Brindle can be described as an irregular pattern of vertical drippy or water like stripes on a horse, donkey, or mules body. These marking can be dark on a light colored coat or light on a dark coat. They can be visible year round or seasonally and can cover either the whole body or only certain areas.

Not much is known about the genetics involved resulting in brindles and it is now known that there are at least three distinctly different types of brindles. One only outwardly appearing brindle that is likely the result of a mosaic or chimeric equine, one which seems to appear brindle and be able to pass on the brindle characteristics suggesting that they are indeed inheritable in some cases, and also a possible carrier which may only exhibit brindle coat texture but whose offspring exhibit the pattern.

As of late, there are quite a few equine cropping up whose owners suspect are brindle. These include but are not limited to the following: heavy dun factor, leg barring, regular spaced rib barring, unusual dorsal stripe, fishnet/giraffe spots, and zebra outcrosses. To help further brindle study, none of the aforementioned will be admitted into the registry except for non-zebra equine who also clearly show brindling in conjunction with these other patterns.

Some experts, such as Dr Philip Sponenberg, believe brindle to be a unique gene that reorganizes the counter-shading caused by the “sooty gene” into brindle stripes.

Further information on brindles may be found by visiting the following websites. Please note that these websites are not affiliated with the ABEA and we have no control over their content.

(Brindle Information and Pictures) http://www.brindlehorses.com/
(Brindles & Other Strange Markings) http://www.homozygous-horses.com/weird.html