Will he be Bay or Black? - Max Updates

Max is now 2 weeks old and while I thought he was bay when he was born now I’m not so sure that is what he will end up. A couple of people have said they think he will end up black. So I figured I’d post and see what those more experienced than I think. I will likely end up color testing him later before I register him to make sure I get his color right. His dam is black and a Friesian, so likely (EE). His sire is a dark bay Arab, color tested (Aa, EE). Here are pictures, let me know if other shots would be helpful. Thanks for playing guess the color!

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Bay

Light muzzle is saying bay to me!

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I think he’s going to be Seal brown.

I’m terrible at genetics/colors so my guess is purely speculation.

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Bay. The light muzzle and the brown tones in his coat point to bay. Black foals are usually more with more of a mousey gray/silver tone to their coats.

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Agree with everyone saying bay. He looks too red to be anything else. Just to satisfy my curiosity, could you share dry newborn pictures if you have them?

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Thanks everyone! I was thinking he was going to be a dark bay. Here are newborn, mostly dry pictures unfortunately the light isn’t the best.

And here is about 12 hours old

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He is so very beautiful! Just absolutely gorgeous. You’re very lucky!!

Thanks! I absolutely adore him! I was hoping this cross would work well but so far he’s exceeded my expectations.

Did you breed him for yourself as your own mount? If so, what discipline is your dream-goal with him?
And…in that case, what physical attributes were you looking to get with his breeding (sire and dam) that would give him an appropriate conformation for it.

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If I wasn’t convinced before, I would be now. He definitely has a bay muzzle in those pictures. :smiley: A black baby would not have that. He’s adorable at either age. I hope you keep us updated as he grows up.

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Yup, I bred him myself for my next main riding horse. I like to raise my own and then keep them for life. I play in low level eventing for fun but most of my riding ends up being trail riding and playing with family. I grew up with Arabs and absolutely love them, but my older gelding who I bred as well and is now 25 came out 14.2 hds on a tall day with long feet and a more refined build than I was hoping for. He’s been an amazing partner and I was sad to retire him last summer. I’d like to get something in in 15-15.2 hds range and with more body/bone. I’ve always been fascinated by the Friesian breed and so ended up with a weanling filly, Lyra, a number of years ago. She definitely has more bone and body and has been a blast but she’s lacking endurance and the Arab athleticism. She’s great because she’s one I can put anyone on to ride, she’s big enough to handle them and her default speed is stop. The Arab stallion to Friesian mare cross is done in Europe to add athleticism back in for combined driving. So it seemed like a fun experiment and since I’m looking more for another member of the family rather than a serious competition horse the risks were fairly low. What I’m seeing now is a lot of balance and athletic and spunk with a lot of the Arab brain. He also looks like he got bone from his mom so he shouldn’t be a delicate flower.

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Thanks! A bay works for me and is what I thought I had. Thanks for confirming that! I’m happy to keep sharing pictures until everyone is sick of seeing him. :wink:

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I don’t think anyone gets sick of watching foals grow up. :wink:

Here’s a couple videos and a picture from Wednesday.

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Gorgeous! Anyone who tells you he’s black needs their eyes checked! :rofl: :laughing:

I’m not seeing much Friesian in him though. It looks like you’ve got enough of both breeds.

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fresian shoulder lay-back and arab profile. and he grabbed the most beautiful legs and coupling from someone…i guess daddy.

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Definitely bay. My tobiano was born smoky black in color and stayed black.

He’s definitely bay, as everyone said. It’s not possible say what shade he’ll end up, but MOST of the time, when they’re born that dark, they end up on the darker end of the spectrum of shades, and for him, I would wager he’s going to trend towards that dark seal brown, as opposed to “red bay”. Just HOW dark remains to be seen

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Thanks! I’m going to guess that he’ll end up on the darker end of the bay scale like his sire. He’s also very different in color than my older gelding who is a lighter wild red bay, hence some of the confusion.

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