It’s a color gene in Appaloosas
I know this is Wikipedia. But it gives a basic overview. I’m sure you can google further.
Most likely the varnish progression from LP. At this point I don’t know how you would distinguish that from vitiligo
The Appaloosa breed isn’t particularly predisposed to vitiligo, it’s common on Arabians, and often goes away as quickly and oddly as it came on, which lead “them” to suspect it’s often stress/immune-related, not diet. It COULD be a copper deficiency, and adding a reasonable amount of Cu to the diet, 300-500mg, might give some insight. If it’s a Cu-deficiency, then there’s also a Zn issue since both almost always go hand in hand in the forage as to whether there’s enough, or not, so you’d want to add about 3x the amount of Zn as Cu.
IIRC there was a study that showed supplementing with vitamins A, D, E, and B12, helped, but offhand I can’t find that to see the details. The odds of a horse on enough pasture being deficient in A, D, or E is pretty slim, and B12 is created by a healthy gut.
If this keeps going beyond the head, 99.9999% sure it’s LP doing what it does - varnishing
Leopard Pattern gene, which causes Appaloosa patterns. Ha, better definitions arrived in the 3 seconds it took to post this
LP only allows a pattern to express. PATN1 is the only currently testable pattern gene
PATN? (there are more than 1, just not testable) without LP will be solid
LP without any PATN? will varnish at some point, to some degree, even if it’s so subtle and takes years
So, LP = varnish, and PATN? produces some type of spotting pattern that requires the presence of LP to show
Perhaps leptospirosis isn’t as common where you live? As that is linked to uveitis development.
She is positive for PSSM 1. In my opinion that’s a pretty serious (if manageable) flaw.
Lepto isn’t related to appy genetics. But lepto can trigger ERU, and while that can be the case with any horse, it’s the LP that makes it more likely. But even without lepto, the LP horse is more likely, and very likely if LP/LP, to develop ERU in general
I’ve had appys for most of my life, and a few that have been varnish roans and I’ve not had one express skin coloration change quite like this gal. When varnishing, they usually keep their dark points very distinct over the bony points of the face and the joints, while the rest of them varnishes out gradually.
This lovely gal is changing in large chunks, and pretty symmetrically. That particular coat pattern gets dark spots as well as the white lace blanket part on top. I’ve seen one other gelding with a similar coat color and pattern, he had irregular shaped darker than his base coat spots on his rump and sides, and white bits in-between the dark spots and on top of his back, if that makes sense. His coat pattern changed more dramatically every year and he did get more mottling on his face than the other appys I’ve seen.
This gal might just have another expression of that, where it’s a little more pronounced on her face. She’s very cute! Do you have any photos of the progression of her color change on her face? Or one of her in her winter coat?
How much copper and zinc would you add?
I usually start with a half scoop of poly copper & a half scoop of poly zinc (so 250 mg copper & 625 mg zinc) but you can go up from there if there’s some improvement and it stalls out.
I have one who lost quite a bit of pigment around his eye, and it’s all come back with ohhhh how much does he get all in now? 550 mg copper and 1525 mg zinc.
It’s really so dependent on what else is in the diet & local conditions. But you can usually tell with a lowish starting dose if it’s going to help or not.
Vet said it possibly is Vitiligo, but if so, it won’t affect anything. She will need a long fly mask regardless. UV to prevent sunburn and if she is predisposed to Uveitis, the mask will help with that as well. I do not plan to breed her.