General Description

Body color smoky or mouse-colored (not a mixture of black and white hairs, but each hair is mouse colored); mane and tail black; usually has a dorsal stripe and black on lower legs. The AQHA pronounces it "grew-yo", and if you register a horse through the AQHA it will come back with a color of G-R-U-L-L-O. However, the AQHA does not have a preference towards pronunciation when speaking, and "grew-ya" is also an acceptable form. Grew-la is not.

American Buckskin Registry Association (ABRA) - Grulla pronounced "grew-ya". Body coat slate colored (bluish gray as the blue heron) from light blue gray to a brownish shade. Points and dun factor markings are black. Dorsal stripe required. The color Grulla is the rarest of all horse body coat colors. The word Grulla is Spanish and translated into English is "crane".

International Buckskin Horse Association (IBHA) - Grulla pronounced "grew-ya". Grulla is an intense color. The body color is described as mouse, blue dove, or slate colored - with dark sepia to black points. Grullas have no white hairs mixed in the body hairs. The hide of a Grulla is comparable to that of a dun and is well pigmented to withstand heat and sunlight. Grulla horses have the dorsal stripe and in most cases have shoulder stripes and leg barring. Grulla is considered one of the most predominant species of the "dun factor". Grulla should not be confused with roan or gray colors.

Until the break-off of Bay Roan as its own color, Grulla was easily the rarest color registered by AQHA. The grulla color numbers are growing. As of 2002, AQHA also evaluates each Grulla/Blue Roan case (meaning a horse that carries both genes), individually. Some horses that were historically registered as Blue Roan in the past, are now registered as Grullos with roan characteristics in the markings area of the papers. According to its color experts, AQHA prefers a horse exhibiting both the dilution of dun or creme, and the roan gene to be registered as its base color with the additional roan markings comment. This is done for tracking purposes. However, it should be noted that many grulla enthusiasts consider this a detriment, because the roan gene is statistically passed on to 50% of the offspring, thus diminishing the purity of the grulla color.