Why White?

[lottie1990]

Ok, this is a werid kind of question,

Why do horses have white stars, stripes, blazes, why white? Are they any horses that have a black blaze or chestnut star?
I dont know if i sound stupid asking it ! :S

 

[ladylisa]

There was a chestnut horse at the yard i used to be at that had a black circle shape half way down his nose, and no white.
Was told he had always had it!

 

[Rachel_M]

The areas of white are lack of pigment (sp) not another colour on top.

So unless it was a birth mark or perhaps a roan you would rarely see a horses with a blaze/stripe/snip etc that wasn't white or pinkish from the skin.


...I think

 

[Nailed]

ted has a circle of black on the leg which is effected by the lymphangitis, this however was aquired from the original infection but looks like a marking.
Lou x

 

[vicijp]

There was a horse racing on TV yesterday who had a big white blaze, but then a funny black mark on his nose). Trying to work out if it was mud or not, or maybe the lad/lass had an accident with the hoof oil?! Id be 99.9% sure it was a marking - very odd.
I have known chestnuts with black blotches on their body, but not markings in the conventional sense.

 

[lucy5]

good q have no idea though! xx

 

[lottie1990]

I keep thinking about it, lol

I think i was looking at everyones signiture and noticed horses with stripes they were white. So its a really ramdon question. lol.

Oh inever done this before, but you know when you clip the horses head, does the markings show?

 

[Rachel_M]

The white markings? Yes, they do. The darker one, I wouldn't know sorry.

 

[Seahorse]

My friends horse had a lovely liver chestnut foal that had no white markings on his face but an apricot coloured splodge on his nose!
Don't know if it stayed that colour tho or if it was just 'foaly'

 

[BroadfordQueen]

my old pony who was white-grey had a star, you could see it when you clipped him out, but it was pink lol.

 

[sade1986]

My lecturer at college gave me an article about domestication, it said something like the piebald markings i.e. white markings in most animal species are the result of domestication. This is also true of cattle and dogs.

If anyone is interested this is the paper, it is about foxes but the bit about the piebald gene applies to horses. But its kinda long

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:t-Z...;cd=1&gl=uk