“Thoroughbreds, according to the color Karens, can be bay, chestnut, gray, brown and sometimes maybe even true black. The rest? Must be a sham.”
Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on selling Thoroughbreds, specifically uniquely colored ones.
This has been a wild ride.
I guess I had gotten to the point where I thought I had a good handle on the horse world and the crazies and the Karens that populate it. By that I mean folks like the sales ad nutters who clearly don’t read an ad about an upper-level, experienced restart and request that their eight-year-old come take it for a spin (nope, I’d like your kid to stay alive, thanks). Then there are the folks who comment about how the rider needs more experience and a better leg position on a Boyd Martin cross country video — these are often the same folks who belittle expert riders for their body type and generally make the equine-oriented internet an unpleasant place to hang out.
All of that is common enough, I guess. Annoying, but it’s kind of like getting stuck in Atlanta traffic: sure you get to go fun places and see folks you care about, but you know there will be infuriating and patience-crushing snags along the way. And the usual, “I hate people” is warranted on a regular basis.
I was used to that. Fine. Annoying but whatever.
And then I got a horse in who exposed a whole different level of bad internet behavior. Why? Because he was yellow. Yep… a palomino Thoroughbred.
Butters came in for sale this winter and caused all sorts of colorful ruckus (online). Screenshot of his ad by author.
Palomino is a recognizable color — especially when they’re sporting the golden summer coat. But apparently, such flashy looks, according to many on the internet, are only allowed to occur in specific breeds. Thoroughbreds, according to the color Karens, can be bay, chestnut, gray, brown and sometimes maybe even true black. The rest? Must be a sham.
Before sending the palomino Thoroughbred my way, his owner, Larissa Lefebure, messaged me to make sure I was ready for the incoming circus. I was like, “Of course. Selling horses is always ridiculous.” This horse, Jockey Club registered Justintimeforgold (AKA Butters), took the internet cake. The short story is his identification was questioned, it was asserted he could not be a Thoroughbred, that in fact he must be a pony and therefore not a Thoroughbred (what? that’s a whole other ball of wax), his price was called into public critique, and his ad was duplicated — oddly rewritten and published to another farm’s page purporting to represent and sell the horse who stood in front of me. What the absolute (insert any and all expletives)…?!?
Well this was an interesting twist…also what an odd edit. Screenshot by author.
My absolute favorite comment was something along the lines of “Well I haven’t seen this before. Must see proof of papers, jockey club, DNA test etc….” I blinked and was like, hang on. What is this circle of hell?
Let’s deal with the science first and then the internet.
Due to interesting gene mutations and the desire to reproduce rare colors, Thoroughbreds come in colors that range from palomino to cremello, perlino to buckskin, pinto (sabino, frame overo to splash white overo) to rabicano, and so on. And as with rare things, the mares are often bred to produce more color and the colts may remain stallions, breeding to reproduce the colorful line. Specifically, the palomino is created by combining a Chestnut with a horse sporting a single cream dilution gene, two cream-diluted horses will produce a lighter color — heading towards cremello.
In the single dilution, the cream gene acts on the chestnut hairs, lightening them in the offspring to palomino. Common bloodlines for this color come from the Milkie line or the Glitter Please line. I’m certain I’m oversimplifying here, so bear with me. If you want to take a deep dive down the gene mutation rabbit hole, The Colorful Thoroughbred by White Horse Productions does a great job describing how we ended up with specific colors. Regardless of whether they were bred to be fast or bred to colorful, or both, if registered with the Jockey Club, these horses have had to follow Jockey Club rules and are full Thoroughbreds just like your standard bay or chestnut foal.
Butters (JC Justintimeforgold) descended from the Milky line on his sire side. Bloodlines by Equiline.com
A quick aside on Jockey Club registration:
To register a foal with the jockey club, three things must occur:
- The mare must be registered with the Jockey Club and live covered by a JC-recognized Thoroughbred stallion. The breeding must be listed with the last cover date in the stallion’s book of mares for that season (which is then submitted to the Jockey Club).
- The live foal (or no foal) must be reported to the Jockey Club within 30 days of foaling.
- The Jockey Club then mails the breeder a genetic typing kit and form to ensure the accuracy of the foal’s bloodlines and to register images and physical markers that will be used to identify the horse through its life. This is extremely specific. Here’s their description:
Step 3: Registration Application. Approximately 3 to 4 months after the date of foaling reported on a LF/NF, a pre-printed Registration Application and genetic typing kit will be mailed to the address reported on the LF/NF. A sample of the foal’s mane or tail is collected and mailed directly to the laboratory. Please refer to DNA Sampling for a step-by-step guide to sample collection. The Registration Application must be carefully and fully completed to avoid any delays in issuing the Certificate of Foal Registration. Four color photographs of the foal are required to clearly indicate any and all distinguishing markings. These photographs are taken from each side, the front and back views. Horses which do not have any white markings (“no white markings horse”) should also include a close-up photograph of the head to clearly indicate all markings and cowlicks (hair whorls).
After these steps are completed and authorized by the Jockey Club, a foal may be named and the name registered. As of 2020, Thoroughbreds are no longer lip-tattooed, but all must sport a microchip. In fact, at most tracks, microchips have been required for foals since 2017, thus producing some runners who sport both a lip tattoo and a chip number.
In short, the if it is registered with the Jockey Club, the horse is patently a full Thoroughbred. Ahem… But back to the Karens.
So, palomino Thoroughbreds exist — and yes, they are relatively rare. And like hard-to-find, natural orange or green diamonds, it’s no surprise that their coat color increases their cost. (As an aside, after googling about colored diamonds to make sure I got the hues right, I guarantee I’m now damned to get engagement ring ads for the next six months. Shoot me). Hell, even gray horses get a markup. For the grays that I have bought off the track, I have paid approximately 25% more for them than I have an equivalent bay or chestnut horse. Consumer desire drives market prices. Unsurprisingly, the color markup continues as they carry into their second careers and their flashy coats earn them more views and attention. Look, I love a good plain chestnut or bay — there’s too much mud in this world for me to intentionally want to own a light colored or chromed-out horse. But to each their own.
I digress…
Amelia’s Map, who I owned as a resale project back in 2022-2023, drove all of us (especially my working students) nuts with how tough it was to keep that pretty coat clean. Photo by Alanah Giltmier.
So when a particularly rude commenter followed Butters’ link, looked up his price, and took the time to come back to his public ad and comment “Hope that is not all color tax!” I rolled my eyes at the audacity and ignorance. Of course some of a rare horse pricing is about their color. Some of it prices them out of the “I just want it to sit in my back yard and be pretty” crowd. This horse needed a career and someone capable of riding him into it (and I’m thrilled with the home in which he landed). Based on the Thoroughbreds I get to rehome annually and the tenor of the national market, his price was not extravagant for an equally trained, sporty, capable young Thoroughbred with a bit of bling. But ooooooof people. Nothing like a palomino Thoroughbred to bring out the worst in the internet and remind me that, in fact, I certainly have not seen it all when it comes to training and selling Thoroughbreds.
So to close up, if you want a good bit of entertainment, feel free to go hunt down Justintimeforgold’s ad and bring your popcorn for the comment sections. Or if you feel like being more productive, hop on over to the International Colored Thoroughbred‘s Facebook page for listings and discussions of some of the lovely rare-coated TBs out there.
Go ride, folks and enjoy your pony, no matter the color.
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