Another surprise foal!

[caitlin95uk]

Our yard, along with Tessybear and others, also had a surprise foal born back in may. We found out 5 weeks previous to this and thought she was just over weight until vets confirmed that the "fit and pony club ready" mare was actually in foal and we felt terrible. Fast forward to May and Whisper was born, a little black colt.

We are unsure of the dad, following back through dealer who the owners got the mare off, there was suggestion it may have been the old old owners section b stallion. Mum is called Secret and an Appaloosa, very lovely temperament (while being heavily ridden though carrying a foal inside her!!).

Whisper seems to be browning out, was thinking he may be turning into his mums colour but what happens to the white socks and face markings? His legs are a sort of grey colour above the white socks as seen here..

His nose and body have become much more chocolate covered in the recent weeks though.

And he's also becoming a lot cheekier!

Biting mums fly mask..

and having a run about in the school..

But at the end of the day it's actually very hard work being a foal!

Any bets on what colour he will be are welcome we're not sure. Height too.
Sorry if photos are big and if there is spelling mistakes my smarties mcflurry is melting as I write!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

HIs mum looks grey, so he will go grey.

 

[milliepops]

Too cute! Love his cheeky face.

I wish my mare would have a surprise foal, would be some kind of surprise since I've had her for 10 years but I'm so jealous of all the lovely foals around atm

 

[Tobiano]

Too cute! Love his cheeky face.

I wish my mare would have a surprise foal, would be some kind of surprise since I've had her for 10 years but I'm so jealous of all the lovely foals around atm

ROFL!

And caitlin, he is absolutely gorgeous. I love a great big star like that. his mum looks lovely too. Will you keep him?

 

[mightymammoth]

wow he's stunning. You must be thrilled with him, great photos as well.

 

[caitlin95uk]

Mum is chocolate roan according to passport, Piebald sparkle. If he turns grey, will happen to his socks and face marking do you reckon? Or will he go grey enough for them to blend in?

Haha milliepops, you'll have to accidentally let her in with the stallion one day

Tobiano - His star is lovely, his colouring of jet black and four white socks and a star/snip when he was born was gorgeous just unsure what will happen to them as he gets older! He's not mine unfortunately but is treated as a whole yard pet, owner would really like to keep him but depends on the height he gets. Her 11 year old daughter is already 5ft5 and comfortably on her mums 15hh horse and we doubt he will make anywhere near this height as mum is only 14.1hh and the welsh section b stallion who is supposedly his dad won't be anything close to that either. But saying that, owners are in love with him already and I can't ever see them parting with him.

 

[spookypony]

But...he has an exclamation point on his face!! How can he be named whisper? Unless that's irony!

 

[babymare]

Oh he is truelly gorgeous and adorable. he may have been a surprise but wow a little stunning surprise I so needed to see such beautiful pictures thank you for sharing x x

 

[caitlin95uk]

wow he's stunning. You must be thrilled with him, great photos as well.

Got the hang of this quoting thing now but thankyou, photos are all mine. I find him highly photogenic and love taking photos of him.

But...he has an exclamation point on his face!! How can he be named whisper? Unless that's irony!

Wow I actually had not noticed that, good point! Will bring that up with his owners. To make matters worse, as mum is called Secret Dancer so whisper took that prefix and is called Secret Whisper.

 

[caitlin95uk]

Oh he is truelly gorgeous and adorable. he may have been a surprise but wow a little stunning surprise I so needed to see such beautiful pictures thank you for sharing x x

Thankyou Babymare, we were very unsure of what species actually would surprise us one morning. We went through how we would react to a mule turning up one morning! Very sorry about your mare, hope you're ok x

 

[ebonyallen]

Truly wonderful pictures, made me smile x

 

[_HP_]

When/if he grey's out his white sock will just disappear/blend in.
I have a grey (white) Section a who was born with 4 white socks and a blaze but I would never have known to look at her....

 

[caitlin95uk]

Truly wonderful pictures, made me smile x

Thankyou, he has a habit of doing that when he's across the field with his mums fly mask in his mouth.

When/if he grey's out his white sock will just disappear/blend in.
I have a grey (white) Section a who was born with 4 white socks and a blaze but I would never have known to look at her....

Ah I see, thankyou. That's a shame wanted him to somehow keep them, not sure how though.. in fact it would be lovely if he stayed this age and colour forever. That's all I'd like, simple request.

 

[Dogrose]

The mother looks like a varnish roan which is a variation of appaloosa colouring, her base colour could be anything dark, appy can turn black a bronzy brown colour. The foal is black, he is just going brown because the sun and time is fading the colour of his coat. If his dad was grey he might go grey, he might varnish out like Mum (can take years) or he might stay the same. You can wait or have a genetic colour test done.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Mum is chocolate roan according to passport, Piebald sparkle. If he turns grey, will happen to his socks and face marking do you reckon? Or will he go grey enough for them to blend in?

She looks like a Varnish Roan to me - not grey or true 'Roan'.

 

[caitlin95uk]

The mother looks like a varnish roan which is a variation of appaloosa colouring, her base colour could be anything dark, appy can turn black a bronzy brown colour. The foal is black, he is just going brown because the sun and time is fading the colour of his coat. If his dad was grey he might go grey, he might varnish out like Mum (can take years) or he might stay the same. You can wait or have a genetic colour test done.

She looks like a Varnish Roan to me - not grey or true 'Roan'.

Never heard of a varnish roan, thankyou both. Know my basic colours, not much about roan colouring though. Have just googled it and can see how it does look relate to the mum a lot. Passport was done when she was much younger and probably was halfway through her colour change then. Does a varnish roan always have the white as a top colour like the grey sprinkling, or could it be just a lighter colour?
Will try find out colour of dad. Dealer who owners got Secret from likes to contact old owner himself rather than pass on contact details, meaning he most likely bought her as pregnant and thought he could make a bit more money from her pretending she wasn't.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Varnish Roan has nothing to do with the true Roan gene. VR is caused by the Leopard Pattern Complex seen in appaloosas, knabstruppers, british spottied ponies etc...

 

[Maesfen]

He's got the spectacles forming so I expect him to grey out and his socks/blaze will just merge in later.

 

[caitlin95uk]

He's got the spectacles forming so I expect him to grey out and his socks/blaze will just merge in later.

Ah that's a shame would have loved him to have kept them. Thankyou.
And thankyou faracat, how complicated!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'm wondering if the spectacles are actually glare from the camera?

When you look at him IRL is he getting white hairs growing around his eyes?

As I don't believe that Mum is a VR rather than a grey, the sire would need to be grey if the foal is grey. If neither the Dam or Sire are grey, then the foal cannot be grey. The foal could have inherited Leopard from his Dam and could spot/varnish out. Whirlwindstud on here breeds spotties, so it might be worth asking her about it.

 

[Gracie21]

OHHH he's gorgeous!

 

[caitlin95uk]

I'm wondering if the spectacles are actually glare from the camera?

When you look at him IRL is he getting white hairs growing around his eyes?

As I don't believe that Mum is a VR rather than a grey, the sire would need to be grey if the foal is grey. If neither the Dam or Sire are grey, then the foal cannot be grey. The foal could have inherited Leopard from his Dam and could spot/varnish out. Whirlwindstud on here breeds spotties, so it might be worth asking her about it.

Have never noticed or intentionally looked for that, but will look today. Thankyou, I'll also get in touch with whirlwindstud!

OHHH he's gorgeous!

Thankyou, we were very surprised and happy when he turned up one day. Expected the foal but not how gorgeous he would be! Especially from mysterious dad and hardly pedigree mum!

 

[BlizzardBudd]

He's lovely! the mare Is stunning and he's going to be a lovely looking horse!

 

[Spring Feather]

Very nice surprise He's a lovely looking colt. I would say he is almost definitely black. Blacks always have a silver sheen on them and the golden/brown colour you are seeing now is how they go before they lose their foal coat, after that they remain black. What colour was he the moment he was born and still wet?

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Whatever colour he is he is absolutely gorgeous!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Have never noticed or intentionally looked for that, but will look today. Thankyou, I'll also get in touch with whirlwindstud!

Sorry I need to correct two mistakes.

Firstly I should have written 'As I believe that Mum is a VR rather than a grey.'

Plus I misremembered the username - you need to contact Whirlwindhorses.

Mucho apologies... I must proof read my posts before pressing post.

 

[Megibo]

Wow mum is gorgeous!

Looking at the 3rd photo I thought ahhh I recognise that welshy expression all too well! Lovely surprise to have

 

[legaldancer]

He looks black or dark brown to me, and I don't think he'll grey out as Mum isn't a grey. If dad isn't either there's no way he can be grey. In one picture where he's losing his foal coat around the muzzle you can see his 'real' colour underneath. Also Appaloosas often have mottled skin or white around the eyeball and he doesn't appear to have either.

Some people I know had an Apaloosa x stallion with blanket markings and all his foals were solid coloured.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Some people I know had an Apaloosa x stallion with blanket markings and all his foals were solid coloured.

That's bad luck. As a blanket spot he would be heterozygous for LP so theoretically each foal would have had a 50% chance of inheriting it.

 

[caitlin95uk]

Thankyou all! Hm I guess we will just have to wait and see.
We weren't there when he was born but it was raining heavily all morning and when we arrived and he was jet black except the silver legs.
Yes we noticed he didn't have a mottled nose like his mum, so presumed he wouldn't become spotty.
Thankyoh faracat, no worries I got the gist of your original post and will contact the correct name now