Random colour change patches

CharlieMayhem

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Hi All, my new forest is dappled bay but in the last few days has developed a few patches where there are flecks white. One is to one side beneath the saddle, so i initially worried that the saddle was rubbing. However I have disturbed the hair and there is no evidence of rubbing or irritation on the skin, or bruising. Also the saddle is only 3 months old and been checked regularly by the saddler, and he has never gone so well in his life as he has since getting that saddle!

But there are some other patches like it on his haunches and on an ear! He has always been one where the slightest cut grows back white but this seems so random, especially with no evidence of injury!

The patches aren't all white just containing random white hairs within a specific area... grateful for any thoughts!
 
How old is she? Dapples tend to change colour lightening with age. (as in between birth and about 7 or 8 - not old age!) She might be developing bird catcher spots as part of this process. I have a dapple grey currently in the process of morphing into what we suspect will be a flea bitten grey in time - I was expecting a pure grey from his breeding. Mineral imbalance can also cause coat colour changes. A reaction to midge or horsefly bites growing back white?
 
I've looked up bird catcher spots and it says they are no bigger than an inch but one of these patches is more like 6 inches! He is 13 so I'd have thought his colour would be stablished, the dapples came out between 8 and 11.

The mark on his ear looks like a bird catcher bit the others not. It is just strange how quickly they came up, in a matter of 3 days!
 
We had a chestnut on yard with an odd variation of bird catcher spots. They were much larger and some were hollow circles. To be honest it looked like ringworm scarring but it genuinely wasn't. He'd carried the marks from birth. Not the case for your lass obviously as these have just developed.

As they came up so quickly might it be worth getting a vet to have a quick look next time they are out for something routine? It could be a scarring reaction to a bite. I presume you'd notice ringworm - but that does the same thing.
 
My chestnut has had birdcatcher spots since she was 2. They vary in size but the largest would perhaps have been 3" across. Now she is elderly there is a lot more roan in her coat but the spots still appear and disappear. They also seem to have migrated down her legs too. Sometimes they leave a roan patch. Her sire was grey and at birth she was a beigey colour that the breeder said would turn to grey. She didn't!
 
I don't know how to put pics up either! Definitely nothing wrong with the skin underneath, I've checked several times as am convinced I've missed something! No ringworm, no scaring or bruising... not even chaffing! must just be something random. When the vet is next out I will ask but my boy is genuinely in the best condition of his life at the minute so would be easy to spot if something was up. I've had him since he was three months old so I know him well enough to spot even the subtlest sign but nothing is different other than those marks... very odd! At least he can still surprise me after 13 years!
 
I like conundrums hence asking.

For reference the easiest way is to have them on a third party hosting site (like facebook) and you open the picture, right click and you should get copy image location (or similar wording). You then post that code in here and add
either end without spaces.
 
How old is she? Dapples tend to change colour lightening with age. (as in between birth and about 7 or 8 - not old age!) She might be developing bird catcher spots as part of this process. I have a dapple grey currently in the process of morphing into what we suspect will be a flea bitten grey in time - I was expecting a pure grey from his breeding. Mineral imbalance can also cause coat colour changes. A reaction to midge or horsefly bites growing back white?

Your horse will end up white. Grey is a modifier, so it will have been born bay or chestnut etc then slowly turned grey. Eventually, ome quicker than others, they end up white or more likely, dirty beige!
 
sorry Meredith but that did make me smile :)

OP my own has a roany patch under his saddle, it is only really visible on his clipped coat and I know which saddle caused it and when but there was no indication of a problem at the time... but the patches in the other areas suggest something else going on :)
 
sorry Meredith but that did make me smile :)

OP my own has a roany patch under his saddle, it is only really visible on his clipped coat and I know which saddle caused it and when but there was no indication of a problem at the time... but the patches in the other areas suggest something else going on :)


Yes, I believe it was supposed to.
 
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