Buckskin fading/changing colors?

I have a 9yo mare who is buckskin. She is a registered Paint with overo on her sire's side and QH's on her dam's side (and her dam was a solid buckskin). Her registered name is "Coosa's Playgirl".

Anyway I got her when she was 7 1/2 and she was a pretty light cream color, with very dark legs and dark points. She also had a faded dorsal stripe. I got her in winter,and by the next summer when she had shed her winter coat, she was this dark golden color and her stipe went away. Here is a pic of her then...



That winter, her coat was light again and her dorsal stripe never did come back. Now I've noticed that her legs seem to be fading a bit (or maybe it's my imagination??) Here is a pic of her from today...



You can kind of see her legs...here are some better recent photos where you can see her body...







Someone had mentioned that she may carry a grey gene and be greying out? Anyone else have thoughts on her "fading"? Or is it all in my mind?

I also have wondered if it's diet...this year we found out she is allergic to molasses and soy bean, so we had to take her off her feed, and we can't find ANY commercial feeds that don't have at least one of those ingredients in them :( So she's just on barley with a vitamin and fat supplement, and hay of course. But I wonder if something is missing in her diet, something else that needs to be supplemented and that's what is making her coat dull out??

Here is her pedigree by the way...Coosas Playgirl Paint

Lol Well now I say it's not grey. She really looked like it in the other pictures on the other thread. Plus as she has no grey parent, she cannot be be grey. So there is something else going on.

Her color variations might be affected by her feed. I know that you can feed things to enhance color.

Either way she is a very pretty girl. :)

Thanks :)
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Some horses have "Secret Identities". They will be one color in the summer, and then be a different color in the winter. When their winter coat grows in, the horses coat will sometimes be lighter than what their real coat color may be. When they shed this coat out, they will usually be a much darker color. As the summer wears on, sun fading will occour (in some horses, not all and black horses are most suceptable to this), and the coat may become lighter.

I have seen it happen to a palomino that my old instructor owned. In winter he would be a light cream colored horse, and when he shed out, he became this rich DARK golden palomino.

I don't think the coat color change is anything to really get concerned about. BTW your horse is gorgeous!

That's exactly what I thought too until she never got her golden coat this summer... :/
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This actually has nothing to do with her colour-changing coat, but I want to add my two cents and say if her blaze was a wee bit farther in on the left side, she would have the EXACT same markings as my mare. Even the faded black points on her legs. Abby's only 7, but hers look like yours.

That's all I had. Kbye.

It's likely her diet. You should talk to the people over at horsetech.com. They have a great all-around supplement called High Point that has complete nutrition, amino acids, and digestive aids in a flax base. They can adjust the vit/min levels as well, for no additional charge, except any extra vit/min added.

A horse's coat will change from summer and winter, but her coat should be the same or close every summer and every winter.

Diet would be my guess as well. I'm not sure what she might be lacking (or getting now that she wasn't then), but I cast my vote for that.

Love Sandie by the way.

That is very interesting...the first winter I had my dun he grew in a lighter winter coat but then shed it out in the spring..I give my guys black oil sunflower seeds and since then he hasnt had a whiter winter coat. It has stayed colored for the last couple winters.
Wouldnt hurt to talk to horsetech, they maybe could give you some direction in which to go.

You have a very beautiful horse!