Customer Reviews

The Color of Horses: A Scientific and Authoritative Identification of the Color of the Horse

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have owned this book for many years and refer to it on occasion for information or just read it for fun. I like it for the entertaining way in which it was written and also for the information on horse color. Locally any brown horse is called sorrel around here so it is interesting to see what color a sorrel horse really is. Yes the horse paintings are really beautiful and well worth the price of the book. I find Dr Greens information valuable and admit I have bought most of my horses through the years remembering his advise about color even though I live in the midwest not in the south.

This book is gorgeously illustrated by Darol Dickenson, one of the finest horse painters in the business. The text, however, leaves something to be desired. The information is so outdated that for the most part I wouldn't bother reading it except for entertainment value. Since it was written around the time I was born, I'm not suprised. Give him credit, he tried to do it scientifically, but science has taken great leaps and bounds since this was written, and much, much more is known about how color inheritance works in the horse. So buy it for the paintings, take them out and frame them even, but forget about learning anything accurate and of value pertaining to how horse color inheritance works.

The "scientific" information given in the book is grievously outdated and has long since been proven incorrect. It is also fairly incomplete - no cremello, perlino or silver dapple for example, and no composite dilute colors, such as the horse that may carry both a creme gene and a dun gene. The paintings are beautiful, however. There is great temptation to take the paintings out to have framed. ;)
People wishing to learn more about equine coat colors, especially the genetics aspect of things, would be better served by buying Sponenburg or Bowling's book - or even stopping by the UC Davis website, which has a nice section on coat color genetics. (A search on any of the major search engines will bring up the exact address). Jeanette Gower's 'Horse Color Explained' is also a decent book, altough it can be confusing since it was written from an Austrailian perspective.

In Color Of Horses, Darol Dickinson's outstanding illustrations pairs R. Green's descriptions of various horse breeds and characteristics with detailed descriptions of color and over thirty reproductions of oil paintings by western artist Dickinson. The result is an excellent basic visual guide which should be a part of any horse owner's library.

I'm only writing this to clarify exactly what Ben K. Green studied, which was the pigmentation distribution in the hair shafts of various coat colors. I'm very surprised over the number of bad reviews expecting this to be about coat color genetics. Actually his study of the refractive pattern of hair shafts is far more advanced and right in line with today's genetics. Ben was a horseman of an era where horses worked and were utilized not as primped hobbies of today's pet owners. He was interested in the wear and tear of hide and hair.

His experimentation occurred from 1942 to 1947. If anyone who knows anything about the evolutionary understanding of genetics, particularly horse genetics and coat color, or are seasoned horsemen, then they would know that this book would not be about coat color genetics but about coat colors period.

I'm fortunate to be old enough to remember sage advice of the horsemen of Ben's era advising about the color of horses and their hides' ability to handle hard days under a saddle. It was important then, unlike today, to pick a horse whose hide and hair could endure the work.

My suggestion is to treat this book exactly as intended, a very scientific exploration into hair pigmentation and how it relates to coat colors. Other works to consider are: "Hair Color in the Horse", 1977, Guerts; Willys K. Silvers "The Coat Colors of Mice", 1979; and Gremmel, in his 1939 article in the Journal of Heredity (30:437-445).

Considering most of these works are unavailable to the average reader or lay person, I highly value my Ben K. Green copy.

I was given a hardback copy of this book years ago and I learned alot from reading it and I love looking at the beaufiful paintings of the different colors of horses which Dr. Ben Green commissioned artist, Darol Dickinson, to paint. Green identifies how to determine the color of a horse by the hair pigmentation such as the difference between a buckskin and a dun horse. People continuously ask me the difference between the two colors as I own a beautiful performing buckskin horse named Sundance. I am able to answer that question and many others about the different colors of horses due to the knowledge that I gained from reading this book. The thought provoking paintings of the colors of horses as determined by Dr. Green were commissioned by him so people reading his book could see what color he was referring to. I own many books about horses but I value this book above all others due to the beautiful art and I would never part with it. I have also purchased the paperback version of this book which is printed on slightly different but still high quality paper.

for the text, no stars. Under the heading 'Palomino' is written..'Pigmentation continues to diminish when dilutes are continuously bred to each other, and the hide of each generation will be less durable and useful until, in a few generations, it finally becomes albino'.
Well, this is news to me.
Palomino breeders will love it, I'm sure, especially as is also written..'Dilutes are undesirable colors in a horse intended for useful purposes'.

I would take the contents of this books with more than 'a pinch of salt', but it makes fun reading.

Well the text of the book is a lot of nonsense & out of date nonsence at that. The only thing that's really good about this book is the illustrations, well worth getting just for those. Ben's portion of the book is good for a laugh at how incorrect it is, it was probably incorrect even when it was written.