Our keeper foal was born Monday and we are so in love. When he came out it looked like he had one tall white sock, but by the next day it had disappeared. He’s my first chestnut foal, I know that the socks are clearly defined and not hard to see, but he has 4 white feet. Maybe he just has little anklets that I can’t see because his foal coat is so light on his legs? Or do their feet ever darken? Our bays foals always had dark hoof below a dark coat. The mare and stallion typically pass on a lot of white. In some light I swear I see ankle whites, but in some light it looks like just foal coat all the way down. It doesn’t matter, I have years of experience scrubbing white socks, just curious. Some people look at him and swear he has 4 white legs and some say he has none. The vet said there must be some white on each leg because of his feet but wasn’t sure exactly where lol. Lots of pics on my fb page.
I look at the pics and see white socks, ending below the fetlock.
I also see an an awesome little dude, so much air time!
Just checked the photos on my fridge. My liver chestnut/no white mare was born with white hooves and they now are dark with a bit of light vertical striping. Her body, legs and feet looked very much like yours early on - her coat and feet darkened over a period of years. Her brother had socks and they looked quite distinct from the moment he was born.
It can be REALLY hard to see white leg markings on a lot of newborn chestnut foals because their leg hair is so light. It’s complicated by the fact that chestnut skin (on foals staying chestnut, not graying) is pretty light, and it takes a few days to darken up.
The taller the white, the easier it usually is to distinguish it. Given that it’s very hard to tell what’s what and what’s baby “white” in the pics, I’d say at best you’ve got some low whites.
The best thing will be after a few days to a week, once the skin has darkened, wet the legs and see where the pink skin is.
Even white or mostly white feet aren’t necessarily a good indicator, as you can have just the coronet band be white, or sometimes not even that, just a single layer of white-producing cells at the coronet.
Adorable.
No socks.
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Not going to weigh in on socks or lack thereof, but his face marking is adorable!
We had a chestnut foal born earlier this year. He clearly had two stockings behind. One of his front hooves was dark, the other was light. I thought he must have a small sock on that leg that I just couldn’t see yet. But now that he is 4 months old, it’s clear that there is no sock and the hoof has darkened.
Your colt looks great to me, but I don’t see any socks.
I don’t see socks either. I wet the legs but similar to his mom’s there is lighter skin and darker skin, and not in clearly defined spots. I have a white mare and when I wet her legs, I can clearly see where her socks were, her skin is pink even though the hair is the exact same color all over her body. This foal’s dam has three tall white socks and an anklet and her socks look nothing like my white mare’s socks when wet (although I never noticed until now). I am just hoping to not have 4 white hooves and chestnut legs but since I’ve never seen one like that I’m going to assume his hooves will darken although the vet said they were probably going to stay white. Time will tell! Thank you!
We once had a dark brown mare with two white hooves (in front) and one striped hoof behind. One of her front hooves had a few white hairs on the heel, but other than that there was no white anywhere on her legs.
We bred her, she was born that way and remained so until we sold her when she was 5. It always looked very odd to me, I didn’t like it at all.
That’s what I’m afraid of, but there are 4 and they are attached to my ao hunter lol. The only way I’m going to know for sure is to clip his legs and since it is what it is, I’m not going to do that. He’s a fantastic colt, to me it looks like mostly dark skin underneath but I sprayed my mare’s socks next to him today as well as two other horses of different colors with socks in the barn and they had clearly pink skin. My mare has much much lighter pink skin that barely shows through under her socks body clipped last month and soaking wet. So weird.
The colt is giving me a run for my money as they do at this age… I am just glad his legs are straight!
Amen to that
I’m sure he will grow up to be gorgeous. 
I’d like to see him, but no facebook for me.
Just a funny update… my farrier came today, and when I asked if he thought his feet would change color he LAUGHED. He thought he probably had anklets… he started to shed last week so the mystery can’t last!
I hope we can rely on updates as he changes…
Of course! My trainer keeps telling me to just clip him, but I love the suspense lol. He looks so much like a Jupiter colt I had (the real Justice) that it is freaky. The markings are different but everything else is the same… I’m still friends with Jupiter’s breeder and she says he is a complete throwback to grandpa. And she assured me he will settle down, lol. Now he will come to me, but only because he thinks I might be delicious.
I have had many chestnut foals, and I find it very hard to determine markings unless you clip the legs (which I don’t honestly suggest as that hair is protective). The light foal coat on the legs makes markings hard to see, and even white feet aren’t a dead giveaway as marking can be very close to the coronet and still produce white feet. You should know for certain when the foal sheds out. I resist even sending markings photos in for registration before then, as even the experienced staff at the registries sometimes have a hard time seeing marking on chestnut infants!
He is shedding out, and I’m a little puzzled. The hair on his face and body are the same chestnut as mom. But the parts of his body shedding lower are a distinctly different color and tone… grayish brownish yellowish. It is hard to tell what’s going on under the foal coat on the legs because there is so much hair but their is definitely some mottling. I am wanting to clip the legs but clipping chestnuts changes the red so much that I don’t think I’ll get the full picture, and it is fun to watch the progression. The stallion does throw some interesting markings, our last foal by him had black ear tips and mane but not black legs even on the leg without high white and a silver tail. There aren’t that many chestnuts, so not sure what’s up at this point.
Mottling on the legs is normal on foal sheds
JB, the skin is mottled in places on the legs when I get it wet. I put up new pics on my fb page and would love your expert opinion!
