Seal brown (horse)

Seal Brown
A seal brown gelding
Variants	Dark bay, brown
Description	dark brown body coat with black point coloration and tan coloration around muzzle, eyes, flanks and other "soft" areas. Lacks reddish tint seen in most bay horses
Phenotype
Body	dark brown with lighter tan coloration at soft points of body
Head and Legs	Black
Mane and tail	Black
Skin	Black
Eyes	Brown
Other notes	Not to be confused with pangare

Seal brown is a hair coat color of horses characterized by a near-black body color; with black points, the mane, tail and legs; but also reddish or tan areas around the eyes, muzzle, behind the elbow and in front of the stifle. The term is not to be confused with "brown", which is used by some breed registries to refer to either a seal brown horse or to a dark bay without the additional characteristics of seal brown.

Like bay, the seal brown color lacks the non-agouti mutation that would create a fully black horse.^[1] The genetics behind seal brown are not known, but some think it is caused by an allele of agouti called A^t.^[2] A DNA test said to detect the seal brown (A^t) allele was developed, but the test was never subjected to peer review and due to unreliable results was subsequently pulled from the market.^[3][4]

The similar dark bay coat color, which also features black points and a dark body, differs from seal brown by the absence of tan markings. Another mimic is the liver chestnut, an all-over dark brown coat including mane and tail, that is sometimes confused with seal brown. However, true seal browns have black points characteristic of all bay horses, while liver chestnuts do not.