Roan is a modifier, or a color shifter, kind of like pinto or appaloosa. It causes the base coat to be evenly mixed with white hairs, lightening the original color. Roans generally have darker manes and tails, darker heads, and dark legs. White 'normal' markings on the face and legs are acceptable.
Some roans have little dark spots. This doesn't mean that they have the LP gene. It is simply a spot that didn't get covered up by white.
Roan is a simple dominant: whether the horse has one or two dominant copies is irrelevant unless you are breeding and want to know. The following pictures there isn't any way to tell if they are homozygous or heterozygous unless you look at their parents or offspring.
A blue roan is a black horse with the roan gene. Sometimes they look a little silvery.
A red roan is a chestnut horse with the roan gene. Sometimes they are called 'strawberry' roan. Please know that there is no difference. In the past, bay roans have also been red roans, but this is not technically correct.
A bay roan is a bay that has the roan gene. Easy. None of these are hard to remember, but honestly, if we just called them black, chestnut, and bay roan, wouldn't it be easier? The first horse isn't a very even roan, but she is still bay roan nonetheless. That second one down may look like a blue roan, but the color of the head gives it away.
And lastly, there is palomino roan. These aren't very common, which is kind of weird (I don't know why). They are sometimes called 'honey roan'.
And that concludes roan! What is nice about roan is it is easy to identify, and the base color is easy to spot.
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