The Golden Horse
An Akhal-Teke (Ахал-Теке.) A Beautiful Horse. They are known for their intelligence, speed, and a coat that has a metallic sheen (lending to their nickname—“The Golden Horse.” There are 6,600 on Earth. DNA research found the Akhal-Teke to be one of the oldest horse breeds alive today.
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It's a variant of a color dilution gene. The color dilution gene causes elimination in brown and/or red in the hairs - this creates palominos or dun/buckskins, depending on the underlying color and other modifying genes. The champagne gene further dilutes the color, removing the yellow color, leaving only a pale cream color. Because the original dilution gene also causes a redistribution of the melanin in the hair shaft towards the base of each hair, all these colors look metallic because of the way the hair shaft reflects the light.
I've studied equine color genetics since I was in high school and bred for dun and grulla horses for many years. Dun horses are genetically bay with the dilution gene removing the brown, and they also include a gene that adds a dorsal stripe down the backbone and sometimes other "primitive" striping on the legs and body. Some duns also show a reddish gold sheen and are called "copper duns" like my old stallion:
Grullas are sort of the equine equivalent of Siamese cats - no yellow, brown or red color, but a cream or gray body with dark points, like my mare, Ziggy (from whom I get my user name):
Her foal here is a red dun - no black points but the mane and tail are a darker red than the body.
