Wat is this color?

[sunnycher]

I have a new horse, she is all black, not a white hair on her, but now that she is beginning to shed, it looks like she has some dark brown patches, almost eggplant color. Since I didn't own her in the summer, don't know how she'll look shed out. Just wondering if she has some brown/mostly black, is she a seal brown? or...?

[JB]

Can't tell without looking at a picture (and maybe not even then).

Generally, the Spring coat, after all the dull and somewhat bleached Winter hair is gone, is the best indicator of the true color.

What does the hair around her flanks and armpits look like?

[sunnycher]

Kind of reddish patches on the inside hind legs, that's all so far. Thanks.

[hitchinmygetalong]

Might end up being a liver chestnut.

[deltawave]

If her muzzle, flank, armpits are a lighter color, she's probably a seal brown. Do you know what color her parents are/were?

[purplnurpl]

Might end up being a liver chestnut.

ditto.
some liver chestnuts look close to black--then you take another look.
I love the very dark maroon guys.

[Patty Stiller]

Dark or 'seal' brown are possibilities. Many "black" horses are really very dark brown.Also possible is very dark bay.
Here are two horses. The first two pics are the same horse in winter and summer. In winter he lookd nearly black but he was a dark bay and noticeably lightend up in summer.
The last horse is a true "brown".
It is the color of the ears and nose that differentiates the brown horses from the blacks.

[sunnycher]

OOOOHHHHH, I hope she is a 'brown'. I love that color. I have a bay, chestnut and black, so it would round out the color wheel nicely!!! It will be fun to groom and see what se is.

[CHT]

She could also be a black with a single dilute gene. I have had two here; one looked liver chestnut in the summer (I would never have believed she was black, but they had the genetic testing to prove it!) and the other just went a really dark chocolate colour in the summer (mane and tail stayed black).

Do you know what colour her parents are?

[sunnycher]

Her sire is a black and white spotted draft, dam is a bay TB

[deltawave]

Could be virtually anything, then, but probably not a smoky black (single dilute). :) Another hint is the color at birth--a true black is often a very distinct grizzly-bear, silvery color at birth.

[ThoroughbredFancy]

She might be a dark bay. Granted, I haven't seen her but your description sounds a lot like the color of my dark bay TB.