Palomino

Due to their distinct color, palominos stand out in a show ring, and are much sought after as parade horses.

Another famous palomino was Mister Ed (real name Bamboo Harvester) who starred on his own TV show in the 1960s.

[3][4] Palomino horses have a yellow or gold coat, with a white or light cream mane and tail.

Champagne (CH) dilutes are born with pumpkin-pink skin and blue eyes, which darken within days to amber, green or light brown, and their skin acquires a darker mottled complexion around the eyes, muzzle, and genitalia as the animal matures.

Thus, palomino is simply a partially expressed color allele and not a set of characteristics that make up a "breed".

The color is fairly rare in the Thoroughbred, but does in fact occur and is recognized by The Jockey Club.

The mane and tail are required to be white, silver, or ivory, but up to 15% dark or reddish-brown hair is accepted.

[13][14] Horses that are not recorded by any other registry of unknown pedigree are accepted if their color meets the PHA definition of "palomino".

An individual that does not meet the height requirements may still be accepted if it is registered in one of the breed registries recognized by the PHBA.

[15][16] The ideal PHBA body color is the shade of "a United States gold coin".

PHBA also does not accept horses that are gray or show color characteristics of Paints, pintos, Appaloosas or cremellos or perlinos.

Spots of pink skin visible in the muzzle or around the eyes, under the tail and between the hind legs are not accepted.

A palomino mare with a chestnut foal. This golden shade is widely recognized as palomino.
Image indicating the different color breeds. Left to right: two chestnuts with flaxen manes, a palomino, and a gray
A cremello foal, showing pink skin and blue eyes characteristic of full dilution
Image showing the variation between winter and summer coat color on the same palomino horse.
Two possible palomino mimics. The horse in front is most likely a chestnut with flaxen . The horse in the background looks like a liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, but coloring could possibly be due to the silver dapple gene . Some color registries may accept both shades as "palomino".