# How do I darken a palomino's color??



## mgranch (Dec 30, 2007)

I recently bought a palomino gelding who is very light almost white in color. He has a faint yellow color with dapples when clipped. I was wondering if there were any good products to make his color more vibrant?? Also, what do you guys use for shiny healthy coats?? I have a silver dapple mare with a dull looking coat and I don't know what to give her to make it shiny and pretty. I've heard flax seed?? Vegetable oil?? What works and how much do you give A sized horses??

Thanks

Gina


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## Alex (Dec 30, 2007)

Ive never used it, but the ppl who make the black as knight make something called Gold as Sun. Ive heard its great!

Boss darkened the mare I leased up.

When you clip him, that takes away a lot of the rich color.


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## mgranch (Dec 30, 2007)

Thanks!! I'll look up the gold as sun. Also, I've been told about the Boss but thought it was just for black horses??


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## Alex (Dec 30, 2007)

Nope, BOSS is for all colors!


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## Valerie (Dec 30, 2007)

Boss does work........as well as just good quality food and vitamins, minerals etc. But also, some palominos are just not as dark. My palomino mare is pretty light....she did get a little darker using boss and getting her usual supplements, however, in the winter she does get much lighter regardless. That said, she will never be a dark golden palomino, because that is not her. I have had golden palominos in the past and they don't tend to fade in the winter months........atleast ours never did.

Congrats...pals are my favorite color!


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## Riverdance (Dec 30, 2007)

If your palomino is pale in its summer coat it will not get darker no matter what you use, unless it is still very young. Some will get darker as they get a bit older, but by three they are as dark as they will get. you can enhanse the color he is, but not darken it. If it is a winter coat, he may shed out darker. I have some very dark palominos that pale out quite a bit with their winter coats, but are very dark and rich in the summer.

By the way, A pale palomino is called an Isabella palomino.

The deeper richer colors come from breeding chestnut to palominos.

Either way, I am sure he is beautiful and you will love him.


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## Alex (Dec 30, 2007)

-- OH!


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## mgranch (Dec 30, 2007)

Thanks everyone!! I do love him so much!! Palomino is my favorite color too and I was so thrilled to finally get one!! I had no idea he was an Isabella palomino thanks I love that. Hey, if I can figure it out I'll post a pic!! Thanks for all the great info!!


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## maestoso (Dec 30, 2007)

I disagree about the 3 year old thing. I have seen palominos continue to darken each year until they are 5.


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## Alex (Dec 30, 2007)

I leased a 5yr old mare that continued to get darker each year...


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## mgranch (Dec 30, 2007)

He is 3 1/2 so I hope he may darken more. If not that's Ok too he's perfect just like he is!! Hopefully here's a pic.

Ok, I'm an idiot I can't figure out the picture thing!! I have the pic uploaded in photobucket then I follow the instructions but it never works!! I will keep trying!!


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## mgranch (Dec 30, 2007)

Here's my Rocket!!


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## nootka (Dec 31, 2007)

For those of you that don't know, Gina's Rocket is my Mouse's full brother (one year younger), and I am SO GLAD to see her here, and him with her.

So not only is Rocket a palomino, it is likely that he may be a silver, too. He had blue eyes when he was a baby, also.

Anyway, I have heard that they do darken over time, and can continue over several years as they mature. I think good food is basically the only way to influence coat, but it takes time.

I feed a couple tbsp. of BOSS as they are going into Spring (i.e. starting now) and kind of discontinued it on my fatty mares or horses that don't need the extra weight.

I've fed as much as a quarter cup to some horses that were thinner.

Rocket looks in good shape, so probably doesn't need more than a few tbsp.

Liz


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## mgranch (Dec 31, 2007)

Thank You so much Liz for introducing us to the board we so appreciate it!! Rocket is a dream come true for me as I never imagined I would own such a gorgeous horse!! He is truly a perfect boy!! I think he gets a very good diet with excellent hay, beet pulp, a little bit of grain and horse guard daily so that should help with his color being the best it can be. Where do I buy Boss?? I want to make certain it is completely safe for him and someone mentioned on here about a form of Boss with a bad additive in it that was harmful for horses so now I 'm a little nervous about it. Liz he weighs about 250-280 lbs so how much exactly do you think he should have of Boss?? Do you feed it once or twice daily??

Thanks

Gina


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## Jill (Dec 31, 2007)

In addition to the genetics the horse either has or doesn't, FLAX seed is what helps to bring out gold tones. Here is my golden palomino, in his winter coat and in his summer coat. AND, he was clipped 5 days before the show type picture was taken (so you can see, he IS very golden).

*[SIZE=12pt]Little King’s BT Bacardi Gold[/SIZE]*

2004 37.25” AMHR Golden Palomino Gelding – Son of Ima Boones Little Buckeroo Too (“BTU”)

Supreme and Grand Halter Champion / First Place Solid Color


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## minimomNC (Dec 31, 2007)

We have a palomino gelding that is also very light colored.

Not a great picture but here he is as a yearling.






We had him on Gold As Sun for two months and this is as dark as he got, he is three years old now.






We really don't care about solid color classes so didn't see the need to keep him on it. We had to feed a lot more than recommended just to get a small amount of color change. I think it would have worked better had he been dark to begin with but we found that Nu-Image works great to keep great coats on all of our horses.

These horses were on Nu-Image for about a month when these pictures were taken. And both were clipped with a 30 two days earlier.

yearling mare






yearling colt






The best way to get great coats on your horses is just a good feeding program and keeping them healthy.


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## Jill (Dec 31, 2007)

Just as a point of reference, here is a light palomino that I own, Derby. Derby never will be as golden as Bacardi, but I love both colors. Derby does get more golden than otherwise when given ground flax seed



I have also used Select Nu Image and liked it (very good product) but I like ground Flax Seed just as well plus love how it brings out the gold tones.


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## Riverdance (Dec 31, 2007)

I could be wrong on the color getting darker after 3, but my experience has been otherwise. I find if they are born a very dark, almost chestnut color when first born and wet, that they will be very dark as an adult. But, they do go through the pale color in their first year.

I have several palomino's and two of them are quite dark the other 3 are much lighter. Attached? (if I can figure out how to do this) is my 5 year old palomino stallion (not a great picture). He is very dark in the summer, but by the AMHA World show he was getting his winter coat (which is very long and thick in Minnesota) and was very pale by that time. All summer, even clipped he was this rich dark coor. I used nothing to inhance the color.

I too love palominos.


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## Jill (Dec 31, 2007)

It would make sense that the darker they are at birth, the more golden as adults, BUT, see my light palomino, Derby, at one day old and as an adult. He's a little turkey



I didn't see Bacardi as a foal, so don't know what color he was. He was very golden as a yearling, though.


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## MountainMeadows (Dec 31, 2007)

Jill,

I know that you need to feed ground flax seeds - how far in advance do you grind them up and for how long do they stay fresh? I'm wondering if you could grind up a pound and keep it in a Tupperware container & it would stay fresh for a month or so?

Stacy


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## Jill (Dec 31, 2007)

Stac --

We keep the in use ground seed at least a month in a coffee can. I grind it all at once, but I put what we are not using into the freezer (ground and in coffee cans or plastic containers)






Jill


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## maestoso (Dec 31, 2007)

You can buy ground flax seed that doesn't go bad for a while. I don't know the science behind it but they "fix" it somehow so it can stay effective and not go bad in its ground state. I will find out where we get it and what company....


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## Crabby-Chicken (Dec 31, 2007)

Welcome Gina!

Glad you found Liz! She is awesome and can tell you just about anything about Rocket's family! He is pretty, haven't seen him since he was a baby. Glad you have him and love him! You will have to go and meet his relative Pyro! Woooo Weee you will love him.

-Kim

www.thecrabbychickenranch.com


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## Valerie (Dec 31, 2007)

Welcome to the forum family Gina!!

We hope to see you and Rocket at the shows in 2008......he is gorgeous!!


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## MiniHunterHorseFan (Dec 31, 2007)

I've used Gold as Sun for my 3 year old palomino Bodie. I thought I didn't notice a difference in color but that year he had no skin allergies and this year I didn't us Gold As Sun and he had allergies. So maybe it does help some. It sure smells good though, like nutmeg.



In the winter he is always cream white and when he is clipped he is that color, but in the summer his hair is gold. Also I have a friend who's pally darkens every year. So maybe yours will.


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## mgranch (Dec 31, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the great welcome and advise!! Jill, Derby is sooo cute!! I was so happy to see all the beautiful palomino pictures!! Kim and Valerie we hopefully will meet in 2008 at a show I would love to go see Pyro and meet Liz in person so hopefully will get up that way soon!! I think after reading what everyone had to say I'll try flax seed. Where do I buy it?? How much do I feed?? Is it good for all color horses?? I have four A sized minis from 30" to 34" and 200-280 lbs. Just for fun here's a pic of my Lily isn't she a doll??!!


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## Jill (Jan 1, 2008)

I use it on all my show horses, regardless of color. I get it at the feed store in a huge sack and grind it with a cheap $5 coffee grinder. Once ground, it will not keep as long as whole, so if you grind it all at once, freeze all but a large coffee can that you are currently using. It also helps horses to shed out in the spring.

For the amount, my baseline is a heaping tablespoon 1x a day, more or less depending on the size of the horse. It doesn't take "a lot" to make a difference.

Here's my silver dapple mare that I had on it. See how shiny she is? She has no "spray on shine" on her and was clipped the night before this picture was taken. Not exercised or anything, either. I took her to a show only to keep her yearling daughter calm / unstressed and this mare won her class and went Grand Champion mare (not too bad for a 2x broodmare who only came along for companionship!).






This is her daughter (silver buckskin):






And see how shiny too it made my silver bay boy:






The flax seed is the only supplement my horses get and all these ones just had a basic clip and bath. These pictures were taken as we unloaded them at home following our state club's summer show.


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## mgranch (Jan 1, 2008)

WOW Jill!! Your horses are amazing!! Thanks so much for the step by step directions on the flax seed!! I am always nervous to add new feeds so love to have very specific instructions on what to do!! I am going to get flax seed right away and a coffee grinder. Hopefully, my horses will be shiny and beautiful like yours very soon!! Also, you said flax is the only supplement you feed. I also feed horse guard will I no longer need that after adding flax seed?? Thanks so much for being so helpful and patient with all my questions!!

Gina


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## Jill (Jan 1, 2008)

Hi, Gina --

I'm not sure what Horse Guard is. Is it a vitamin? Unless it is a fat based coat conditioner (which is what flax seed would be), I would keep them on the Horse Guard.

"All" I give my horses are complete senior pellets (which have more protein and fat than plain adult pellets), soft orchard grass hay, the flax seed, minerals (loose and blocks free choice) and dewormer





Jill


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## Boss Mare (Jan 1, 2008)

Palomino is palomino and as you know it varies in color from almost white to a rich dark gold. I have noticed that mostly palominos are lighter in their winter coat and their color tends to turn deeper in their summer coat.. I have noticed some who darken as they age too, but I don't know how very well this holds true..


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## mgranch (Jan 1, 2008)

Thanks Jill, yes horse guard is a vitamin and mineral supplement so I will continue using it with my flax seed.

I really appreciate all your help!!

Gina


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## Warpony (Jan 1, 2008)

A friend of mine told me to feed paprika. She said it darkened up her light palomino. I didn't see that it made much difference in her horse but she thought it did... and I was way to afraid to feed it to mine, so I am not recommending it, just that it might be something to look into. I've seen it mentioned on line a few times. Might be worth doing a google for I guess.


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## mgranch (Jan 1, 2008)

Thanks Warpony!! I'm with you I am such an old mother hen and worry about everything that goes in my horses mouths that I'd probably be afraid to feed it too!! LOL


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