Blacks are horses that have no red in their coat and have black points. Black is dominant over almost all other colors. Meaning that 2 black horses can possibly produce a palomino, buckskin or even a cream offspring if they carry the dilute gene. In some cases the single dilute gene will lighten the black coat to a smokey color, which can be confused with a dark chestnut or a brown.

If you own a black horse whose sire or dam was a palomino, there is a chance that the horse carries the palomino gene and will produce palominos or buckskins. Also, the dilute gene can be passed down from generation to generation being masked by the black gene and the owners never knowing that the black horse carries the gene.

A smokey cream is a black horse with the double dilute, like the perlino and cremello it has pink skin, a cream coat and blue eyes. Although the points on a double dilute black horse will be somewhat darker than that of a cream, it is difficult to tell one cream horse from another and many times perlinos and smokey creams are registered as cremellos.