Coloring Question

[AllUpHill]

I bought 2 Walkers last week and have a question about the chestnut. Her parents are both Blacks and she is registered chestnut. But along her spine are a series of white spots. They go from almost her tail to right up under her mane a couple inches. And then she also has a dark spot on her left flank with a roaned spot at the front edge of it. I am not sure it's evident in these pictures though. She has a lot of roans in her background but no spots.

My question is do you think these are spots or do you think its white hairs in response to an injury or just roaning in a weird way? I sure didn't see any spots when we looked at her. But she was pretty filthy then.

Odd angle of her back and hip - she thought the camera was going to eat her.


Side shot of the horse in question. You can see a couple of the white spots on her withers.



The new girls together.



Side shot of 2nd new mare.

[breburtch]

I had bought an older mare years ago that had marks like that from a woman who had rescued her and said they were scars from sever saddle sores the mare had come with.

So the markings on her back and wither area I'm thinking are from the same thing or possibly from a very very bad case of rain rot

[cowgirlspurs]

I would have thought saddle fit as well-but it goes down into the flank.
I would say it is some random rabicano there.

[AllUpHill]

I thought saddle fit at 1st also but it goes in places a saddle shouldn't have been. I hadn't considered the rain rot possibility. But that still leaves her with her unusual dark spot on her flank with a roan spot at the front edge. She's a beauty and I am not even a fan of chestnuts

[hawk]

correct me if im wrong, but dont they call those spots "bird catcher spots"??

[Luvridn]

The dark spots are called Bend-orr spots (or some spelling derivative thereof) and is common in a lot of chestnuts and pallys. The white spots also look like scars from an ill-fitting saddle to me also, and the one near the point of her hip looks like at one time she may have been very thin and gotten a scar from a rub-burn there. That would also explain the spots that go down her spine, from being ridden when she was too thin. Occasionally fly bites can also cause the white spots.

[Bandit]

The white spots could be bird catcher spots or they could be scars. Hard to tell just from the info we currently have.

[Bandit]

Here is a link showing birdcatcher spots:
http://www.equinecolor.com/unusual.html#bird

And one showing Bend Or spots:
http://www.equinecolor.com/unusual.html#bendor

[AllUpHill]

Originally Posted by Bandit

The white spots could be bird catcher spots or they could be scars. Hard to tell just from the info we currently have.

I wish I had better info. The woman was in over her head and didnt really seem to know much about her horses and what is known has been difficult to learn - like pulling teeth.

The really thin idea could be a possibility which I learned about as we were loading them in the trailer to come home. The former owner had this mare and a few others boarded somewhere else a couple years back and must not have gone to see them much. The vet went out for something and reported the board owner to the owner (who was out of state) telling her the horses were exceptionally thin and she needed to get them out of there ASAP - the board owner said she couldn't afford to feed them, yet she was taking the money or so the story goes.

I was told by the woman who picked them up from the bad board owner that the horses were all extremely thin. So perhaps this is the answer to the mystery. She's a really sweet horse. I cannot imagine mistreating her purposely.

[Sirita_88]

Those white spots could also be from bite marks. We had a very stupid horse that used to pick on everyone. Now my chesnut sports a few spots on him from that stupid horse.... He also has a very big white spot by his withers, it wasn't from a saddle (his saddle doesn't even touch there) But I can't remember if it was from a bite or a blanket rub....

The darker spots are probably bend or, my chesnut has them all over his neck and face, and on his gaskins (which sport spider marks (regular chestnut) from the veins) and dapples inside his bend or spots on his booty.