 A horse that appears to be a dark liver chestnut but has a flaxen-colored mane and tail, sometimes colloquially though incorrectly called a "chocolate palomino", could be genetically chestnut but could also be a black horse manifesting the silver dapple gene.Silver dapple is a dilution gene that acts in a manner similar to the liver dilution in dogs.The darkest liver chestnuts may be confused for black, but such horses are distinguished from other phenotypes by the absence of black hairs, and obviously brown or reddish legs, muzzles, flanks and other "soft" areas.