Gold
is the result of one or two champagne genes acting upon an otherwise red (chestnut/sorrel) horse. This can have several different results, depending
upon which other genes are present. Usually they have a flaxen (white)
mane and tail; sometimes they are born the same beautiful golden-sorrel color all
over, like this one.
Click HERE to see larger version.
The
usual way the Champagne gene affects a red (chestnut/sorrel) based horse is
to create a golden body color with a flaxen, or near-white, mane &
tail. This horse is usually registered as a Palomino, even though the skin
is some shade of pink with freckles, not the normal dark skin of the
Palomino. The term "mottled", under skin color, may allow for
this in the PHBA registry (Palomino Horse Breeders of America.)
Gold sometimes manifests as more of an apricot color with darker apricot
points. This is referred to as "Dark Gold" (see example below.)
Factoid: Nearly the entire American Cream Draft Horse breed is
gold Champagne, which they call "medium cream".
Gold filly Zips SiouxzQ Outlaw had a
mane and tail that matched her "red" body color (see inset at
right) until she matured, when
her body color lightened, and her mane and tail grew in flaxen.
This is very typical for Golds.
See "Cita", just below, for the "other
kind of Gold".
Here is a "Dark Gold" champagne mare. Some Golds, like this one,
have manes & tails that are (and remain) darker than their body
color. JIL
Doccita Gold ("Cita")
Zippo's
Millenium Bug, a Gold mare owned by Ereidi
Farms
The
Gold TWH stud colt, Primed For Cash.
Note the pink, freckled skin under his tail, right. The younger the horse,
usually, the fewer freckles. (Click the thumbnails to see the pictures.)
Ellie Mae, a Gold MFT sired by Danny's
Pride of Princess S. (aka Lobo) out of a dark red chestnut mare, Sal's
Good Sugar Baby (far right). At left, her color as a 10 month
old filly; near right, her color as she matured.
This
is Ellie Mae again, also at 10 mos., in winter coat, in CA. Her
close-up pictures of eye, muzzle and under-tail show clearly that she is a
champagne. Add to this her famous Gold champagne sire,
Lobo, and she
gets registered as Gold champagne.
Lobo's proud owner is Linda Vishino,
Zorro Farms
, St. Louis, MO
There are many more Golds, of course, in our stud book; why not have a look
through it? STUD BOOK main page.
ICHR PO Box 4430
Paso Robles, CA 93447-4430
You're invited to join our
Yahoo Groups list, to share pictures
and discuss champagne horse colors.
Legal information: The
ICHR was incorporated in the state of California in 2000. It is a
non-profit corporation. The ICHR is not, and never was, connected
with any other Champagne organization.
About
emailing the ICHR: Horse color questions
will not be answered without the
horse's breed and registered name, if any. Due to the extensive research conducted by the
ICHR, we are usually able to determine if a horse has champagne in
its pedigree by recognizing the names of ancestors we have
determined were champagne, listed in the right column of each entry
in our stud book. ASK about "grade" horses,
please.
Please email
the Webmaster about web site problems, changes requested,
or comments regarding the web site and its design.
Please include the URL of the page you're writing about. Thank you.
Gold filly 
