Base Coat: Black

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Occurs as: Ee aa | EE aa

 Black horses have a singular pigment all over their bodies, caused by the presence of the Extension (E) gene, and the absence of the Agouti (A) gene. With all black horses, Agouti must be in (aa) form. This creates a coat which is absent of red tones entirely, creating a black horse. 
Please note that this page is for black horses which have no dilutes or modifiers, please see the Color Chart and Design Guides main page to see other base coats. 
This guide does not account for sun-bleached black horses. Your horse may display some sun-bleaching in its reference image, but not on the official design. 

Horses with this gene CAN:

• Have the horse be any range of black coloration -- see the color bar below!
• Show a mane and tail that is the same shade of black as the body color. 
• Have slight shading and countershading, but not enough to make it appear as though the horse has pangare or sooty.
• Have white markings that are not caused by any form of genetic white. Please see the Natural White page to learn more about what is acceptable for non-genetic white. 

Horses with this gene CANNOT:

• Show sooty or pangare on the base coat, even when the horse has these genes in its genotype. 
• Have any eye color but brown, unless other genes are present which change eye color. 
• Have the base coat be so light that it is grey-toned without Grey being present.

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See the color bar below for a range of acceptable shades.

The examples below show only a few of the accepted shades, for you to get an idea of the range of shades possible with black. Overall, the color bar above should be your guide for the acceptable range of coloration. 

Please note: Nordanner genes may simplify certain genes from real life. Genes may not present in Nordanner the way they do in real life or in other ARPG breeds, and are as close to being realistic as possible while still maintaining standards within the breed. ​