# Changing colors?



## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

My mare recently has been changing colors and getting super dark. Now instead of a plain jane chestnut she looks like a liver chestnut. She has a teeny coat starting to grow but I feel like she just changed all of a sudden, and when I got her back in March she still had a HEAVY winter coat which was nothing like the color she is now.

First picture is taken in March (when i first got her & after a bath)
Second is a few weeks ago
Third at a show last week
Fourth was taken today after our lesson (which is why she looks so sweaty)


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Health and diet has a LOT to do with how a colour will express on a horse. So when horses change owners, it is common for them to change colour to a lesser or greater degree also.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Well the first picture she was in bad shape. But nothing has changed drastically recently so I'm not sure as to why her color is getting so dark.
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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

That will be seasonal change. What I meant was that you didn't see this season's true coat last year as she was not in tiptop shape, but you will this year as she is.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

I agree with Chiilaa.

Some horses also just change quite a bit over the year. Mine changes noticeably over the year, for example: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-colors-genetics/seasonal-color-change-121351/ Right now she's dappling, which she only does in the fall and winter. No diet or living arrangement change, just how she is.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Thanks poseidon! I figured it was a seasonal thing just didn't know if there was a real problem with her getting so dark so quick.
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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

I have a liver chestnut here that is doing the same thing. She's starting to get darker.

My brown mare that was super sunbleached, is now getting darker too.


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## foreveramber (Apr 23, 2012)

Wow that's a really dramatic change!!! Pretty though


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Totally different horse! She looks fantastic now.  
Looks like a real sweetheart too! 

I'm so curious though. What happened to her?


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## mudpie (Jul 15, 2011)

She's probably just receiving better nutrition now.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

how did she lose her eye and damage the nerve to that side of her face and ear? she is lucky to have you to take care of her. Also If you box stall and blanket her, her color will be different .


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Okay I had a whole thread going about updates and pictures of when I first got her but the thread kinda died down do I stopped posting pictures. Lol


Anyway. So she use to be a short stirrup pony and was in the trailer when a drunk driver hit it and she was in there. So she lost her eye and her eat flops hence her name being flopsy. And surprisingly she still loads perfectly fine until she decides to be hormonal and give me a hard time. She likes to do that especially on show mornings. :lol:
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## nikelodeon79 (Mar 3, 2008)

My gelding is more like a liver chestnut in the fall and early winter. Late winter/early spring he gets regular chestnut again and stats that way until fall again.

Oh how I love his fall coat! *sigh*
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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Ouch, poor girl! I'm surprised she will even look at a trailer. Must have a great mind on her.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Shes a mare so she has her moments but normally she's pretty goood. And now she is dappling. :lol:
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