or pattern, just an “oops” mark.
Can you post a picture of her? White ticking can easily be from rabicano and/or sabino, and wouldn’t be unusual if she has white markings
What I’ve been told though is the owner can fill out whatever they choose on the foal registration so I’m wondering if someone just omitted the roan part?
People are much less likely to say a horse isn’t roan when he is, than to say he is when he isn’t. However, it IS possible the palomino’s owner can’t tell he’s Roan. But neither parent may be Roan and you’re looking at sabino/rabicano
I’ll have to get a pic of the baby’s coat, she has a ton of white ticking. So since the parents have no registered ‘roan’ in their bloodlines, I want to test and see. I did not see a roan test on Animal Genetics website, can you tell me who offers it?
Thanks!
UC Davis offers it.
[QUOTE=littleum;6320382]Red Roan will look “pink” except for their points + head. They’re really, really distinctive.
[/quote]
That’s a very roaned Roan - they aren’t all like that. Some don’t look Roan at all in their Winter coat but are VERY light in their Summer coat. For example, here’s a bay roan in his Winter duds and the same horse in his Summer attire
It’s hard to mistake a red roan for anything other than a red roan.
Not always. See above - a red roan (or black roan) can be as dark and light depending on the season as that bay roan.
Hmmm, will try for a picture tomorrow. She has the white ticking on her head as well. And she has a dense patch on her stifle like the one on the moms hip. Do the QH lines have much rabicano/sabino? I didn’t think they did.
Rabicano and Sabino certainly are quite prevalent in the QH breed, Sabino more noticable.
Who is her sire?
Chestnut and sorrel are basically the same, just western people usually call their chestnut horses sorrel and eastern people just call them chestnut.
But at SOME point in the year, it will look roan…and pink, if it’s a strawberry roan.
The dam in this case sounds like a rabicano or sabino and not a roan. If the sire is not roan, then I would not think the baby is roan.
OP, there are several pics of roan foals here: http://www.grullablue.com/colors/roangenetics.htm
But no, they don’t always have SO much white as to look pink (or blue or whatever LOL). 
Ok, not 
Wow those Misty Blue pictures are so different! Very pretty though.
Simkie - great link - thank you! Any idea how to know if the palomino daddy was a roan? Would you see it expressed?
Absolutely–he would look QUITE light in the body, with a darker head and points. He would also have to have a roan parent. I could perhaps seen one horse being registered the wrong color, but several, over generations? Not very likely. Is there any roan in the pedigree at all?
Here’s one: http://basilia-czar.deviantart.com/art/My-Palomino-Roan-filly-80355848
Yellow Roan of Texas - this is his Summer/light coat
Another pali roan filly who is not nearly as noticable and this appears to be her Summer coat (which would be the lightest). In the ad you can see her younger with her much more obviously roan pali dam
http://www.ranchworldads.com/classified.php?listing=10275
Rabicano
I just recently discovered what this ‘color’ or ‘marking’ is. I had always thought my AQHA mare a was a ‘minimal’ white roan, when this whole time she has been a rabicano!!! Only really roaned around the hip and a small spattering of white inner tail! You learn something new EVERYDAY! Although I still can’t for the life of me figure out why they have her registered color as a dun…
