# What is a Wild Bay? Also, odd white hairs.



## minstrel (Mar 20, 2012)

I would have called her a bay dun, especially if she has a dorsal stripe (can't quite see if she does). She's not a wild bay, because that is a very pale brown coat with blakc markings only as high as the fetlock or pastern. Hers go much higher.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

She isn't a wild bay - as mentioned above, she has too much black on her legs. Whoever told you that have their wires crossed, but I can see what they are basing that on - there is bay on her legs below her knees in places, but she is still just a "plain" bay. This horse is wild bay:










Also, your horse isn't dun as the PP suggested. She has no dun factor at all, and if she has a dorsal, it will be counter-shading.


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## Wildrose (Mar 19, 2012)

I see what you mean, Chiilaa. That's a pretty horse, and I can see there is only black on the pasterns. 

I could have gotten it wrong, too, from that other color forum. It was a few years ago.

Here she is from behind. She does have some counter shading but I never thought that was a dorsal stripe.










Any ideas on that clump of silly long white hair? LOL

She has some white hairs on one side of her face, too, that seem to be increasing with age.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

No idea on the white hairs on her side. The ones on her face are probably just from age.


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## minstrel (Mar 20, 2012)

Yeah, I see what you mean, no dorsal stripe and quarter stripes, I would've guessed from the angle of the first pic... one of the reasons I suggest is cos we have two duns with those white spot markings on their shoulders and stifle areas, and I thought it might be another dun thing... but maybe not. They tend to get them in the winter and lose them in the summer, never really figured out why though.


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## Wildrose (Mar 19, 2012)

Those white hairs are odd. Rosie didn't get them her whole life. I'd have to go back and look at old pictures to see when she started getting them.

I got Rosie as a two year old, and I want to say she started getting those when she was about 10.


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## minstrel (Mar 20, 2012)

Could be like age spots then..


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Do the white hairs on her side appear in the same place every year? Is she blanketed through winter?


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## Wildrose (Mar 19, 2012)

Chiilaa said:


> Do the white hairs on her side appear in the same place every year? Is she blanketed through winter?


Yup, exactly the same spots. Two on her right side, and one very faint one on the left about mid barrel.

No, she's not blanketed, even in the coldest temperatures up here. The only time I put a blanket on her is if she gets soaked in freezing rain, and the it's just till she dries off some.

I looked back in my old pictures, and 2008 is the first spring I notice them.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Does she have a bump where the hairs appear?


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## Wildrose (Mar 19, 2012)

No, no bumps or scabs or anything. She doesn't scratch or rub the spot like it's itchy, either.

I have never looked closely at the skin below the hairs to see if the skin color there is different, either. Maybe out of curiosity I'll do that today. 

They gradually get less and less as summer comes on. Then they are no longer there about July. No new ones have ever appeared, either. Just these same ones. 

It's odd, but I don't worry about them at all.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

It is odd lol. I am not worried, I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. Just driven by curiosity lol.


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

Maybe the white hair on her girth is just a silly genetic error or something. Not exactly sure how to term it. Only reason I think that is because oddly enough both me and my boyfriend have something similar. I have a random hair on my arm that will grow twice as long than the rest. He has one on his stomach that does the same thing. It's nothing gross, it just grows longer for some reason. Like a hair follicle on steroids. Haha.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wildrose (Mar 19, 2012)

LOL, Brigdertrot! A hair follicle on steroids! :lol:

I parted the hair on that biggest white spot, and it does look like there is a tiny spot of pink skin there! Her skin is black, otherwise. It was pretty hard to tell for sure, though, without shaving her! And, no, I won't be doing that. 

Maybe she's got some Paint in her, and that's all that showed up. LOL She does have Birdcatcher in her bloodlines way, way, back, though.


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

Wildrose said:


> LOL, Brigdertrot! A hair follicle on steroids! :lol:
> 
> I parted the hair on that biggest white spot, and it does look like there is a tiny spot of pink skin there! Her skin is black, otherwise. It was pretty hard to tell for sure, though, without shaving her! And, no, I won't be doing that.
> 
> Maybe she's got some Paint in her, and that's all that showed up. LOL She does have Birdcatcher in her bloodlines way, way, back, though.


Possibly...lol If you look at my avatar, my horse has a white spot on her neck. That's all she got from coming out of two paints, other than some roaning flanks and another roany spot on her barrel. lol Though...the hair grows the same length as the rest haha. The white hair would drive me nuts, I would have to clip it. xD


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

*sigh* A white spot does not mean that your horse is a Paint or comes from Paint breeding. All it means is your horse has a white spot.


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## arrowsaway (Aug 31, 2011)

While I am still learning about equine genetics more everyday, there is something I am quite sure of - your mare is gorgeous!


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Here is a wild bay, look at his front legs.


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

NdAppy said:


> *sigh* A white spot does not mean that your horse is a Paint or comes from Paint breeding. All it means is your horse has a white spot.


The OP wasn't saying that her horse for sure out of a Paint from the spot...she said "maybe". I wouldn't say it's likely but it's not impossible.


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## Wildrose (Mar 19, 2012)

thank you, arrowsaway! 

Delfina, nice looking horse! I see where the black on his (her?) front pasterns is right around the coronet band. Cool!


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## Nuala (Jan 2, 2012)

There is a possibility that the hairs are from scars like fly bits or that it could be a thyroid problem. I worked with one mare who never shed out her winter coat because she had an imbalance cause by her thyroid. If it goes away I wouldnt worry to much about it but maybe as the vet next time they are out for vaccinations if they have any idea.
She is not a dun but she is quite a striking bay.


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