Do foals change color when they shed out?

[Gone_Riding]

For those who have not met Chloe, she is palomino. This is her at birth and the next day. She has blue eyes that were bloodshot at birth.

Her skin has darkened to gray with a ting of pink to it and her feet have turned black. However, she looks almost white. A person can only tell she's palomino after a bath when she's either wet or totally clean. Within hours, she's back to being white again. I can't even get a good picture of her star that she had at birth for registration, even when she's wet, because she's so light colored. This is her when she's had a bath at two months old:

That's as dark as I can get her for pictures to register her. My question is: Will she darken to this color when she sheds out? Will she get darker than that at all? When do baby's shed out?

 

[Miniv]

Yes, she should shed out a different shade. I'm surprised she hasn't started already. It often starts around the foal's muzzle.

Our palominos tend to shed out more golden every summer as they age.

 

[KLM]

Yes they most definately do change color. With the dilute horses it seems we face more confusion as to just what color will my horse be!

This is a progression of my horse Pistol... He goes very light in winter now to a gorgeous gold in summer. I don't have a good picture of his gold in the sun

 

[MountainWoman]

Chloe is a living doll. Both my foals this year changed color although they were not palominos. One was born solid black and when her baby coat shed, underneath all that black baby hair was a bay roan like her Dad. My other was born a buckskin color with a dorsal stripe and at 3 months, she's turning into solid black. I have a palomino filly who was white all winter with her hairy winter coat and now that she's shed out, she's a gorgeous golden color but you would never have known it to look at her before this summer. Chloe is a gorgeous filly. I remember her birth

 

[paintponylvr]

ROFL!! YEP, foal coats change dramatically, as I've found out.

Seems even more so here in the south where there is higher heat and humidity (we had several palomino full size horses born when I was growing up - I don't remember any foal coats "going white" before they shed out "gold"). Different feed, hay & pasture seem to play a hand too. Even in MT, I don't remember my silver foal fading like they ALL do here! Often, my silver babies are mistaken for palominos, even though they are not,

. For the first time, I have a silver colt that hasn't faded as much and has started to shed - so he is much darker than any other silver foal I've had at this age here in NC. He is 3 months & 12 days old.

You might try to change the time of day you take your pictures. Maybe early morning, just after sunrise or in the evening after the sun starts heading down but before dusk. Bright mid morning to mid-afternoon and early evening may just be too bright to bring out your color... Otherwise, you send in what you have and then if you need to send in some more next year.

****

2 years ago I had a pinto colt born to a chestnut pinto mare (I had her color tested - no silver, carrying a bay gene). Sired by a dark bay pinto (black bay?). Could not decide what color he was - but since his sire didn't seem to sire any chestnuts (not mine, not officially color tested), I went with bay on his papers. GLAD I did - as he is now a BAY tobiano.

1st photo - he's still damp. Is he a bay??? 2nd pic - he's the colt on the right. The other colt is a dark bay... They are a few days apart in birth and now 4 months.

Even here in April - just over a year of age, you can't really tell what color he is. He was body clipped by the trainer and I didn't see him between April and August.

In August, he's definitely a bay tobiano!

And today - 2 weeks after ASPC Congress. I'm pretty sure that by November, his mane and tail will sunbleach and he may look chestnut again going into winter!

******

I LIKE Chloe!

 

[Jill]

A long time ago, a friend told me if you raise the tail of a foal and look at the color on either side of their "butt" (where the hair is short), that is a good clue as to their true color. So far for us, that has panned out as good insight!

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Yep, here is my dramatic change:

4 months old

He is 10 years old this year:

 

[Gone_Riding]

Thanks everyone for sharing your pictures and experiences. I really enjoy them! I'd love to check under Chloe's tail, but she lives for the dirt. Under there, she gets even dirtier. She'll paw at the ground until she has a good dust cloud, roll, get back up and do it all again until she matches the dirt...

Good thing I haven't shown her yet?

 

[Gone_Riding]

She loves being that dirty... Here's when she's clean and dry.

 

[BSharpRanch]

I LOVE that little boy's tongue!!! Wonderful little confidence builder horse!