Deviation Actions
Description
This sheet only applies to undiluted bay, wild bay and seal bay. Please refer to other guides if looking for diluted variants. It is, however, useful to keep in mind the core differences between these three types of bay, as they carry over to the diluted forms.
Remember that you are allowed to pick the shade of bay for your horse - you don’t need both parents to be dark bay to get a dark bay of your own. However, seal bay and wild bay, being genetically separate, must be bred for: if you receive one of these, it will state so on the genotype.
The types of bay are still visible on diluted horses as well - the placement and size of the darker areas (diluted black points) are usually telling.
Genetically, the breakdown of bays is as follows:
- EE/Ee Ata/AtAt results in seal bay. This means a seal bay is the least dominant form of agouti after black, and seal bays may carry black, but no other types of bay. A horse with AtAt will never produce black foals.
- EE/Ee Aa/AtA/AA results in a standard bay. Being dominant over both seal bay and black, a bay may carry either. A horse with AA may never have black or seal bay offspring.
-EE/Ee A+a/A+At/A+A/A+A+ all result in a wild bay. As this is the most dominant form of agouti, it may carry any one of the other types of agouti. A horse with A+A+ may only ever produce wild bays (and possibly chestnuts).
DOs
Experiment with the variety of shades bay offers - not all bays need to be the same dark red hue
Tone your bay, be it any type, for a more natural and lifelike look
Add non-paint white markings as you please
Have a grey muzzle, black ear tips or rims
DON'Ts
Have drastic color differences that look like pangare or sooty.
Make your horse very light or very saturated.
Turn your horse’s coat greyish. All bays are brown, regardless of shade.
Forget that bays always have black legs of some sort and black hair.
Have any eye color other than brown.
Add white markings characteristic to paint horses.
Sheet complied by ThatDenver & sateenkaarisitruuna.
Would it be best to go with something similar to the wild bay shade shown, but more diluted to show the cream (buckskin) plus add the roan? I just don't want to accidentally use an incorrect colour shade by using colours from old designs or something