I would like to know more about migrating spots on a leopard horse. Brown spots appeared after winter coat shed out…they were not there previously…only black dominant black spots. Will the lesser brown spots disappear??
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A friend had a leopard appy and used to say, that is one leopard that does change it’s spots.
Guess that hers also had wandering spots?
I had one appy, that was world ch reining horse, that didn’t have not one appy spot on him, but was a bay roan all over, probably a sabino gene involved there somewhere.
He did have the mottled sclera in the right places.
His full brother was also a bay, without the roaning and had a beautiful spotted blanket.
Is your horse a full leopard spotted, bigger spots all over, not very close?
Interesting that the color changed.
Not sure the new spots will stay there or go completely away, or change colors?
Genetics of colors are so very interesting, are they.
Appaloosas do sometimes change patterns with each coat shed, especially ones that are varnish-y. Usually, it comes from more white appearing over time, versus spots actually moving.
There is also something specific about how the leopard gene interacts with black that I don’t think is completely understood.
http://equinetapestry.com/2012/03/appaloosa-color-shifting/
http://equinetapestry.com/2013/07/more-examples-of-appaloosa-color-shifting/
One question would be, are these brown spots previously black or was this over an area that was white, or in an area that was previously a patch of solid? Pictures might be of help.
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^^This. It is fairly common for a horse to reveal “new” spots in dark areas as they progressively varnish, although in those cases the spots are the same color as the base coat. As the varnishing spreads and is heavier additional spots may become more apparent with each shed.
Color shifting from Lp can also wreak havoc with the base color and make it appear different over time, or different than what you would expect from testing for the color genes. And lots of Appaloosas (or other Lp spotted horses) have spots of multiple colors. My dark bay has 4 light chestnut spots among his dark spots. They haven’t changed, though.
I have never heard of spots moving, though, or new spots appearing in previously white areas. In fact, it is usually pretty easy to be certain foal pictures and adult pictures are of the same horse, even in cases of heavy varnishing because the spots themselves remain so constant.
Pictures would be great.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:9878719}[/ATTACH] showing “new” spots as varnish comes in, and one light spot
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I have a bright bay appy with a lace blanket. Over the years, every summer there are new white spots all over his body. On his white lace blanket, he has also developed big dark chocolate spots, which are gorgeous.
I have heard some appy owners right here on COTH state that they like that every spring, when shedding, they “have a horse of a different color”.
Seems that some of them just keep changing all along.
Yes, they can. My last mare was a few spot, she has a light speckling of spots on her neck the summer, but they totally disappeared when her winter coat came in.
My current mare is varnish. She started out life completely solid. Now she has a lot of white, and this year I noticed she got white spots on her ears. She’s 8, but I wonder if she will continue to get white as she ages.
I’ve given up on telling people that she is not actually roan, she’s varnish!
My Leopard Appy still gets new spots and he is 17 now. Last year I was convinced he had a pooh stain that I kept trying to wash off, oops, it was a new spot
And then you have this guy - Mystic Warrior. A complete 360 on color.
https://www.google.com/search?q=mystic+warrior+horse&tbm=isch&imgil=WXgu9PMUDHyJ5M%3A%3BrCCf61PaRFklSM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.hors
http://www.classicalbaroquehorses.com/mystic-warrior.html
Oh my gosh, its funny you mention that. My mare this year got a couple of weird darker spots near her coronet band. One day I went really to town on trying to scrub it off, thinking it was poop or dirt. Didn’t come off. So I guess now she has some darker spots on her legs!
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But this is gray, very different from Appaloosa genes.
Our stallion BJC Asher Seven seems to be consistently producing “flaxen?” manes and tails. He is LP/LP, Ee Aa, and no silver, no cream. One of his daughters is black or very dark liver, with an almost white main and tail. And we have 3 that people think are palominos. I’m thinking this is the color shifting people are talking about?
I don’t believe he is gray, just getting more white from the Appaloosa over time. Gray should apply evenly over the body and that’s not what is happening with him. Further, Freisians don’t have the grey gene and people in Appaloosas avoid it.
I imagine someone who knows more about this horse knows for sure. 
Actually, I do think he’s grey. If you check out his FB page he’s nearly 100% white now. He also has grey foals out of non grey mares, and there are a few odd blog posts about him being grey. He does have grey goggles in his baby pics, too…
Gray is not “against the law” within the Appaloosa breed, just discouraged. There are many gray Appaloosas and without a doubt Mystic Warrior is a gray. In an Appaloosa with gray, the spots are usually the last to go gray.
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My Leopard also has this weird thing that when his winter coat comes in, his spots become almost 3D, they are noticeably raised for lack of a better descriptive term. I show it to people every year, cause it’s so different:)
I read somewhere that the hair that makes up the spots is longer, so they are raised.
It is similar in paints, different colored patches seem like a map with each color a different texture or height and they shed at different times also.
