can a horse be born skewbald but turn piebald?

[lifewithflash]

my horses passport says he's a skewbald but hes been a piebald since I bought him when he was 11 months

just wondering if he could have been born skewbald and change to piebald?

 

[Lois Lame]

My understanding is that when a black foal (or a black and white foal, I assume) is born, he will look not black, but a paler colour. So maybe a piebald will appear to be a skewbald at birth.

 

[lifewithflash]

what he looked like 2 months before i bought him

 

[Lucky Snowball]

I had a horse which was black with a blaze. The vet who did the passport had put 'black and white' ???

 

[lifewithflash]

I had a horse which was black with a blaze. The vet who did the passport had put 'black and white' ???

very confusing

 

[Lois Lame]

Totally daft, really.

 

[Maxidoodle]

I think it’s down to the vet, my little lad who I’ve recently had to have PTS was skewbald and he was passported as “brown”. I’ve another little lad who is down as skewbald, he’s predominantly chestnut and white but has a black streak in his tail.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Unless they thought he was a grey and white - hence skewbald - and expected the black bits to grey out.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

My friend recently had one passport done by a vet horse looks piebald but because it had a small amount of brown hair on his face vet has put skewbald down.

 

[Widgeon]

My horse is piebald in the summer and skewbald in the winter. I tend to refer to him as "coloured"!

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Skewbald is correct for a horse with white, black and any other colour, including grey, patches, or mane/tail hair.

 

[Lexi 123]

Technically speaking skewbald and piebald aren’t genetic correct a lot of piebald and skewbald horses are either tobiano or splash horse can’t change color so the vet must have mistaken the horse as skewbald.

 

[Tarragon]

I know of a lovely grey horse, whose photo as a foal was properly piebald, and when she is washed you can still see the black areas in the skin, so she has just completely greyed out. Very strange. So piebald to grey is possible, but not skewbald to piebald

 

[Widgeon]

Technically speaking skewbald and piebald aren’t genetic correct a lot of piebald and skewbald horses are either tobiano or splash horse can’t change color so the vet must have mistaken the horse as skewbald.

I guess piebald and skewbald aren't accurate genetic descriptions - they're just broad visual descriptions of the appearance of a horse. And as @Tarragon says, the visual appearance of a horse can definitely change quite dramatically over the years (or even the seasons, as per my horse!).

 

[criso]

The white pattern is not so much relevant as the base colour:- black, bay, red. Whether you use piebald/skewbald or genetic descriptions such as tobiano, splash, overo, it will be bay and white, black and white, chestnut and white, grey and white etc.

So assuming this horse's base colour is black and not incredibly dark bay, it may have been mistaken for bay with foal camouflage or a lighter shed when it was passported. As it has so much white it would also be difficult to see a lighter muzzle indicating it was actually very dark bay with a white pattern.

Not as extreme but my old tb was passported dark bay ( though in french) when he was actually a bright bay. I assume at the time he was passported, he looked like he was going to end up much darker than he did

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I knew two appaloosa foals, same breeding, both born black (might have been a very dark liver) with spotted blanket and still appearing black as yearlings. Later both became a golden chestnut. Most extreme colour change I have ever seen. If I hadn't known them so well I would not have believed it. Their coat pattern didn't change at all.

 

[SEL]

My friend had a jet black warmblood without a hint of white on him who was down as grey on his passport. His older sibling had in fact gone grey so we assumed the vet guessed he'd inherited the grey gene as well - he hadn't. I've seen the foal pictures and there were no goggles around the eyes or anything else to suggest he would go grey. Wasn't an issue until they sold him and the vet out for the 5 stage was mightily confused.

OP - does your horse go brighter in the summer? I wonder if it was a time of year colour guess by the vet.

 

[SpotsandBays]

My warmblood is a dark bay (with a spotty blanket), but I have photos of him at 4 months old where he looks chestnut (with his blanket). Foals go through a “foal moult” and sometimes their colour looks abit odd during that time! Might have been around then that your little one was passported which might have caused the confusion

 

[criso]

I've seen the foal pictures and there were no goggles around the eyes or anything else to suggest he would go grey

Horses that go grey are a darker, more adult colour when first born so a black horse that will grey will look black rather than mousy.

However sometimes they are born black and stay black. Wonder if that's what happened here fooling the breeder

 

[Peglo]

I know of a lovely grey horse, whose photo as a foal was properly piebald, and when she is washed you can still see the black areas in the skin, so she has just completely greyed out. Very strange. So piebald to grey is possible, but not skewbald to piebald

My cousins British spotted pony has fully spotted skin which you can see when washed but we’ve only ever know him to have a few black spots and dark areas around his legs when dry.
I would love to know if he greyed out and used to show more spots when he was younger.

 

[Cortez]

You're assuming the passporting vet was au fait with exact colour terminology then? Not all vets are and passports are frequently innaccurate.

 

[Maesfen]

Coblet is registered (and named!) as a Piebald Filly. She's skewbald as in dark bay and white with black bits in her mane and tail so officially, she should be skewbald; even if she had been dun and white she should still go down as skewbald. A piebald is black and white only.
There are many solid colours that grey or roan out when older but will still be registered as what they were when sketched which can be awkward when selling then you might need chestnuts as identifiers.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

An ID filly I looked after at weaning was jet black and remained so up until nearly 4, when tiny bits of white hair started to show through in her mane and tail. By the time she was 8 she was a beautiful dark dapple grey. I haven't seen her for several years but I believe she is now a light grey dappled colour, she is about 20 by now I think.

 

[Sossigpoker]

My cob is passported as skewbald but all of his hair, whether on body or mane or tail or feather ,.is pure white. He's 90% pink skinned too but has a splash of dark skin on his chest and on flank on one side- you can only see it when he's wet though.
A vet told me that when he was born ,.those dark skin patches would have had brown hair on them , hence he's a skewbald. I affectionately just call him white lol

 

[Flame_]

My horse has a passport saying he's black. In the winter he's black, in the summer he's clearly dark bay up close but from a distance he looks reasonably black. Meh, I just stick with black.

 

[Lois Lame]

My horse has a passport saying he's black. In the winter he's black, in the summer he's clearly dark bay up close but from a distance he looks reasonably black. Meh, I just stick with black.

Hmm... that reminds me of a mare I had, who was black in winter but in summer appeared very dark brown. I decided she was a fading black as opposed to any other colour. But yes, I just called her black (but then I'd mumble 'or fading black... or dilute black... or brown...')

 

[SEL]

I've got the Appy's passport with me. I had to get a copy done and the vet has written "various appaloosa markings" helpful!

She did note the star between her eyes but her face is nearly white now (varnish gene) so that's not visible any more.

 

[SpotsandBays]

I've got the Appy's passport with me. I had to get a copy done and the vet has written "various appaloosa markings" helpful!

She did note the star between her eyes but her face is nearly white now (varnish gene) so that's not visible any more.

Nugs passport has his baby pictures in!

 

[Maesfen]

Nugs passport has his baby pictures in!

I don't know if they still do but CHAPS used to ask for three pictures when registering with them; both sides and head on though they should have had a rear end one too to make up the set.
It's not a bad idea, particularly if it's a coloured, to have those pic's as reference anyway even if they are chipped.

 

[Cortez]

My horse has a passport saying he's black. In the winter he's black, in the summer he's clearly dark bay up close but from a distance he looks reasonably black. Meh, I just stick with black.

Technically he would be dark seal brown, true blacks are reasonably rare. Black suits for normal, non-pedantic descriptions.