sable champagne horses

Sable champagne horses are champagne horses with a brown base color. The coat color is between amber champagne and classic champagne, but resembling classic more than amber, and often with more shading than either.

If it is not clear from the phenotype and pedigree sable champagne could be distinguished from classic champagne by genetic testing at the agouti locus. Classic champagnes would be homozygous for the recessive allele A^a, for which a test has recently been developed.

Sable champagne horses are sometimes mistaken for buckskins or duns. They are, however genetically and phenotypically distinct from both of these, and the cream (C^Cr) and dun(D^D) genes are not present. There are no primitive marks (such as dorsal stripes and leg barrings) as there are on dun horses. The pink skin and amber or hazel eyes also distinguish sable champagnes from these other dilute colors. They also have pink skin with freckles. Their eyes are blue or whitish at birth and turn to amber or hazel after about three months. Sable champagne used to be called buckskin champagne, but this name does rather encourage confusion with true buckskins, which sable champagnes are not.