What Color Are Horses Eyes? (Find Out!)
Gazing into my horse’s eyes is one of my favorite things to do.
They express so many emotions and allow me to truly understand what he’s thinking and feeling.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and it is no different for horses.
In humans, our eyes can be a wide range of different colors.
Is the same true for horses?
It made me think, “What color are horse’s eyes?”
Horse’s eyes are most commonly brown or blue, but there are rare cases where a horse will have green, heterochromatic, or black eyes. Although eye color is often tied directly to the color of their coat, there are times an unexpected pairing can occur.
What is the most common eye color for a horse to have?
Are a horse’s coat and eye color related?
Does eye color affect a horse’s sight, and can it indicate an unhealthy eye?
If you’re wondering what the answers are to these questions, keep reading!
What Is The Most Common Eye Color For A Horse?
Brown
Brown is the most common eye color in horses, with approximately ninety percent of all horse breeds having some shade of brown eye.
Generally, the shade of brown corresponds to the coat color, and is either hazel, mid-brown, or dark brown.
Listed below are the common pairings you will find among horses.
| Hazel | Seen with light coats like Palomino or Buckskin |
| Mid-Brown | Most common shade and seen with almost all coat colors |
| Dark Brown | Seen with dark coats like black or dark bay |
Blue
Blue eyes are directly tied to coat color and are less common than brown.
Although they aren’t as prevalent, quite a few breeds carry the blue eye gene.
These include the Quarter Horse, Tennessee Walking Horse, Paint, Appaloosa, Miniature horses, Gypsey Vanner, and Akhal Teke.
If a horse has a double-dilute coloration, meaning they carry two cream dilution genes, they will always have blue eyes.
Listed below are the different types of blue eyes seen in horses.
| Leaked Blue | Darker blue middle then lighter along edges, common in Paints |
| Normal Blue | Coursed by white markings around the eye, causing the surrounding skin to look pink |
| Blue Coursed By Splash | Contains the splash gene, which makes the horse appear “splashed” with white paint, but has no white marking around the eye |
Uncommon Eye Color In Horses
There are other eye colors a horse can have that are far less common.
Caused by a mutation in their genes, the color can sometimes fade or change as the horse grows older.
Listed below are the rarest eye colors seen in horses.
| Green | Extremely rare; usually changes as the horse grows older |
| Heterochromia | Gives a two-toned appearance, usually in line with a marking on the horse coat |
| Black/ White | Seen in blind horses; the eyes may be black, white, or one of each color |
Does Eye Color Affect A Horses Sight?
A horse’s eye color does not affect its ability to see; however, if a horse is blind, its eye color may change to black or white.
As in humans, horses with lighter eyes are more sensitive to the sun, as they don’t have the melanin that acts like natural sunglasses that horses with brown eyes have.
Eye color does not affect the horse’s ability to distinguish different colors either.
All horses see color on a dichromatic spectrum, meaning they have two cones that decipher color instead of three, the way humans do.
Their ability to see color is similar to a person with red-green colorblindness, as they can only see blues and yellows without any variation of the hues.
Can A Horses Eye Color Indicate An Unhealthy Eye?
If you notice a change in your horse’s eye, it may indicate there has been a trauma that occurred to it.
An eye that turns black or white reveals blindness and often occurs in elderly horses.
A milkiness that appears may mean the eye has suffered damage and could be scraped or torn.
If redness occurs and fills the eye, it may also signify trauma and indicate a bleed.
A veterinarian must check all these conditions immediately, as they can lead to permanent damage if not addressed.
Eye color is fascinating, and horses can have different colors just like humans.
Brown is the most common and comes in three shades: hazel, mid-brown, and dark brown.
Hazel eyes occur in light-coated horses, mid-brown is the most common among all coats, and dark brown occurs in darker coats like black and dark bay.
Blue eyes result from a diluted coloration gene and are less common than brown but not considered rare.
Horses with a double-diluted coloration always have blue eyes, but others with only a single gene may have one or two blue eyes.
There are three shades of blue eyes: leaked, normal, and coursed by splash.
Rare eye colors include green, heterochromia, and black.
A horse’s eye color doesn’t affect how well it can see, but lighter-eyed horses may have more sun sensitivity than those with darker eyes.
Horses can only see on a dichromatic spectrum, making them red-green colorblind.
If a horse’s eye color changes unexpectedly, it can be a sign of injury.
Turning black or white can signify blindness, milky eyes may indicate trauma to a part of the eye, and redness or bleeding can mean damage as well.
If you notice any of these occurrences in your horse, you should call a vet immediately.
No matter what color they are, horses’ eyes are always full of emotion and personality, and they can communicate with us and each other with a simple glance.
Now that you know all the eye colors horses can have, why not look the next time you’re at the barn or a show and see how many different eye colors you can find!