White hairs?

[Liquorice]

As my horse's winter coat came through, I noticed that he had a few white hairs speckled through his coat, not noticeable from a distance, but quite obvious close up. There are more around his stifle. He is five years old, but I've only had him since the summer, and I don't know much about his history (imported from ireland by dealer). His passport says he is irish sports horse, but doesn't say anything about dam, sire etc. I'd say he is probably more ID than TB. He is a bright orange chestnut, with one white sock, a blaze that goes down to his lower lip (some of it is pink) and he has a few random white marks on his leg, but they're probably scars, he's very clumsy and playful in the field! Any idea if they mean anything, or whether they're just random?

Here's a pic
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/aceanna/Jaffa.jpg

[galadriel]

Lightening of the coat can indicate a mineral deficiency, and I think white hairs may too. My next door neighbor fed his horses a very unbalanced diet; the 2nd time they changed their coats after I've moved here, both of them came out in white spots all over. One was a QH and one a Morgan--it wasn't anything genetic!

We acquired the Morgan, and with a good balanced diet with mineral supplementation, the number of white spots and white flecks on her has gone way down; I was looking yesterday and found just one. Also her whole coat has gotten much darker! It's been so interesting how she's changed with good feed.

[artemis]

I had a horse that had definite grey flecks in his winter coat. He was bright bay & had mineral suplementation. I later found out that his great-grandfather was grey - possibly genetic.

[Styric]

My coach says some horses can have 'roaning; even if they're otherwise solid, which is basically a sprinkling of white hairs. Chevy has it across his barrel that you can only see if you're close and brushing him.

[galadriel]

Grey and roan are both very distinct genes, and they're dominant genes. The horse can't carry them without showing it throughout the coat.

Mineral supplementation is only good enough if the horse isn't starting out unbalanced. If he's got a major deficiency in one but os okay in others, then a normal mineral supplement will not relieve the imbalance. He needs more of the deficient mineral in order to balance it out. You may need a blood test to determine what to supplement specifically.

[Jaimee]

I can almost garantee the white hairs are caused by your horse being a sabino chestnut.

Sabino is a type of pinto patterning and is thought to be a complex combination of genes.

The blaze and white chin are definate indicators of sabino. it can cause high white stockings or socks also, somites belly splashes and "roaning". Although the roan in sabino isnt true roan. It is scattered white hairs in the coat, can be very few or noticable at quite a distance. Some sabinos also have blue eyes.

[Tangle]

Liquorice - glad you posted this as Madam has "stray" white hairs too, and I've wondered what they are. She certainly seems happy enough, with a shiney coat and good quality hooves.

Galadriel - would you expect there to be any other signs? Wondering if I need to get paranoid :o

Jaimee - she also has two white socks behind, although not high (with ermine marks), and a pink spot on her lower lip. We know her breeding back a good 5 or 6 generations as she's a pink papered warmblood - there's a mix of westphalians, hanoverians, trakehners and TBs in there. Is Sabino still possible?

Here's one where you can kind of see the flecky white hairs:
http://www.equusphotography.co.uk/gallery/d/6662-2/IMG_8796_edited-1.jpg
And here's her little pink spot :p
http://www.equusphotography.co.uk/gallery/d/6668-2/IMG_8801_edited-1.jpg