what does one call this pattern?

[Susara]

Ok so I took pics of some weirdly coloured horses at our yard's first ever graded show :-) Hence three threads on this forum from me today.

It's not very clear here, but the spots on this horse are chestnut. What do you call this? Do we know what the genetics are?

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d136/hartlief/IMG_3930.jpg

[horseygal90]

Looks like a flea bitten grey to me! Is he an old horse? I might be wrong but I think they develope later in a greys life.

[Susara]

I think it was a rather young horse, but I could really not say for sure. I've been surprised at how young some well-kept horses can appear - at least to my inexpert eye.

The spots seem to be different from fleabitten, don't they? It wasn't easy to get a closer shot shows it better, but the spots are not the small little 'ticks' of pure colour that I know as fleabitten. They are more like chestnut-coloured coffee plotches; larger, and with some white hair evenly distributed within the spots. Also if you look at the distribution pattern of the spots it seems different from gray to me.

But then, I just realise that I don't think I've ever seen a chestnut-based grey before. Perhaps that's why the spots seem different to me.

If chestnuts are so common, and greys as well, how come one doesn't see more horses that look strawberry roan but turn out grey? The grey gene affects chestnut, doesn't it?

[ChristinaB]

Do you have any shots that show the skin on his muzzle or around his eyes? Because to me it looks like he may have Appaloosa blood, with a varnish modifier. The spot pattern on his croup is what really says "spotted not flea bitten" to me.

Oh and chestnuts going gray are the rose grays, there is a picture of one in Chev's thread on grays.

[Abi B]

I don't know if this helps but I had a connemara X mare. She was 8 years old and a flea bitten grey - the dots were chestnut though. I also have a TB gelding who is 3. He was born bright chesnut - main coat tail the works. He's now a dapple grey so I will have to have his passport altered.:(

[Just.Jump]

Is it an arabian/part arabian? Though it's not specific to arabs only, this kind of marking could possibly be "Bloody shoulder" marks- basically a concentrated area of enlarged fleabites, or variable colors from black to very light chestnut/palomino type coloring.

[Em 1]

Although he isn't exactly the same, my horse has similar colouring. Technically he is a fleabitten grey but he started a really dark dapple grey. His spots range from light chestnut to solid black. His breeding is Anglo Arab x ISH (although you wouldn't believe it to look at him!). His colouring is supposed to come from his arab side just like Just.Jump talks about.

[Susara]

Unfortunately this was a sneak photo of a pony from a different yard, so I don't have other pics of the head and I don't know anything of the breeding. Could easily have Appy and/or Arab in there, both are seen in our area.

I've heard of the 'bloody shoulder' and thougth well perhaps I'm lucky with spotting one, but the spots didn't seem to be concentrated on the shoulders - or is that not really important?

I've checked the pics of the rose grays on this forum- is is just me or do the spots look different? Anycase, quite a pretty horse.

[Rips]

Wow, Em 1 cool colouring! he deserves a thread of his own with details :D (and of course more pictures!)