Appaloosa flecking increasing?

ycbm

ycbm

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My five year old blanket spotted Appaloosa cross went almost white last year apart from his big dark spots. Then he started producing brown fleabites, and a friend who hasn't seen him for a few months commented on how much darker he's getting.

Is this normal? Can a non grey horse get more flecking as he gets older? He's DNA tested as negative for grey.

Is he likely to get any darker (it would be a bonus!). Anyone got any photos of yours getting darker?
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Appys seem to change colour every year. Our first one got paler with extra spots, as she got older, the solid colour pure-bred developed varnish marks and roaning and the current one (PBW) is also growing a paler base coat.
 
Well mine changes all the time!! He is rising 14 now and has just decided to throw in a few white on-the-skin spots (not arabian fading syndrome style or anything like that - just proper Appaloosa spots on his skin -so visible when he is wet) He has a few halos and the whole gamut of potential appaloosa markings - including at one point stripes on his shoulder though they seem to have vanished for the moment...He is essentially near leopard and many of the spots have stayed where they are but new and interesting variations turn up most years!! It is absolutely fascinating tbh. Pics don't quite show the variation but he is very handsome so deserves being shown off!! :) ETA - I particularly love that in the sun my chap literally shines silver and gold; he is virtually a unicorn...lol :)
 
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Yes!!! That's what he's doing, exactly the same except he was a lighter colour foal. I hope it carries on, I really didn't want a white horse!

I thought I was going mad and imagining that his mane was getting darker again.

:)
 
For me that is what is most fascinating about appies. I love the ones that keep changing, boring if they don't.When I took over as registrar of BApS back in the 80's I had wonderful fun looking back through the registration files at the colours. I first got hooked back in 1965 when my boss bought a chestnut with white splashed on his rump. That pony changed all the time. He was bred by Massarella at Leicester who used to be really interested in spotties (that was before BApS was formed).
 
ycbm said:
My five year old blanket spotted Appaloosa cross went almost white last year apart from his big dark spots. Then he started producing brown fleabites, and a friend who hasn't seen him for a few months commented on how much darker he's getting.

Is this normal? Can a non grey horse get more flecking as he gets older? He's DNA tested as negative for grey.

Is he likely to get any darker (it would be a bonus!). Anyone got any photos of yours getting darker?
.[/QUOTes sometimes horses get more grey as they age but I have never heard of the other way round it could just be his ageing
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Do you have to constantly update passports with colour identification/distinguishing marks. It’s like getting a different pony every year!
 
Midlifecrisis said:
Do you have to constantly update passports with colour identification/distinguishing marks. It’s like getting a different pony every year!
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Thankfully not, he's passported as a skewbald ?

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ycbm said:
Yes!!! That's what he's doing, exactly the same except he was a lighter colour foal. I hope it carries on, I really didn't want a white horse!

I thought I was going mad and imagining that his mane was getting darker again.

:)
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Oh he won't go white! Our first one did get more pale hairs as she developed more spots but she was never in any danger of going white. The only circumstance in which he might is if he has 'the greying gene'. That is why Appaloosas should never be bred with greys.
 
To be honest I say he is going to stay the same color. I say he summer coat will make him darker and his winter coat will probably be lighter.
 
My appy is completely grey in winter, then has chestnut flecks all over in the summer. This year when the weather suddenly hotted up, he lost loads more hair and I can see his skin clearly through his hair, which is really pigmented. I've had him since a baby and as he matured he developed more flecks each summer until he was about 12. I've also owned a palomino who used to go much, much darker and roany in the summer, but almost grey in the winter. :)
 
I can't like that because of the extreme shape of the horse, but the colour certainly catches the eye!
 
I'm not keen. I worry a lot about the robustness of horses bred for such extremes of colour. What weaknesses did they compromise on along the way to get the colour genes?
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