the champagne coat that may be used to help identify them. Champagne coats often have an unusual sheen. This sheen makes champagnes difficult to photograph accurately, as the appearance of the coat depends on the lighting. Not all champagne horses have this sheen, and there are many extremely shiny non-champagne horses, so a "sheen" in and of itself does not indicate the champagne gene. The coat may also exhibit reverse dappling, though this is also an unreliable indicator. Skin, eyes, and hooves The color of the skin is the single most important visual identifier of champagne horses: in the adult horse, the skin is "pink with abundant dark freckles, except under white markings." The freckles - not mottles, splotches, specks, or blotches - are dark and may have a purple cast, and are small and numerous. By comparison, mottling associated with the Leopard complex is large and blocky alternations between true black or charcoal-colored skin and pigmentless-pink skin. The skin of cremellos and perlinos is pigmented-pink, and exhibit a scant few tiny black specks. Homozygous pearls and pearl-cream combinations also exhibit some freckling of the skin, however this is muted in comparison to the freckles of champagne skin. The skin may exhibit an overall lavender tone. The color qualities of the skin are most evident around the eyes and muzzle, under the tail, and on the udder or sheath. The eyes of an adult champagne horse are most often described as hazel or amber. In the newborn or very young foal, the eyes are bright blue to blue-green and the skin is bright pink. The champagne blue foal eye is creamier than other types of blue eye such as the bright, unpigmented blue seen on some pinto horses. In the past, some breeders and horse owners had concerns that horses with light-colored skin and eyes were not healthy. However, the lightening of these parts of the horse due to the champagne gene is not known to be linked to any health or genetic defects. While horses with white markings may sunburn on exposed unpigmented skin, the freckled-pink skin of a champagne horse is said to tan instead. In addition, the color of the hoof has no bearing on its strength. Interaction with other coat color factors The presence of other coat color modifying alleles has no effect on whether or not a horse has the champagne trait. However, different traits