Silver dapples--

[Roxane Martin]

Hey all--

Was wondering this and since my only experience has been with grey horses, not silver dapples (dark dappled "grey" with silver mane/tail), am ignorant of this aspect of horse color.

Does a silver dapple change color as they age? If as an adult they are a dark silver, will they maintain that color throughout their life or will they lighten to white as an older horse?

Those of you who have these color of horses, what has been your experience?

Thanks.

Roxane

 

[Toyhorse]

My dapple gray changes color with the seasons. Darker in the winter and lighter in the summer.

Hope this helps

Toyhorse

 

[Dona]

As Toyhorse says....they will change color with the seasons. But they will NOT get lighter with age. On the contrary....most will darken a bit each year until they reach their adult color.

 

[Sue_C.]

A silver dapple, (silver black) doesn't lighten with age, anything like a dapple grey. Unless, of course,

it has the greying gene from a true grey parent. That is a whole different gene altogether. Usually, if a silver is born, carrying the grey gene, it is born already looking white.

 

[Nickermaker]

We have a silver dapple coming 2 year old. When I got her I picked her out as a palomino - it was winter. Then during the summer she shed out to a beautiful dark silver dapple with the silver mane and tail. Again this winter she is lighter but not as light as when I first picked her out. Pretty amazing at the change from winter woolies to her summer coat.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

They do change colour- but not any more than, for example a True Roan- it is more a "settling in " process. Once the adult coat has been attained they will stay that way except for the seasonal change (Winter coat being lighter than Summer ,as a lot of Palominos) My Silver Black stallion (no Dapples) started off a tatty sort of beige, went the most AWFUL colour when he was clipped for his yearling year (Should have put me off him for life!!) Settled down in his two year old year, (which is when I bought him- I was buying the horse, not the colour!!) Last year he had no Dapples, this year he was Pewter, no Dapples at all. OF his two Sliver foals, the colt was immediately his colour, the Filly was born a classic "dapple" but now, as her coat developes, I am beginning to wonder if she will, in fact, lose the Dapples and go Pewter like her dad.

The main thing to remember is once the coat has settled down, ie if you are buying an adult animals, there will be no more changes.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I have a Silver Legend daughter foaled in 1997. She gets the most beautiful dapples and seems to have darkened over the years. In the winter she turns a funny tannish color with her winters PJs, but now that she has matured , in the summer she looks like dappled granite and is very beautiful. As a matter of fact, I named one of her foals TrueJoy Taken for Granite.

 

[Bluerocket]

I agree with the others that they change seasonally -- however -- some colors of silver darken as they age.

My 1999 gelding was pearl grey when he was born -- then within a few days the sun turned him palomino -- he had white hooves but only one white coronary band marking on one hoof-- he has darkened each year.

Now when he is body clipped - he is a pewter grey color on the new hair -- his mane and tail are mixed in color -- the pewter mixed with sunbleached YELLOW (actually flaxen) hair. His winter coat is somewhat bleached -- and is the dark pewter under his mane where the sun does not get to it.

Interestingly enough -- 3 of his hooves are now "black" with the one that has the real white marking staying white.

He also carries the agouti gene -- as you can see his legs are slightly darker than the rest of his body.

He does not have any dapples that I have seen. I believe he is considered to be a Chocolate Silver.

He has one "child". I bred him to a silver dapple mare -- and the resulting filly is the same color he is --- and going through the same hair color changes and hoof color changes -- only addition is that her skin (around her eyes and privates) is pinkish/purple in color -- unlike either parent. She is taking a bit longer to darken -- but you can see that it is happening in the hair coat under her mane. She still looks more palomino than chocolate at this time.

The silver dapple mare I purchased as an adult. She has dapples year round and her coat color changes with the seasons and sunbleaching. Her mane is flaxen - not mixed like the other two.

We recently bought then sold a silver dapple gelding -- he looked just like the mare I just described.

I have never had any silver horses before I had these three but I sure love them. Silver dapples were what initially attracted me to the miniature horse. I love dapple gray -- and the thought of having a dapple gray that did not go to white was intriguing! Plus I loved the size and personality of the minis I met.

JJay

 

[ClickMini]

I love Silvers! Silver Dapple, Silver Black, Silver Bay, Silver Chestnut. In my herd of six minis, I have two that I believe have the Silver, Alladdin for sure (see avatar), and my new chestnut filly has very pale points and is from a silver bay sire. I hope to get many little silver babies!

Alladdin is pretty much a pewter color all of the time, but gets very nice and deep late in the summer, and if I clip him off when he is in winter coat he is a light silver color. So pretty!