And the mystery thickens! Ok not that mysterious, but Oxbow’s color is definitely interesting. He’s registered as a bay, but looks to have some roaning going on. So just what color is he?
Well, it’s easier to start with what color he isn’t.
He is not Grey. I know his maternal grandsire is grey, but grey is one of those genes that can’t skip a generation. Thanks to a recently posted video of his dam (here) and all the pictures of his sire floating around the internet - we can rest assured that neither of his parents had the grey gene to give to Oxbow.
He is not a true roan. True roan (like on a Quarter Horse) is NOT found in thoroughbreds. Ok, true roan is in thoroughbreds, but only in a small handfull of descendants of the chimeric stallion Catch A Bird - so a very freaky mutation that’s not happening here.
—-
What does that leave us with?
Plain ol’ bay. It’s totally possible he’s just a weird shade of bay.
Rabicano. See Lucky Chappy(IRE) for a good example of rabicano roaning. Not likely here since Oxbow doesn’t have a ‘skunk tail’ but possible.
Sabino. Sabino can cause straight up pinto markings and patches, roaning, face white, leg white, or any and all of the above.
—-
No way to know for sure without some sort of genetic testing - but my money is on some sort of Sabino :)
