When do foals get their adult color?

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

I know alot of you shave your foals at about 1 month old. Should their "adult" color be comming in at that time? My foal looks so light, like Palomino, but is supposedly a silver black. She is almost 5 weeks old now. If I shave her, should I see "darker" coat coming in at this age or will I still see the light Palomino color? At what age does their "Adult" color start coming in??

Thanks!

Joyce

 

[Miniv]

Believe it or not you asked a big COLOR question........ These little guys can surprise us every year!

My personal experience is that there is NO hard and fast Rule or AGE........except that the horse's CLIPPED coat is not exactly the NATURAL color.

We watch our weanling foals as the shed off NATURALLY to at least get an IDEA what to expect for color. However, this is no guarantee. A better one is when they shed off as yearlings.

And then there are those few that change shades or tones and get more roaning or spots as they age.......We have a line of palominos that shed off more golden every year, for example.

 

[CheyAut]

Foals can change sooooo much! TYPICALLY (but surely NOT with appies lol) you can tell as a yearling.

Here's an example of how much foals can change. This is my Cocoa, who is tested Ee Aa Zn Crn which makes her a silver buckskin. She also has dun factors, and her dam is a dun, but she has not been tested as dun... and with being sooty and silver and cream.... I can't say for sure if she is or isn't lol

Newborn

Before foal shed

Shedding out... We actually changed her name because of shedding! (hadn't yet sent in registration). She was going to be HRK Kates Buttercrem de Coco, barn name Cocoa, then we changed it to HRK Kates Chocolate Creme de Coco and was going to call her Mocha! But we had already been calling her Cocoa so that did stick.

Even darker!

Getting lighter again

And lighter

Shaved

And she continues to go lighter and darker lol here are some adult shots

 

[Shari]

Edda is a month and a half and the top half of her ears has already shedded out and she is slowly shedding in other areas. Just depends on each foal/genetics and I also think when they are born, plays a part to how fast they might shed out.

Her foal coat is also fading in the summer sun.

Very cute CheyAut... I really like the Hawaiian phase your filly went through.

 

[~Dan]

I agree with MiniV, horses of all sizes can change. Im guessing you can get a test done???

When I first bought my little gelding, he was a silver bay, over the winter, he started getting spots, and I first thought he would be a dark bay, but now Im thinking heck have a nice blanket pattern when hes an adult.

Best of luck.

Dan

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

I have tested my filly. Not all the results are back yet and with all the problems I read about from many other message boards about the place where I sent my sample, I just may re-test her elsewhere.

Minis colors are interesting to say the least! It's amazing to me how they can have such a "light" foal coat, yet they will turn very dark in their adult coat, according to the test results. She is shedding around her muzzle and eyes. She is almost 6 weeks old. I'm going to attempt to shave her today. Should I be able to see her "dark coat" comming in at this point when I shave her?

Thanks for the help and thanks for the great pictures Cheyaut!!!

Joyce

 

[Carolyn R]

It is hard to say when they will reach their adult color, some adult horses change from season to season their entire life (modifiers like roans, sabinos,sooty, aps). It really depends on what modifiers they posess.

Here is another example, Desi was a very light foal but has the sooty modifier. She was so dark last winter she almost looked completely black.

going into her first winter

Here she is last summer

She is actually darker this summer with more pronounced dapples.

 

[Dona]

As I'm sure you are seeing from the posts already, it depends on the color genes & modifiers each horse get.

I've seen foals quickly shed out to the color they remain for their entire lives. And I've seen foals born one color, then continually change each year for years!

A friend of mine once had a chestnut gelding (red from top to bottom).....when he was SIX, he made a DRAMATIC change all at once & decided to show his true colors of Silver Bay. I know that many Silver Bays are commonly mistaken for Chestnut by people who don't realize that the subtle "tinting" on the lower legs & lighter manes & tails are indicative of the Silver gene. But this boy showed no signs at all....always clipped out just a lighter chestnut color. Then at age six, he clipped out looking Silver Dapple, THEN his hair grew back in red & the lower legs grew back in dark. It was like someone flipped the light switch!

So, sometimes it can be quite a while before you know for sure, what your baby is going to be.....unless you COLOR TEST!

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

I did color test donna! The color she is, or was just before I shaved her an hour ago, is just so much different than what her "real" color is that she tested for. I didn't know if it would be a quick change or take a long time for her to change. Now that I just shaved her, there is a dramatic difference already!

Thanks everybody!