One for the colour experts! (and what do you think he is?)

[joeanne]

This is Claude.
Claude arrived at my friends three weeks ago. A newly gelded 6 yr old......that had never been handled
Three weeks on and he is turning into a lovely chap, a massive change from the wild, frightened animal that came off the lorry.
But what the heck is he? He is JUST about 13hh and as chunky as they come!
Colour experts will he stay this colour? Or will he grey/varnish out? His chest is by far the spottiest thing about him and his face. The further back you go, the more the spots decrease in numbers.

 

[Mardy Mare]

No idea what he is, but whaterver it is- I WANT ONE!

 

[Enfys]

Hello

Here they would loosely describe him as a pintaloosa

He has very definite appaloosa characteristics, I bet he will change over the years though. The roaning and lacy edges on his patches say sabino to me rather than that he is greying out - but I am not your expert, you need Faracat, Karen or some of the others in the know for that kind of thing

Spots are funny things, they come and go, I had a solid chestnut weanling come here two years ago, and he has developed freckly skin, is roaning out, and has small spots coming on his bum.

 

[joeanne]

I hope not.....he looks pretty funky at the moment.
I wasn't sure if he would varish as he has large blobs of roan in his patches.
But the spots are a cool look

 

[Enfys]

http://www.mustangs4us.com/Horse Colors/pintaloosa.htm

Runs back to FB.....

 

[nativepony]

Ooh he's gorgeous!!

 

[joeanne]

Bumping in the hope KarynK will see it!!!

 

[fatpiggy]

I am absolutely no expert but I would call him red and white and I think the spots are no different from those that many chestnuts develop (I once knew a chestnut mare that was completely covered with them). My own mare has a few white spots and developed a bunch more one year for no apparent reason.

He looks very sweet - good luck with him!

 

[Gracie21]

Coooool!! Can I have him please?

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I agree that pintaloosa describes him very well.

Looking closely - he possibly has black tips to his ears and black in his tail. This would indicate that he's actually black based colour rather than chestnut based.

If he is black based, then he has agouti, turning him into a bright bay.

He defintely has tobiano, sabino and it's highly likely that he also has the LP gene (leopard pattern).

He has the mottled skin that LP causes. Does he have a white sclera or striped hooves too?

At six years old, if he had the grey gene, he would be obviously greying out by now.

The LP gene could cause him to change colour, if he is a varnish.

 

[Pat10]

As already suggested, Pintaloosa. The speckled muzzle (and genitals, plus stripey hooves?) are a sure sign of Appaloosa/spotted pony breeding somewhere in his genes.

 

[joeanne]

Faracat he does indeed have black tips, sclera and strippy hooves!
And black in his tail.
How long would varnishing take or is it a "its done when its done" thing?
He is quite roan in some of his chestnut patches, but NOT the ones that contain the spots.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'm going to be quite honest - I don't fully understand the LP gene yet, in fact I believe that there is still lots of research into the gene going on now. Hopefully it will be fully understood soon.

The roan in his bay patches (you have confirmed that he's not chestnut now ) is most likely related to sabino which although not the true Roan gene, does cause roaning sometimes.

I would be very interested in seeing photos of him once he's moulted and his winter coat comes through.