interesting coat changes

[Mehitabel]

inspired by teabiscuit's comment about my old git.

he has a wonderful variety of colours throughout the year. in summer he is bright orange - you'd say he was bay at a cursory glance - http://groups.msn.com/nrphotos/esspictures.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=161 (he isn't actually that bright any more - he seems to have faded as he has gotten older.)

in autumn he goes darker, and the countershading ecomes more apparent, as does his dorsal shading (which is shading, not a stripe, and i think is actually dark brown rather than black) - http://historicalfact.com/~es/pictures/24sept/chop6.jpg you can see the shoulder and neck shading quite well inthat pic, although the neck shading looks a bit like mane, it isn't.

in winter he is much lighter than in summer - http://historicalfact.com/~es/pony%20pictures/coppertinsellarge.jpg - his body is lighter than that, i haven't any pics online that show it well at the minute,m but will probably find some at home.

his spring coat is interesting - http://historicalfact.com/~es/pony%20pictures/chopfunnycolour.jpg

his bottom goes even lighter than his normal winter colour, almost silver, and his front end goes chocolate brown. is this common? i've not seen it on anything else. anyone know what makes it happen?

[chev]

Erm... nope! :o He is one of the most interesting horses I've seen colour-wise. I still can't quite decide for sure whether he's sooty buckskin or some weird variation of bay. He looks definitely buckskin in some pics... and then light bay in others.

The silver bum looks like the kind of roaning you get with rabicano, but he's not rabicano.

Changes in colour between summer and winter coats are very common; most horses will also have some patchy seasonal changes as they shed from one coat to another. Tia grows a bright orange winter coat; her summer coat is more of a livery chocolate colour, so when you get bleached winter fur and normal winter fur and summer coat all showing through in spring she does look a bit unusual. But Copper's bum is a really odd variation on that, if that's what it is.

He obviously has primitive type countershading going on (like the dorsal stripe that comes and goes - dun stripes don't disappear with coat changes) so perhaps that's causing some of the variations.

I guess he is just a colourful character ;) :D

[Mehitabel]

he is that! :D i'll take my camera down this weekend and see if he has gotten his winter coat yet, because i haven't got any decent pics of him in winter online.

[Tootsie4U]

And then there's Bonfire who has a star in winter and none in summer!

Funny how that works!

[ShariN]

He looks like a type of roan to me. Most Roans will color change with the seasons.

[Jaimee]

I definately think he is buckskin, I have seen some pretty dark ones. And the conclusive factor for me is that I know single dilutes have significantly lighter winter coats. Hes cute.;)

[Hallmarked]

Hi Mehitabel

Your horse is very similar to mine in respect of coat colour. I think we chatted about it breifly on another thread regarding the difference between dun and buckskin.

The main difference is that the chocolate colouring started at his head and would move backwards in a wide band. The band would splatter a bit as it reached his hindquarters, but it would solidify making a 'clip' line before spreading down his hind legs.

Sadly I can't find a photo to illustrate this at the moment. Will have to try and sort out this huge pile of CDs. Also sadly unable to take more:(

Mine was a TB x connemara of unknown parentage, loads of personality - out of interest what breeding is yours?

[Mehitabel]

he was sold to me as NF x welsh D, and i've got no reason to believe he is anything else, although he came with no papers or parentage. he has a foresty head and body, welsh legs and a welsh trot.

would love to see your chap - i've never seen anything like mine before!

[Hallmarked]

I wondered if they were perhaps related - obviously not.

I posted a couple of pictures of him on the other thread. Here is one taken in October showing his Autumn coat. Sorry it's not good quality but you can see the cream patch on his forarm. I did buy a decent camera just before last Christmas but events overtook us:( so didn't get the high quality photos I had hoped for.

Sadly he died aged 24 just before last Christmas - hense the no further photos:(

25448

[Mehitabel]

he is a beautiful colour and handsome in himself apart from the interesting coat. ever so sorry you lost him. my old man is 23 - it's what were all dread when they get to that age.

i saw we are from a similar area (copper is near ringwoods, bought locally) and wondered the same, but it doesn't look like it. copper could plausibly have connie in him, but not TB.

[Hallmarked]

he is a beautiful colour and handsome in himself apart from the interesting coat. ever so sorry you lost him. my old man is 23 - it's what were all dread when they get to that age.

i saw we are from a similar area (copper is near ringwoods, bought locally) and wondered the same, but it doesn't look like it. copper could plausibly have connie in him, but not TB.

You're not the first person to say that about old horses to me this year:( Horses aren't on this earth very long sadly. - Mustn't dwell.

Maybe they are somehow related on the Connemara side - I brought mine in the Gosport/Fareham area, but propably clutching at straws. Maybe just a unique variation on one of the coat colour genes - not that I know anything about it.
However I vaguely remember someone saying they knew someone with a dun pony that went much darker in the spring when I expressed surprise the first time I saw it happen. But that was about the time I first brought my horse so was 13 years ago and I never saw the pony in question. My memory may be distorted by the passage of time, or I misunderstood the amount of darkening that occurred.

Actually just had a thought - it's possible it may have even been yours.You never know! SPOOKY!

[Jaimee]

Dilutes especially change colour lots over different seasons- more so if they have the sooty gene too.

Here is my three year old filly, the light colour is in winter the dark ones are now (late spring).

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9540/conformation1wm5.jpg
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/904/611064on6.jpg

[galadriel]

Oooh, I've got a horse that changes colors prettily.

Duchess now, in her fall colors:
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/10-14-2006/m-duch01.jpg

Spring colors:
http://galadriel.shaftnet.org/horses/duchess/m-duch-glossy-dapples.jpg

Summer colors:
http://galadriel.shaftnet.org/horses/duchess/jlk-duch.jpg