page_title: Equine vision
section_title: Eye color
hierarchical_section_title: Equine vision / The anatomy of the equine eye / The eyeball / Eye color
caption_attribution_description: Comparison between the pale blue eyes of a homozygous cream horse (top) and dark blue unpigmented eyes (bottom).
context_page_description: The equine eye is one of the largest of any land mammal. Its visual abilities are directly related to the animal's behavior; for example, it is active during both day and night, and it is a prey animal. Both the strengths and weaknesses of the horse's visual abilities should be taken into consideration when training the animal, as an understanding of the horse's eye can help to discover why the animal behaves the way it does in various situations.
context_section_description: Although usually dark brown, the iris may be a variety of colors, including blue, hazel, amber, and green. Blue eyes are not uncommon and are associated with white markings or patterns. The white spotting patterns most often linked to blue eyes are splashed white, frame overo, and sometimes sabino. In the case of horses with white markings, one or both eyes may be blue, or part-blue.
  Homozygous cream dilutes, sometimes called double-dilutes, always have light blue eyes to match their pale, cream-colored coats. Heterozygous or single-dilute creams, such as palominos and buckskins, often have light brown eyes. The eyes of horses with the Champagne gene are typically greenish shades: aqua at birth, darkening to hazel with maturity.
  As in humans, much of the genetics and etiology behind eye color are not yet fully understood.
caption: Homozygous cream dilutes ("double-dilutes") have pale blue eyes, while the blue eyes associated with white markings (bottom) are a clearer, deeper color.
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