Confused on her color?

[JaiteraMiniatures]

I always thought our horse Guin was a blue roan, but after clipping her this year I'm beginning to think she is going to turn grey (she is two). Her dam is an appy (all white with a few black speckles) and her sire is a black tobiano. I'm also wondering if she is appy too, because around her eyes there are little black speckles on the pink skin. Anyways, can you help me out

Sorry if I confused you guys too...

After being clipped (excpet her hind end

)

Her legs have black above the socks...will they lighten too? This is wha kind of confused me

Head and eye...

Compare that to when she was a weanling.

Maybe it's completely obvious, but thanks for any input

 

[rabbitsfizz]

She may have Black Roan under the Varnish roan, but I think what you have is an Appy characteristiced, black base, Pintaloosa

 

[ohmt]

Your girl is a gorgeous black varnish pintaloosa! You can rule out gray because if her dam was gray, she wouldn't have any spots. And her sire is a black pinto, so no gray there. She is coloring up alot like many of my varnish appy girls. She'll end up mostly white with slightly darker head and lower legs-you probably won't even be able to tell she has any sort of pinto markings by the time she's done.

Pretty girl!

 

[JaiteraMiniatures]

Thanks

 

[Becky]

She looks like a grey pintaloosa to me. You could test for grey and that would solve the question of whether she's grey or varnish. Although, she could be both!

 

[ohmt]

Nope Becky, she can't be grey. If her dam was grey, she wouldn't have the speckles and since her sire is black, we can rule out the grey from that side too. Just varnish! It's amazing how much the varnish can change the color of the horse. I was just looking at pictures of my varnish mare that looks white except for a little bit of red on her face and lower legs. She was born solid chestnut and a darker shade of chestnut too. I wish I could get her foal pictures scanned in, but my scanner is currently on the fritz. Anyway, she didn't start to change until she was 3, but I've had a couple of other appy fillies that started to varnish once I clipped off their foal fuzzies.

Here she is now:

Here is a black varnish appaloosa stallion that I used to own (brother to above mare). He was born solid black and then started to varnish as a late weanling/early yearling.

 

[Riverdance]

You say her dam is grey Appy?

She looks like a grey to me. I have a stallion who looks very much like your horse and he is a grey pinto. His sire was a grey.

He is very slow to turn grey, still has a lot of black on the face and lets, but will eventually turn all gray. He too has some of the mottling around eyes and face, but no Appy in his background.

 

[Becky]

Nope Becky, she can't be grey.

I respectfully disagree. I know of a black leopard appaloosa stallion that is true grey. He does have black spots on a now all white body, but grey he is. A previous owner sold him due to producing grey foals that weren't varnish.

Again, though, I would color test the filly above for grey and that would answer the question!

 

[ohmt]

respectfully disagree. I know of a black leopard appaloosa stallion that is true grey. He does have black spots on a now all white body, but grey he is. A previous owner sold him due to producing grey foals that weren't varnish.

Grey washes out all color-that means spots too. That is the reason why appaloosa breeders are so adamant about keeping grey out of their breeding stock (I think the big appys can't even be registered if they have the grey gene even they are appy too? Not sure on that, but I know I've heard it somewhere). Maybe the stallion was very young yet so the grey hadn't taken over the spots just yet?

Here's some info about appys and the grey gene:

'Roaning out' in the Appaloosa horse is a process where the base colour gradually changes to a lighter colour due to the replacement of dark hairs by white hairs.

When roaning our an Appaloosa will never lose its spots, the roaning process often reveals spots originally hidden in the darker base colour coat. If an Appaloosa possesses a grey gene it will turn grey (white) and the spots will also lose their colour and eventually disappear.

and here's some info about appys and the varnish gene:

VARNISH MARKS

Varnish marks are a concentration of darker hairs, usually sprinkled with white hairs as in a roan coat. They are found in various places on the horse's body. They commonly occur on few spot leopards, near leopards and horses that have roaned out. They are usually found on the face, ears, knees, elbows, girth, stifle, hocks, hips and flanks

 

[JaiteraMiniatures]

Thank you guys for all the info, I really appreciate it. It may just take a few years for us to truly know her color

I'll try to find some pictures of her dam, but she has the same speckled eye as Guin (pink skin with speckles around the eyes)

I'm not sure if it means anything, but Guin's dam had a grey filly, but it was with a different stallion...maybe that narrows something down? I'm not sure xD

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

She may have Black Roan under the Varnish roan, but I think what you have is an Appy characteristiced, black base, Pintaloosa

"characteristiced" ? How do you pronounce that in the UK?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Character-is-ticked.....

Colonials...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em