Buckskin (color)
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- For other meanings of buckskin, see Buckskin (Disambiguation)
Buckskin is a color of horses; it also refers to other things that are the color of a buckskin horse, such as the color of some breeds of dogs. The horse has a tan or gold colored coat with black points (mane, tail, and lower legs). Buckskin is a result of the cream dilution gene on a bay horse. Therefore, a buckskin has the Extension, or "black base coat" (E) gene, the agouti (A) gene (see bay for more on the agouti gene), which restricts the black base coat to the points, and one copy of the cream gene, which lightens the red/brown color of the coat to a tan/gold.
Buckskins should not be confused with dun-colored horses, which have another type of dilution gene, not the creme gene. Duns always have primitive markings (shoulder blade stripes, dorsal stripe, zebra stripes on legs, webbing). Unlike buckskins, who have the creme gene, dun horses have the dun gene. However, it is also possible for a horse to carry both dilution genes; these are called buckskin duns or sometimes "dunskins."
