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Roan is similar to grey in that it is a pattern of individual white hairs sprinkled into the coat. Unlike grey, roan horses are born roan and stay the same color throughout their lives (although they may appear lighter or darker in their winter coats). Also, the head, legs, mane and tail of a roan horse are solid-colored and do not display "roaning." This makes roan easy to distinguish from grey, since the face of a grey horse is the first part of the body that begins to lighten.
Roan can occur on any base color and is caused by the dominant gene R. Homozygous roan (RR) is believed to be lethal; the foal that inherits an R gene from each parent probably does not survive, with a few exceptions. Almost all roan horses are heterozygous Rr, while rr horses are nonroan.
Since roan can occur combined with any color, the appearance of roan horses varies greatly. The common shades of roan are blue roan (roan on black), red roan (roan on bay), and strawberry roan (roan on chestnut).
Blue Roan
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Roan on black, or aaE-Rr. The name, of course, comes from the bluish appearance of the white hairs as they intermingle with the black hairs of the base color. This differs from grulla in that the hairs of a grulla's coat are all slate-colored. Note that the head and the points remain black. |
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The horse at left (and the one above him, to some extent) is a variation of roan called corn roan. Some roans have dark spots grow into their coats, creating an appearance like dark kernels on an ear of corn. |
Bay Roan
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This is usually called red roan. Its genotype is A-E-Rr. The head retains the reddish bay color, while the points are black.
Strawberry Roan
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This is roaning on a chestnut base (eeRr). Given its reddish pink shade, it's called strawberry roan. The head and the points are red.
This horse is a dark chestnut roan. His base color, dark chestnut, makes him look a litlte like a bay roan, but his points are red, not black.
Roan on Other Colors
This horse is a dark dun roan (A-D-E-Rr). Note his dorsal stripe.
Grulla roan (aaD-E-Rr).
At left is a bay roan mare and her black foal.
More on Roan
Some roans have roaning only on certain areas of their bodies. This is not the same as the Appaloosa coloration varnish roan, but it looks similar. The horses below are all Quarter Horses.
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