That is very typical of chestnuts and palominos.
Vitiligo is a disease whose cause is unknown. So not a copper (or zinc) deficiency, though I have seen reference to using Zn supplementation to help
http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/dermatologic-disorders/pigmentation-disorders/vitiligo
Not sure if this has been mentioned–but poison parsnip looks a lot like dill. Poison parsnip can cause lots of “funky skin stuff”. Though, when my mare had it, she got blisters on her muzzle, which doesn’t sound like what this horse has. (Not sure where you are or if you area even has poison parsnip, but if you do, I’d get it removed from the pasture ASAP.)
I’m not sure if poison parsnip is local to here either, but I looked up some pictures. The flowers are similar to what is in the pasture, but the leaves are not. I’m still leaning towards dill. Horse does not have any blistering.
I’m interested to see if his chestnut half brother (who has pretty different looking skin and coat) does the same thing eventually.
Horse’s spots are spreading. He’s got one at his temple, one on a shoulder, one on a cheek…the spots on the muzzle are starting to connect. All the new ones are small, like pencil eraser sized. Now looking like pretty typical vitiligo. At least the body hair is not falling out. Very interesting.
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