Tristan is a funny sort of color. He’s a deep red in the winter, and in the summer he’s quite distinctly more roan. His mane and tail are frosted the whole year ’round. I’ve tried many different color combinations on him over the years, and always default to black and white, with a hint of gray. I do so wish I could do more colors, though.

I just spent some time playing with a fun tool to design your horse’s color scheme. Now, it’s not comprehensive, and the interface is a little clunky, but it is a marvelous time waster. (The things you are reduced to doing when you are being dumped on by a foot of snow…)

Here’s what Tristan currently looks like to go XC.

I am sort of constantly trying to figure out just what color my horse is. In shorthand, and on all his official papers, I list him as a bay roan. It seems simplest and most descriptive.

However, there’s a decent chance that’s not what he is, genetically. Roans don’t typically have salt-and-pepper manes. They don’t typically have skunk tails and barring above the tail.

He also quite clearly has a few primitive markings: a hint of a dorsal stripe and tiger stripes on his legs.