"Champagne" shades are not currently accepted in the AQHA as approved colors, so they are mis-registered under approved AQHA colors. Read more about the champagne color genetics here.
Champagne horses are also sometimes confused for 'double dilutes' (cremello, perlino, smoky cream) since they too, as foals, sometimes have blue eyes and pink looking skin. The champagne foals also may have green eyes which may likely turn to 'amber' color. As the champagnes age, they show freckles on their skin, most noticably around the eyes, muzzle etc (as well as other skin not covered by hair).
Black + Champagne = Classic
Bay + Champagne = Amber
Sorrel + Champagne = Gold
Brown + Champagne = Sable
Naturally, when combined with other modifying genes, colors/names vary. For instance:
Smoky Black (Black + Cream) + Champagne = Classic Cream
Buckskin (Black + Agouti + Cream) + Champagne = Amber Cream
Palomino (Sorrel + Cream) + Champagne = Gold Cream
Smokey Brown (Brown + Cream) + Champagne = Sable Cream
Grulla (Black + Dun) + Champagne = Classic Dun
Dun (Bay + Dun) + Champagne = Amber Dun
Red Dun (Sorrel + Dun) + Champagne = Gold Dun
Brown + Dun + Champagne - Sable Dun
Smoky Grulla (Grulla + Cream) + Champagne = Classic Cream Dun
Dunskin (Buckskin + Dun) + Champagne = Amber Cream Dun
Dunalino (Palomino + Dun) + Champagne = Gold Cream Dun
Smokey Brown + Dun + Champagne = Sable Cream Dun
Smokey Cream (Black + 2 Cream) + Champagne = Classic Double Cream
Perlino (Black + Agouti + 2 Cream) + Champagne = Amber Double Cream
Cremello (Sorrel + 2 Cream) + Champagne = Gold Double Cream
Brown + 2 Cream + Champagne = Sable Double Cream
Smokey Cream + Dun + Champagne = Classic Double Cream Dun
Perlino + Dun + Champagne = Amber Double Cream Dun
Cremello + Dun + Champagne = Gold Double Cream Dun
Brown + 2 Cream + Dun + Champagne = Sable Double Cream Dun
1994 Amber Champagne Quarter Horse Mare
Be sure to check her page!
"Kyann" is "Storm's" dam.
"Kyann" is heterozygous for the champagne gene.
Amber Champagne eye SKIP O NEAL
Amber Champagne eye and 'freckling'. You can also see her brown mane.
Amber Champagne in the shade. She is registered in the AQHA as Buckskin because that is what she most closely resembles.
You can see that her points, mane and tail are brown as opposed the black point a Buckskin would have. (She is pictured here with her Amber Champagne filly, LEOS AMBER CHAMPAGNE.)
Amber Champagne in tweanling eye.
Dun or not Dun? (A classic example of why we'll test her to see if she is actually Amber Dun.)
I've been told she has "the look of homozygous champagne" ... we'll see when we test her.
2008 Amber Champagne Quarter Horse Mare
LEOS AMBER CHAMPAGNE
"Storm"
"Storm" could be homozygous champagne. We'll test to see. She could also be homozygous black and homozygous agouti (both her sire and dam are amber champagnes), we'll test for that as well. There is also a possiblity she may carry the dun gene (could be heterozygous dun). We have parent samples to send in so that we can also test her for dun too.
She is registered as buckskin with AQHA but visually might also be mistaken for red dun at a glance.
*Update - as a yearling, she's getting lighter and lighter - and she was pretty light colored at birth...
