Brindle Horses

What is Brindle?
Brindle is a pattern that is very common in cattle and dogs but is very rare in horses. Brindle varies in physical appearance from a lesser to greater degree. It usually doesn't effect the head and legs as much as the body with the heaviest concentrations of brindling being on the neck, shoulders and hindquarters.

Some colors and patterns may cause effects that look similar to this Brindle pattern, such as Dun factor. Wrinkles in the skin or the hair being different textures can also cause physical effects that may look like striping or Brindling.

Some Grey horses may display a striping pattern that may look very much like Brindling but is probably due to the odd patterns that some Grey horses will have during the different stages of the greying process.

As of this date, there is no evidence that there is an actual gene in the Equine species that causes the Brindle pattern. Striping effects are found to occur with many expressions of other genes including Dun, Rabicano and Classic Roan.