Back in 1975 I decided to improve my painting of wargames horses by researching the subject. I wanted to produce a guide to which horse colors went with which armies. Since then, I've learned what a complex and confusing subject horse color can be. Regrettably I've concluded such a guide is impractical and you'll have to do your own research; however I'd like to explain away some of the confusion on horse color and then to provide some sources for your own research. Most of the confusion is because definitions of horse color aren't universal. Most people in this, country with a horse have "their breed" and tend to use that breed's definitions. Since there is no ultimate authority on equine matters in this country, the various breed organizations have no reason to agree on definitions. So some standard colors you've heard about aren't so "standard" afterall. For instance, an Arabian horse with brown points (the mane and the tail) and a reddish brown body is a chestnut to every Arabian owner; however these same colors would make a quarter horse a sorrel instead. Another point of disagreement is some breeds have unique colors which others don't have or recognize. For example, you can see a brown or a black chestnut Morgan horse and go crazy trying to identify these colors if your sole color guide is put out by the American Quarter Horse Association. Go overseas and the definitions problem gets ever, worse. In the United Kingdom, horse people use the terms "piebald" and "skewbald" to describe if a pinto is brown and white or black and white. As a typical American, I can never remember which term goes with which color. Instead my pinto and paint friends are concerned about how the white hair appears to "run" over the darker body coat either up from the belly or down from the back. So if I start talking about a black and white overo or a buckskin and white tobiano to pinto owners from the UK, then they'll be totally lost. Other differences exist for other countries. If this isn't confusing enough, consider the historical dimension of the problem: our nation's outlook towards horse colors changed dramatically since about 1900. Before this century Americans had conformation or performance type breeds like the thoroughbred, quarter horse, Missouri Fox Trotter, Tennessee Walking Horse, Arabian, Standardbred, Saddlebred, and others. Somewhere around the turn of the century, the fashion developed for a more solid-colored and less exotic-looking horse like bays, sorrels, chestnuts, and blacks with limited white markings. One organization promoting this new look- was the US Army remount service since they didn't want palomino, appaloosa or pinto-colored Morgans for use as troop horses in cavalry or horse artillery regiments. Gradually the conformation breed associations moved to exclude loud-colored horses like pintos; consequently they developed rules against "high-white" markings (i.e. any white stocking which risen above the knee). Next registries and associations started up in this country or these colored horses. The result is a network of color and conformation breeds that is very confusing to the unwary. For instance, all registered "paints" are pintos" but not all registered "pintos" can be registered as "paints". Seemingly everytime a short and easy way of describing the difference occurs to me, either a pinto or a paint owner comes up with another exception. Classic examples of horse color changing due to fashion are the Busch Clydesdales. The company wanted light bay horses with four white socks and had no objection to a lot of white on the bodies. Unfortunately there weren't many horses looking like that in Scotland. Scottish breeders got quite a laugh about those daft tastes until one sold a mare with the colors Busch wanted. After the word got out on how much she sold for, quite a few Clydesdale breeding programs changed dramatically to provide the foals the Busch people wanted. So if you photograph any horse in your regional Busch hitch for painting destriers (i.e. medieval war horses), don't paint all the horses the same, since Clydesdales didn't all look like this during the middle ages. By the way you might look at other draft horse breeds like shires, belgians, percherons, frisians and others for guidance when painting your destrier castings. Important Points You have two very important points to remember. In the first place what the horse world today calls colored horseo have always existed. It's just today the horse world makes a special point about them. For instance, I've seen a screen from 17th Century Japan with a very accurate likeness of my appaloosa on it. Secondly, if you use any breed as a guide to color you REALLY MUST LEARN ITS RULES ABOUT COLOR. You need to understand previous attitudes towards horse color to get full benefit from any research. In the US army the most elaborate use of color was for a cavalry regimental commander to assign each lettered troop a specific horse color, this was called "coloring a regiment". This practice was used before the civil war as a practice by really showy regiments. After the war George Custer's 7th followed this practice and was noticed by many observers during the Little Big Horn campaign of 1876, however that leaves the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th cavalry regiments in the same campaign. What color rules applied to these regiments? A Captain Teddy Egan's troop was photographed riding all greys but what did the others do? They may have used some other way of showing off using horse color, but observers probably missed it if they were looking only for coloring. Finally some horse color terminology is extremely confusing to outsiders. Greys are a prime example. At birth a grey horse has a dark body coat and warm black-colored skin particularly on the muzzle. Over the years, the coat gradually turns white with age, while the skin remains black. By the way, if you ever need a grey/white horse and want some shading use the Darol Dickinson plate of the seven year old grey horse in Ben K. Green's THE COLOR OF HORSES. Even though a horse is completely white, technically it's still a grey. That's to prevent confusing a grey horse with albinos which are white at birth and have pink skin. In truth horse people even get confused themselves over what's what. For instance, have you ever puzzled over drawings showing equine facial markings like stripes, ships, and stars? If so, you aren't alone. Descriptions of these markings are required for registering horses and the registries are so tired of trying to figure out what people mean that they've generally gone over to photographs instead. At this stage presumably your aren't totally confused by all this background. Also hopefully you're not reading this as the paint dries on a favorite brush as you mutter WHEN IS HE EVER GOING TO GET SPECIFIC? Now I'd like to tell you how to find out your own answers and provide a color frequency table if you get stuck. Basically, you need to read any primary sources you can find on your own choice of an army. What you're locking for and hopefully will find are off-hand descriptions of horse colors. An excellent example is Napoleon I's "those terrible grey horses" as the Royal Scots Greys helped trample D 'Erlon's division at Waterloo. Another source is art. Francis Haines' APPALOOSA: THE SPOTTED HORSE IN HISTORY AND ART describes where and when appaloosas have turned up. Tang dynasty China, ancient Persia, Louis XIV of France and Danish infantry colonels fighting against Prussia in 1866 are examples of people associated with appaloosas. Incidentally the Danish appaloosas were what appaloosa owners call loud peacock-spotted leopards (white body covered with large shaded dark spots). Regrettably nobody else has done similar research for other colors and breeds; however you can come up with some striking horses in your armies if you will not just associate pintos, palominos, appaloosas, grullas, and buckskins with the American West. If there are no accounts available for your army, then I recommend a mixture based on frequency of occurrence: MOST FREQUENT: bays, sorrels/chestnuts, blacks, greys/ whites LEAST FREQUENT: colored - pintos, appaloosas, buckskins, grullas, etc. This can be modified if you know or suspect a certain color was dominant at the time. Finally, if you are a "wargames only approximate reality" kind of gamer then you can choose what colors you wish. For instance, I like overo Pintos for horse archer mounts because they look flashy and wild. Once you've decided what colors to use that raises the question of how to paint the individual horses. If you've decided on perhaps all bays for a unit, you'll want to find some different samples so you won't paint blood bay several dozen times. That means getting some samples. The Dickinson plates already mentioned are a nice starting point because he shows the range of shades within each color like bay and sorrel. Unfortunately the late Dr. Ben Green had a very low opinion of appaloosas and pintos so they aren't illustrated. So look in your library or perhaps at the local tack or feed store for guides to these breeds. The individual breed magazines are a good source particularly in December, January and February when the stallion issues are printed. These feature elaborate color photos. Since stallions markings and colors don't differ from those of mares and geldings, these issues are very helpful. If you want to contact a specific breed association either check the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ASSOCIATIONS or WESTERN HORSEMAN magazine's annual all-breeds issue every October. You might also take your notebook and camera to a horse show or special exhibition like a parade of stallions. Posters or leaflets at tack and feed stores are how to find these. You might also look in local newspapers and your state/regional/local horse publication like CALIFORNIA HORSE REVIEW. If you want to see a variety of horses look for an open horse show. However, if you're after something exotic like palominos only look for a registered palomino show. Your best bet for a show is some type of really large show like one held in conjunction with your state fair. At the show you'll see things that are very difficult to describe like the glass eye of the pinto horse or the rose grey color of Arabians. You might also see some specific classes for Arabians. At the show most horse people, unless pressed for time or in the throes of a crisis, are usually delighted to have their horses photographed and will often times answer questions for you. A knowledgeable horse owner can be a real asset for you since there are so many small points about horse color which can kill the accuracy of a figure unless you know them. For example, after cleaning, polishing, and unpolishing hooves before shows I know about what is and is not accurate hoof coloring. Unfortunately, no book on horses explains how you'll never have naturally pure black hooves on any leg that has white stockings. Instead these hooves will either be horn color or a combination of vertical off-black and horn stripes. I learned this after holding a young stallion who wasn't that trilled about getting his feet done before a show. Also a hardened horse show veteran can advise you on the use of horse colors to either complement or contrast the rider's uniform. If you want to do horses that have been out in the field, You might do a reconnaissance looking for horses out in pastures during the summer. Look for animals that have little if any shelter to stand under and look like they haven't been groomed too often. A sun-bleached, dusty horse can be a pretty good approximation of an animal that's been out in the field with little care. The same animals in early spring with a dull rough coat also show you what an infrequently-cared for horse will look like at the start of a campaign season. There are plenty of references from various armies confirming the standard of grooming was never high while on campaign. As you've seen horse colors and markings can be a very complex subject. Hopefully this article has helped you through the thicket of horse color and you will notice the results with the next horses you paint. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Kathy Dooner of Figalilly Farms, Patti Verlinden of Verlin Arabians and Sherry Couzens of Barrister Farms plus the Arabian mares and colt, Morgan Mares and stallions, pinto appaloosa, and palomino who most kindly provided technical advice and guidance for this article. Back to MWAN # 41 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1989 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com