Color Confusion...What is happening to my chestnut mare?

[Invite]

My light chestnut Selle Francais mare is coming 7 this year. I have owned her since she was a weanling and have never seen her shed out to this color. Every year she seems to get a new Bend Or spot or two. She also has some random Birdcatcher spots and a little roaning. The Bend Or spots are kind of a liver chestnut color and had been limited to her rump.

Roo has three “red” legs that have always been lighter in color the closer they got to her hoof…I hope this makes sense. As her legs have been shedding, her pasterns looked as though they were dirty. Well, yesterday I decided to whip out the Cowboy Magic Green Spot remover, as the “dirty” pasterns were driving me nuts. Well, the pasterns were NOT dirty. They are kind of liver chestnut now Her face also seems to have some darker areas. She is very dappled, so maybe it blends in :winkgrin:

So, my formerly light chestnut with a flaxen/strawberry blonde mixed mane and tail now has darker shading on various areas. Has anybody had this happen with their chestnut? This mare is looking a little strange! She has been the same color her entire life, though she has “popped out” some Bend Or spots and some Birdcatcher spots every year. I know I can’t do anything about the color change, but I am just plain confused and curious! Any ideas as to what might be going on with Roo?

[gubbyz]

Picture please! She sounds quite pretty! I love chestnuts and how they can vary in color.

[JB]

redheads with flaxen often start darkening as they get older

[themarchcat]

Not sure if this is relevant, especially since my chestnut mare hasn’t been putting on Bend or Spots or Birdcatcher Spots (yet… she does have minor flecking along her barrel area that’s noticeable during the spring/summer), but I have found that in the spring time, my girl sheds out to be a quite deep liver color, but then as the season turns to summer, she fades out and is a paler chestnut or bright red chestnut all other seasons. I’ll have to post a picture of her when she sheds out come April or so =)

http://i.imgur.com/07g4i.jpg

[TrinitySporthorses]

My chestnut gelding had a “dark year” last year when he was 7. He decided to try out liver for the season, I guess. Some chestnuts just like to try different shades and it doesn’t always start happening right away.
At least you have a flaxen mane…that is one of my dreams =)

[Daventry]

The Section D Welsh Cob stallion, Goldhills Brandysnap, that we have been leasing for the last few years has definitely gotten darker. I’ve included photos of him below as a three year old and then as a 7 year old. His tail is still a gorgeous color! Our friend has a half-sister to him, and she’s also getting darker and darker each year. Like Trinity, we also had a chestnut gelding with flaxen mane and tail last year suddenly decide to go a dark liver chestnut. Go figure!

[IrishDeclan]

This sounds exactly like my Irish Sport Horse/Selle Francais gelding. I imported him as a coming 5 year old from Ireland. As a six year old the birdcatcher spots started to appear. They come and go though. Last year he had none for most of the year, but he’s now covered in them. Just clipped him last week and found even more. He also has funny little roan patches and a big bend or spot on his left flank. His chestnut legs also get lighter as it gets closer to his hoof, and on his stocking he has little chestnut spots. They look sort of like the ermine markings you would see on a bay horse with white legs except the spots are chestnut instead of black. What is the breeding on your mare?

[alto]

[QUOTE=Daventry;6171623]
Like Trinity, we also had a chestnut gelding with flaxen mane and tail last year suddenly decide to go a dark liver chestnut. Go figure! ;)[/QUOTE]

Isn’t that 'cause you stole him away from that gorgeous California sun :winkgrin:

[Invite]

So it sounds like lots of chestnuts like to change it up a bit
Irish Declan, my mare is by a Cor de la Bryere X Landgraf stallion and out of a Thoroughbred mare.
Daventry, I am amazed by the change in your boy!!!

Thanks for all the responses!

[BoldChance]

Invite - who is the Cor De La Bryere X Landgraf I stallion?

I have a little dude of a WB who is a grandson of that breeding… so I’m curious if they’re related (Note: He’s a bay, and only 4, so no color changes as of yet. Haha)

[Invite]

[QUOTE=BoldChance;6172052]
Invite - who is the Cor De La Bryere X Landgraf I stallion?

I have a little dude of a WB who is a grandson of that breeding… so I’m curious if they’re related (Note: He’s a bay, and only 4, so no color changes as of yet. Haha)[/QUOTE]

Rubianna’s daddy is Candidus

[IrishDeclan]

My guy is by a stallion named Quiletto who is a grandson of Galoubet and out of a Clover Hill mare. I honestly don’t know much about Selle Francais bloodlines so I’m not sure if my guy and your mare share any common lines. Here’s his pedigree if anybody wants to take a stab at it: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/patrickswell+stonehaven

[Beentheredonethat]

I had the opposite happen to my chestnut mare. She was a bright chestnut, and I bred her, so I knew her from birth. At about four tiny little white spots started appearing on her. By the time I lost her at 14 she was was speckled with white spots all over, even in her mane and tail. I think it’s cool.

[Personal_Champ]

Will be watching this - have a “medium” chestnut, very red, less copper, that has a flaxen tail and roaning by her rear stockings, with a white spot on her back and assorted sprinklings of white through her flanks and rump. She will be 8 this year.

I body clipped her in the fall. I will have had her a year in April, and she came to me with a bad coat, but that bad coat was lighter. I assumed it was just because of nutrition but she looks even darker this year. Hmm…

[Fancy_That]

Being a color genetics geek, I love color threads

Chestnuts certainly can change and evolve ALOT. Especially flaxen chestnuts or anything with sooty/dark tones.

My own mare is a liver with silvery mane and tail and she constantly changes color. When she was a coming 4 year old (when I got her), her mane and tail had quite alot of white hairs…now, as a coming 13 year old, she has more and more darker hairs (definitely a salt and pepper)

And her body color CONSTANTLY changes. She’ll bleach out to pumpkin, then shed out to dark chocolate. When she “moults”, she gets massive spots/dappling, reverse dapples etc.

she also has white ticking throughout her body (from sabino?)

Just something that some horses do The little chameleons

[Invite]

I am so relieved Roo is normal for a chestnut It’s so interesting how her color is changing! Thanks for all the responses.