Intensifying black coat colour

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7 June 2016
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I have a black 3 y/o gelding but he seems to be pulling a lot of red now that his summer coat has come through. Is this lack of colour intensity to do with an imbalance of minerals? I'm not convinced it's sun fading as he was kept in a barn until I bought him as a 2 y/o and even then he had a definite brown tinge with noticeably darker points. It may just be that he is never going to be a pure, deep black... He's still beautiful though!
 
Not always, and not always sun, some just do it/black seems to have as many tones as other colours.
 
I have heard of copper deficiency causing red tints, but as FW says, it depends on the coats. I had two black shetlands, both fed mineral supplements, and one always had chestnut highlights no matter what, while the other stayed jet black. My piebald stays jet black on his black bits, while the bay tints at the first sign of sun...again both on Pro Balance. Worth a try though - a decent mineral supplement can only be a good thing.
 
Sunbleaching I think - my black mare wore a sun reflective rug and mane tightly plaited when turned out in summer if going to be shown.
 
My cob is about as black as you can get but you can still see a slight tinge of red when his summer coat first grows, it disappears when the coat is fully through. I thought it might be copper deficiency at one point...but supplements made no difference. He's never faded in the sun.
Most blacks just have a slight tinge of red.
 
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