Guess the Bay!

Okay so i've got a bay, well more than one, but this one is giving me a run for my money trying to figure out what color she'll actually end up being. I'm told that the colors are not set in stone untill after they're two or three, can't remeber. Well this one turned three in january.

She's starting to shed out, more in some place. But in some she stays as dark as ever, her HQ, her neck is pretty much black right now. And her chest, her favorite spot to be scratched is almost buckskin light. And where she is light she still has almost like tiger stripes of dark that is the same kind of hair. So i'm just wonderin if anyone wants to try and guess what she'll look like when its all said and done.
First three were actually taken all the same day... please excuse the paint on her face... I painted a fence in exchange for her and she tried to help...

Mid summer last year



Last december


Starting to shed out, this Feb, we had a couple weeks of weird 70 degree weather!!



I don't have a picture of her right now. I'll try to get some specific ones soon. But I would look out and she would literally look like a black horse, even next to our black horse! But hopefully i'll find out soon, like presents at christmas.

I actually took her to a Trotters Club meeting today and she's still pretty dark. I'm hoping she'll shed out fairly quick and at the next meeting ..... she won't be dark :) mess with people maybe? :P

Thanks for reading and looking, thoughts comments are welcome!


-Sissy

Oh, and to double post, I meant to add, that she was a black foal. Not sure if it matters but there is it

She's a brown That's why she is so dark in winter, and so light in summer compared to her winter coat.

But, from my understanding, a bay has black points, and she has black mane/tail, and black legs. And a brown doesn't have black points, and while they usually have dark mane/tail its usually not as true black as that of the bays.


?? Ahhh! Colors!

No. Browns can and do have black points.

So what is the difference between bay and brown? Is it just that she's dark in the winter and light in the summer?

They are both caused by the agouti gene. Bay is caused by A, which restricts the black to the legs, mane, tail, and ears and lightens the body and head. Brown is caused by At, which lightens the soft areas of the body: flank, the area on the sides of the tail (I can't think of what to call that right now..), muzzle, elbow, etc. The areas that are not places that would lighten due to sunfading.

So would it also be safe to say that what most people call dark bay is really brown?

I do have some pictures from today, just waiting fo rthings to load, so i'll put some on here later, just cause I have them :)

Today:

Head, bridle and halter rubbed some more hair away than in other places so you can see the new color better


Girlie's chest, her favorite spot to get rubbed, so lots of new color

She also has white hairs throughout her body, some on her neck, and some on her belly, but mostly on her HQ









According to AQHA she's considered brown in the winter but bay in the summer?

Don't ever go to a registry if you want to figure out a color. They are extremely behind in the world of color genetics. Your mare is brown all the time; her genetics do not change seasonally. Most horses change seasonally. I told my BO that her new mare was a brown rabicano because I forgot to account for the winter coat. She's a brown roan. My own mare is orange in the winter and then sheds out looking very sooty, then goes back to gold.

The new pictures further prove that she's brown. The area behind her eye, her flank, and her chest would not fade in the sun. Also, the white hairs don't mean anything. Most horses have random white hairs.