# Mystery Stripes?



## purpleroan (Dec 4, 2017)

Hey Everyone! First post here...I just joined the forum to try and figure out the cause or name of these stripes that my palomino mare has on her barrel during the summer. They're not on her winter coat, and are only a slight shade darker than her normal palomino. In certain light you even have to look closely to see them. People have mistaken them for ribs before, but she is plump as can be and there is no texture, only the stripes. I'm not sure if it would mean anything, but her dam was a palomino and her sire was a chestnut. Her skin is freckled black and pink on her chest and up between her legs, but otherwise the skin on her face is dark grey. I've attached two photos of her, the iPhone photo shows them more clearly but they can be seen in the other as well. If anyone could provide any info or hints I'd be super grateful, I've had her 4 1/2 years and have always wondered about these strange makings along with other people at my barn but we could never come up with anything!


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

My guess would be rabicano from the top picture. The bottom is washed out for me.


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## InexcessiveThings (Oct 22, 2016)

QtrBel said:


> My guess would be rabicano from the top picture. The bottom is washed out for me.


Rabicano is a white color pattern. The stripes would be white hairs, not darker than the rest of her coat. You will often see rabicano horses with white "ribbing" like in this Arabian.
http://www.grullablue.com/colors/roancolor/rabicano/dark_chestnut_rabicano_by_SuddenImpulse.jpg

Stripes made by darker hairs like that would make me think brindle, but if she were actually brindle, it would make more sense for her to be marked elsewhere on her body. Definitely not rabicano if she doesn't have white ticking, but ticking of hairs darker than the rest of her coat.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Even blown up the bottom pie is washed out to me. I see one area of lighter and the darker is same as the rest of the dark areas but again nothing is really dark enough to suggest black hairs as it is washed out. Striping is alternating light and dark and on the top pic the light bars stand out not the dark which appears to be same shade as rest of the horse. That is why I suggested rabicano. You can't really tell much from either photo. Smutty/sooty also does a number on palominos and can produce striping but my experience with that always shows some darkening along the topline even when minimally expressed.Does this horse have black in the mane or tail? Add in agouti and I think it is similar to cream dilution on black. You see hints of it on the red based horses but nothing definitive. The hairs are neither ticked white or dark but each hair expresses a color gradient. Combine it with sooty and things get real interesting. Striping comes from primitive shading. Even some of the horses with mealy show striping that is hard to capture and not obvious. Just enough to say is it or is it not there.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Missed the edit window but even with the pics I have seen of brindles and partial (minimal) brindling it is top down not bottom up and mostly hip not ribcage when minimal not to say it can't be that but when there it is either much darker or snow white and very distinct. The other thing about roan striping or rabicano is that it is very evenly spaced which is another reason I suggested that. Though sooty I suspect has evenly spaced striping when present.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

http://equinetapestry.com/
This is a very interesting website with several blog articles as well as links to papers on color genetics. The book as well as some of the blogs have extensive photo examples.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

That seems like it could be coat variation that has settled along the lines of Blaschko. That is the most common cause for horses labeled 'brindle.' 

This skewed roan shows those lines, which is a lot more obvious than your mare's because of the contract between the colors:


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

Most,of not ALL, slightly overweight horses have them. They are flex (stretch) marks/folds. When she bends or flexes to one side of the other she gets slight folds and that makes those marks. If you were to do carrot stretches with her to her hip you would see how she would accordion


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## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

^^^^^ Interesting! 
That's a really cute mare...but she is a bit more than slightly portly. I have one of those easy keepers. I better go see if she has stripes.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

Dustbunny said:


> ^^^^^ Interesting!
> That's a really cute mare...but she is a bit more than slightly portly. I have one of those easy keepers. I better go see if she has stripes.


They are easiest to see in a short summer coat. I can barely see them in the winter coats of my horses, and that is just because I know they are there.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Stretch marks! That is so interesting. I surfed around the internet and saw some other overweight horses of different colors with the same lines. Learn something new every day.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Gives new meaning to my cousin's fat little pony called Zydeco. Maybe she had more than one reason for the name.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I agree that it looks like stretch marks - that mare is obese, sorry I should say morbidly obese and needs to go on a diet or you will have her down with laminitis and other problems.


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