Anybody know what color this would be considered? Or what is causing the much lighter color on his barrel and rump?
Lol as far as akhal-tekes go this one is quite plain. I’d call it brown.
It looks like a seal brown: its a fairly common color in horses - the coat is so dark it appears black except for the lighter brown shading on the underbelly, around the muzzle and the head. This guy just looks like a more extreme version.
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I would guess his genotype is a bay or possibly a buckskin (bay + cream). There are a huge variety of expression in both buckskin and bay, but no real answers on what accounts for those variations.
Phenotypically (descriptively), I’m tempted to call this horse a seal brown because he has lighter/golden areas around the flank, but I usually think of seal browns with lighter areas around the muzzle as well, which he doesn’t have, which is part of why I think possibly a very sooty version of buckskin. If I were putting something on registration papers or a Coggins test I would go with bay.
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Isn’t there a soot modifier? Sooty bay? I was told my TB was a sooty bay, but I think he’s just a very handsome bay. :winkgrin:
That is a nice looking Akhal Teke. I wish they didn’t shave/clip/roach their forelocks and mane (I know it’s traditional)… as I think if you had him braided up and standing square, the overall impression of him would be very different. People are very quick to think Akhal Tekes have major conformation flaws that other breed registries don’t.
Here’s an Akhal Teke braided up and in good condition:
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I agree with the others that this is pretty standard coloring. I work for Spring Hollow Farm Akhal Teke’s ( https://springhollowfarmky.wordpress.com/) and we roach some of the manes because they are pitiful haha. If you look at that site we have two stallions - the bay has mane that braids nicely, the palomino we roach because or else he looks like a high school boy trying to grow facial hair :lol:
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There is a lot of speculation and you can find some web references to a sooty modifier, but to the best of my knowledge it isn’t available to test for, and I don’t think they have even located a gene locus yet.
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Even if it is “just brown” I thought it was a pretty cool expression of brown.
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Sparse manes? So if I bred an Appy to an Akhal-Teke (an Appalteke?) I’d get a maneless and tailless horse?
Actually, that’s exactly what a guy did in establishing the “Nez Perce Horse” registry. Akhal-Teke’s to Appies, And they weren’t hairless (LOL). His thinking was similar backgrounds - the horses of a desert/wilderness dwelling nomadic tribe. Certainly a better choice than turning the breed into colorless Quarterloosas.
And yes, I think the horse is just brown. I even wonder if some of the lighter color might be sun bleaching? That’s what a friend’s black/brown horse looked like after a summer at pasture.
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Did that ever take off? I heard about it a couple years ago, and then never heard anything again.
Here is a P1 that I came across about the same time. Certainly not hairless: https://imgur.com/a/SGNLc
A local trainer shows dressage on an AT/TB and while I would say it certainly doesn’t have lush locks, she does still braid it.
[QUOTE=Draftmare;n9948958]
Did that ever take off? I heard about it a couple years ago, and then never heard anything again.
/QUOTE]
He overextended himself and the program got shutdown and all but a few horses sold/dispersed. There was a PBS program about it. Don’t know if it’s accessible on the PBS website. I think the Nez Perce Horse Registry still exists, though, but I don’t know how well/effectively it is operating or if it is essentially moribund. Something to check out. I have an Araloosa and he has an incredibly thick mane, and a long, but thin tail. shrug
[quote="“Belowthesalt,post:11,topic:440562”]
My horse is Appaloosa x Belgian Draft and she has hair in spades, but I always attributed that to the draft size. Her mane is so thick I ended up going to the roached look a couple of years ago, and have never looked back. Much easier to manage.
