# Possible cremello concerns...?



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Failbhe said:


> I'm looking at possibly getting a cremello gelding as a companion for my mare and as a secondary riding horse. It's a bit of a long shot at this point, so it's definitely not a done deal.
> 
> At the risk of asking dumb questions, I've never had a cremello before and I'm concerned how he'll do on our little farm. Our horses are on 24/7 turnout with run-in sheds. I'm not opposed to putting sunscreen on him, but is it just his nose and around his eyes that would need it or can his body get sunburnt too?
> 
> ...


The cremello horse in my avatar pic, is my stallion. He does have a problem with sunburning on his face, I haven't seen a problem on the rest of him. I put sunscreen on his face daily and right now, because it's so miserably hot, he goes in the barn during daylight hours and gets turned out about 7 or 8 p.m. I try to have him back in the barn by 9 a.m. and that seems to be working for the sunburn. 

I don't think the blue eyes have any more problems than any other eye color, I have a few blue eyed horses and haven't had any issues. Skippy as a stallion is more work than my other horses, but as a gelding wouldn't require anything more than anyone else. I put sunscreen on all my pink nosed horses, and since I love the white markings, I've got several. 

The main difference I've seen with Skip vs the other horses, the bugs really seem to love him. He's on the same feed as everyone else, so it's not a matter or more sugar in one feed or another, the biting flies just really seem to love him. I spray more fly spray on him than my other horses. 

Of course, a cremello will show dirt more than the darker colors, so my guy's nickname is Dirty White Boy.


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## Failbhe (May 8, 2012)

The horse in my avatar is my riding mare. She's very, very pale grey, and the bugs definitely go for her more than my dark coloured minis so I'd imagine a cremello would be somewhat similar.

So far I'm very lucky with her, she keeps herself quite clean - but I know another horse might not be the same.

Kinda funny, my favourite colours are the darker ones (bays, dun, black, a real copper red chestnut) and it seems I might end up with two "white" horses, lol!


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

My cremello doesn't get 24/7 turn out, so I'm not sure how different things would be if he did, but I have noticed his nose getting pinker during the summer. When I notice it, I put on some sunscreen and it goes away within a day or two. He also has a fairly wide white blaze, which I'm sure contributes to the sunburning! My understanding is that cremellos' skin is still lightly pigmented (unlike the white under pinto markings, which is unpigmented) so they do have some amount of natural sunscreen, just not as much as a darker skinned horse.

I've actually noticed the opposite effect with the flies on my horse- he seems to only have one or two flies on his face (if he was turned out without his fly mask) when I get him from the field while some of his pasture buddies look miserable with the flies. His diet is different from the other horses, but I don't give him any type of feed-through bug repellents or anything. I do like to keep the fly mask on him because he does seem to squint a bit in bright sunlight. I don't know if that's because of the blue eyes or because I live in Oregon and we don't see the sun for 8 months out of the year ;-)

I've never had any problem with the rest of his body getting pinker/sunburned.

ETA- As for staying clean, my horse is pretty neat about pooping in the back of his stall and sleeping in the front, and since he's more of an ivory than a pure white, he tends to look reasonably clean most of the time. But when you do hose down a pink skinned horse for a bath you notice EVERY little bit of dirt which definitely makes for longer baths!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Skippy is extremely neat in his stall, but once he's out he likes to roll vigorously! And then.....he looks like a brown and ivory tobiano! He cleans up real nice though and has the most gorgeous iridescent, metallic, sheen to his coat.....BEEEYOOOTEEEFULL! 

My favorite color is a chestnut with lots of white, but I wanted a cremello to breed to those chestnut mares so I could make some really nice, athletic foals who also happened to be pretty little palominos. Since getting him, cremello may just be my new fav color, he's one of the easiest going horses I've ever owned.


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## Failbhe (May 8, 2012)

I'm sure if I end up getting him, cremello will grow on me lol! I definitely find myself drawn to greys more now that I have one. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but a good brain and sound body trump colour


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

"A good horse is never a bad color" they say 

I don't think I had ever seen a cremello in person before I went to look at my horse, so I didn't really feel strongly about the color one way or the other. I just kind of assumed I'd end up with a bay horse because there are so darn many of them! :lol: The color has definitely grown on me; I think my horse is gorgeous!


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