A fjord horse
Because of humankind’s long close association with horses, horse coloration has a very specific and complex vocabulary (as any fan of wild west literature could attest). One of the most interesting horse colors is grullo a dun color characterized by gray body hair. Grullo gray can be either tan gray or mouse colored.
A grullo horse
Grullo horses have bodies which are lighter in hue than their tails and manes. They also often have primitive markings such as stripes, spots, and stipples. Some grullo horses even have striped legs as though they were zebras or quaggas.
Cave painting of a grullo wild horse from Lascaux, France (ca 15,000-10,000 BC)
Grullo is of interest as an ancestral coloration of wild horses. The tarpan (Equus ferus ferus), an extinct subspecies of wild horse from Eurasia was believed to have grullo coloring. The last tarpan died in captivity in Russia in 1909, but mad attempts to recreate it through selective breeding have resulted in the primitive looking Heck horse (a breed of horse which tend to be grullo). Additionally many small harry northern horses like Norwegian Fjord horses and Welsh ponies tend to be grullo. Look at how cute they are!
A Heck Horse
A grullo miniature pony stallion
4 comments
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February 5, 2013 at 5:12 AM
Beatrix
Hmmmm……
We have donkeys roaming about here called a ‘kiang’ or a khyang’ whom look quite grullo in their markings also. They are usually up higher in elevation during the steamy monsoon but come down to our little subtropical valley for January & February.
Thank you, I wasn’t aware of that term for equine coloration!
February 6, 2013 at 9:37 AM
Wayne
Kiangs and onagers both are fascinating & beautiful. I am envious that you actually have them where you live. I read a crazy magical-realism book by Balzac called “The Wild Ass’s Skin” and I always imagined the titular object (which grants wishes but destroys the user) to be grullo.
February 9, 2013 at 5:47 PM
roberta4949
that mini stallion is gorgeous!
February 9, 2013 at 6:39 PM
Wayne
Indeed–he looks like he stars in a TV show about the adventures of friendly ponies!