Grullo or grulla is a color of horses in the dun family, characterized by tan-gray or mouse-colored hairs on the body, often with shoulder and dorsal stripes and black barring on the lower legs. The genotype for grulla horses is a black base with dun dilution. In this coloration, each individual hair is mouse-colored, unlike a roan, which is composed of a mixture of dark and light hairs. The several shades of grulla are informally referred to with a variety of terms, including black dun, blue dun, slate grulla, silver grulla or light grulla, silver dun, or lobo dun. Silver grulla may also refer to a grulla horse with silver dapple, regardless of shade.
A grulla, like all duns, exhibits a lighter body coat than mane and tail color, clear primitive markings (a distinctive dorsal stripe, horizontal striping on the back of the forelegs, often a transverse stripe over the withers), and the dark "dun mask" on the face. Zebra stripes are visible on the left back leg. The dun gene also produces light guard hairs in the mane and the tail.
A Heck horse
Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.
Three horses with different coat colors
Bay (left) and chestnut (right) mustangs.
A black horse
A dapple gray