Black foals at birth and later photos Please

[MBhorses]

Hello,

could folks please posted photos of solid black or appy black or pinto blacks at birth photos then later photos? i was told black foals are not born black is this true?

Also what colors do you breed to get black foals?

thanks melissa

 

[Mona]

Black horses are often born a greyish silvery "mousy" colored black. Any black based parent can produce a black.

 

[nootka]

to me, it depends on the time of year that the black foal is born. This filly was born Mar. 28th. Her dam is black and her sire is chestnut.

I have had foals that were born a greyish-cream body color that shed into a black, but I believe they were smokey black and/or maybe even grulla.

Usually the black foals I've seen are born a bluish-grey-black.

Towards June, they tend to be born quite black. Here is my mare that was born June 22 (she is now 6 and the dam of the filly above (this mare is out of a buckskin pinto mare and by a buckskin stallion):

just dried, you can see the silvery/creamy look to the tips of the hairs:

Here she is about 4-6 weeks later:

Around my place, all you need to do is breed ANY horse and it comes out black (just kidding!). Honestly, though, as long as they carry the genes for it, you can get black. Most likely to give you black are ones that are homozygous for the gene, and they themselves will be black. Bays and buckskins also carry the black gene (but modified by other genes). Even sorrels and palominos can have black foals.

Genetic testing can be done to determine a horse's color possibilities, but color should always be the last thing one worries about unless there are health issues associated with it (such as LWO).

Liz M.

 

[Tony]

Here is one of my favorite examples: Little America's 007 Rowdy Tornado You can see that he was very silver/blue as a foal, as are most black foals.

 

[Charlotte]

Both of the foals below are from black based parents. They each have the possibility of being homozygous for black as well as homozygous for tobiano (I need to get the tests done)

This filly was born coal black. At one month old she is still so black that her features don't show up in pictures. She has been outside all day every day and her color hasn't bleached at all. She is still as black today as the day she was born.

This colt was born with a silvery cast to his black coat. At 7 weeks old he is a bit sun bleached looking.

With a black and black based stallion and quite a few black based mares we do get black foals often and I have found that the 'color' of black at birth can vary dramatically.

Charlotte

 

[Gena]

A couple of colts and a filly we had out of our solid black stallion:

 

[Dona]

As a general rule...black foals are born a Silvery-Black or Grayish color...then will shed off to black.\

Foals who are born jet black at birth are "usually" ones who have inherited the "graying" gene, and will eventually lose their color. Those babies are usually their adult "base" color at birth.

I'm sure there are occassional exceptions, tho.

:

 

[fdmedic]

My first little baby was born the greyish color, and is now smokey black like his father. My little one for this year (on avatar) will turn out just like his big brother!

 

[Little Wee Horse Farm]

Yes, we've had those exceptions quite a few times. More times than not, I guess. One of our black mares threw many born black foals who stayed that way & never changed -- black as coal from day one. One of her foals, however, became a blue roan. Several of these foals had the same sire, but only one turned blue roan.

Another non-fading black mare always had born black foals that stayed that way. Never anything different.

All of these black foals were, as others are saying about ones that turned color, so black that we could never get a decent picture of them. The one that turned blue roan, tho, was sooooooooo black that all of his photos look like cut-outs. No features, just outline. Could hardly even see his eyes in the pictures.

 

[Lil' Horse Lover]

Here's my guy that I used to have, "Smokie". I couldn't find very many pics. of him without kids or people in it but you can get an idea of what he looked like.

2 weeks old:

3 months:

7 months:

9 months:

 

[ChrystalPaths]

My best girl Halley (aka Galloping G Blackberry)

as a new baby at Nancy's

freshly clipped a couple months later, still at Nancy's and what made me have to have her

And last year as a 2 yr old here, forgive the mowhawk, she had just had a bath and was about to beautified when dry

 

[MBhorses]

:aktion033: thanks for sharing all the photos. I think the photos and information will help folks

thanks everyone