# Buckskin fading/changing colors?



## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Here is her pedigree by the way...Coosas Playgirl Paint


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Lol Well now I say it's not grey. she really looked like it in the other pictures on the other thread. Plus as she has no grey parent, she cannot be be grey. So there is something else going on.

Her color variations might be affected by her feed. I know that you can feed things to enhance color. 

Either way she is a very pretty girl.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

thanks 
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## A knack for horses (Jun 17, 2010)

Some horses have "Secret Identities". They will be one color in the summer, and then be a different color in the winter. When their winter coat grows in, the horses coat will sometimes be lighter than what their real coat color may be. When they shed this coat out, they will usually be a much darker color. As the summer wears on, sun fading will occour (in some horses, not all and black horses are most suceptable to this), and the coat may become lighter.

I have seen it happen to a palomino that my old instructor owned. In winter he would be a light cream colored horse, and when he shed out, he became this rich DARK golden palomino. 

I don't think the coat color change is anything to really get concerned about. BTW your horse is gorgeous!


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

that's exactly what I thought too until she never got her golden coat this summer... :/
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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

This actually has nothing to do with her colour-changing coat, but I want to add my two cents and say if her blaze was a wee bit farther in on the left side, she would have the EXACT same markings as my mare. Even the faded black points on her legs. Abby's only 7, but hers look like yours. 

That's all I had. kbye.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

It's likely her diet. You should talk to the people over at horsetech.com. They have a great all-around supplement called High Point that has complete nutrition, amino acids, and digestive aids in a flax base. They can adjust the vit/min levels as well, for no additional charge, except any extra vit/min added.

A horse's coat will change from summer and winter, but her coat should be the same or close every summer and every winter.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Diet would be my guess as well. I'm not sure what she might be lacking (or getting now that she wasn't then), but I cast my vote for that.

Love Sandie by the way.


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## RadHenry09 (Mar 22, 2009)

That is very interesting...the first winter I had my dun he grew in a lighter winter coat but then shed it out in the spring..I give my guys black oil sunflower seeds and since then he hasnt had a whiter winter coat. It has stayed colored for the last couple winters. 
Wouldnt hurt to talk to horsetech, they maybe could give you some direction in which to go. 

you have a very beautiful horse!


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

I agree that it sounds like the cause of a diet change, which can be something as simple as different hay. If you're local feed store has started buying hay from a different source than they were before, thus having different levels of nutrients than before. Taking her off her grain would also have made a difference. I know of some companies that you can send a hair sample too, and they will test and see what vitamins and minerals ect., your horse has at what levels, and what needs to be changed, as well as testing hay as well. I don't know how expensive it is, but you may want to look into that, then you know exactly what it is that your horse is missing, or is getting too much of.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

thanks I'll have to look into the hair test idea that's neat!
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## RATHER BE RIDING (Dec 7, 2010)

I had to laugh because my friend's Buckskin did the exact same thing. He was always changing color. He was a beautiful golden brown color in the summer and a much lighter color in the winter, almost grey. Sometimes, even from day to day he seemed to have a different color. In the summer the black on his legs would be up to his knees and then in the winter it would practically disappear. To me, it seemed to have more to do with the amount of hair on him as opposed to diet. If you rubbed the hair on his legs the wrong way in the winter, the black was still there underneath, but the winter hair that grew over it was just lighter and covered it up.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

oh yeah they always seem to get lighter in winter but she just won't ever go back to that golden color she was  I talked to smart pak today and they gave me some ideas on another supplement to try 
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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Another vote for diet.

She is beautiful, no matter her shade changes.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Thank you  I talked to Smart Pak and she was on their EZ Keeper grass pellets as her multi vitamin, but that was coming off of her last diet change and was enough at the time. 

She's been working HARD though since that, showing all the time and we work for an hour 3-4 times a week, so they suggested I switch her to a "performance horse" supplement, so that's what we're going to try next  I'm also increasing her fat supplement a little bit (Cool Calories) because she's on a very low dose now and it doesn't seem to be doing much, and to me she's looking a teeny bit "ribby" which I don't like to see.


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## QHDragon (Mar 6, 2009)

The other picture that you had posted on the other thread made me think for sure that she was graying out or had some kind of color modifier (such as creme) going on, but in these pictures she looks pretty much the same to me. I think its just a change in diet and a change in the seasons, some horses look darker or lighter in the winter with their woolies on then they do in the summer without.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Yes I think that photo was bad lighting or something!!  

She's always been lighter in winter, but she has never gotten back to that really golden color, even in the summer, anymore. I'll have to wait a few weeks and take another photo of her after she's been on the new feed and see how it goes!


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

QHDragon - She is a buckskin... She already has a cream gene. If she had two, she wouldn't of been that dark in the first place.


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## Purley Dynamic (Dec 7, 2010)

Hi, My pony Purley dynamic (Mick) goes lighter in the winter he does not grow winter hair but i have seen that he got lighter maybe that's the same with your horse ohh and i figured out something cool my large pony is related to your horse


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## Purley Dynamic (Dec 7, 2010)

:-owell my large pony mick is a buckskin he gets lighter in the winter when it gets cold ohh and my pony mick (purley dynamic) is related to ur cute little pony


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Purley Dynamic said:


> :-owell my large pony mick is a buckskin he gets lighter in the winter when it gets cold ohh and my pony mick (purley dynamic) is related to ur cute little pony


Really, who are they related through??  Too cool!


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

I hope you find out what it is. Your horse is gorgeous by the way. I love her face.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

I haven't had Abby in the summer yet (I got her in September), but then she was very golden with a tonnnn of sheen to her coat. Since her winter coat has come in more and more, she's lost the shininess and just looks dingy. Not quite smutty, because it's not very dark. Just a greyish tinge to her golden coat. It's awkward. Not nearly as drastic as your girl, but that's my two cents.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

Poseidon said:


> I haven't had Abby in the summer yet (I got her in September), but then she was very golden with a tonnnn of sheen to her coat. Since her winter coat has come in more and more, she's lost the shininess and just looks dingy. Not quite smutty, because it's not very dark. Just a greyish tinge to her golden coat. It's awkward. Not nearly as drastic as your girl, but that's my two cents.


That's just the winter coat. Hunter goes a dark palomino in the summer but is quite light in the winter. Her horse didn't go the dark color last summer which is what her question is. I agree with diet.


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