# Keeping a albino white all year long?



## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

I have a albino mare now and she loves being messy after riding. She rolls all the time and love laying down in her stall. I'm having trouble keeping her clean, and specially her lower legs, they happen to get all muddy and brown. Her face sweats and the bridle colors her face black sometimes.

what can I do to keep her white all year long, because now when she is getting a longer coat for winter, it's getting harder to clean yellow spots. 

how do you keep your white horse clean during riding? do you use polo wraps when riding, blankets when in the stall etc.?

Please feel free to tell me anything you know about keeping your white horse clean


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## minstrel (Mar 20, 2012)

Thelma said:


> I have a albino mare now and she loves being messy after riding. She rolls all the time and love laying down in her stall. I'm having trouble keeping her clean, and specially her lower legs, they happen to get all muddy and brown. Her face sweats and the bridle colors her face black sometimes.
> 
> what can I do to keep her white all year long, because now when she is getting a longer coat for winter, it's getting harder to clean yellow spots.
> 
> ...


I never tried to keep my grey clean - he would roll more and get muddier if I tried to keep him clean, as he didn't feel happy. Let her be a bit yellow and muddy, as long as you brush her clean enough the her tack won't rub . Remember, the winter coat will come out come spring anyway, so the stains won't last forever.

What I did invest in was a decent whitening shampoo, stain remover spray, and that shampoo that old ladies use to make their hair go silvery. The other thing that's useful is sterilising fluid, you can make it up in a bucket for tail washing and it gets rids of the yellowy-ness. Don't use it on any skin though, and don't use it often as it dries out the hair, but it does work. That way, once in a blue moon (usually before a show) they can get a good bath and get actually gleaming clean. 

It definitely took more work bathing him before a show than my bay I have now, but there is nothing like a gleaming grey (or albino in your case!) in the ring. But don't obsess over being clean all the time, it's stressful for you and them, and it is part of owning a pale horse I'm afraid!


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I agree. I have a light palomino paint who's the same way. He is naturally a glowing white and cream color, but unless I'm going to a show he is a nasty combination of brown, dust, and green. :lol:

What I do is a few days before the show I will wash his tail with White N' Brite shampoo, and use a braid-in tail bag. Then the morning of I get up and bathe him throughly with white n brite, and if his tail is REALLY bad I'll go ahead and bleach it. Also Cowboy Magic Greenspot spray, or OxyClean for the body.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

I'd like to see a picture of that albino horse. Albinos have pink eyes, you know.


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## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

hahah, I just realized I don't have a picture of her just standing still and alone, all of my pictures of her are at comps or when riding. but I hope you the pictures show you how she looks. 
The vet wrote on the birth paper that she's an Albino, she is all white, pink nosed and has no sign of color in the coat. She has blue eyes, but that's a genetic thing that is not a color that comes like the coat color through the genes. This is what the vets say anyway. 
I wish she would always be so white like there in the second picture! Thanks for your help all of you guys, hope I will have some more comment in this topic


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## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

the pictures don't show up, why? and how do I set pictures in if it does not work to use the picture button?


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

Speed Racer said:


> I'd like to see a picture of that albino horse. Albinos have pink eyes, you know.


Yeah, an albino would be worth a couple million...wish I had one...


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## BubblesBlue (Jun 29, 2010)

The pictures don't show up because you didn't put in the direct link of them.

Back to the thread.
The only way I would know to keep an albino white is to put them in full out pajamas all the time. :lol: :lol:


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## mind (Dec 14, 2011)

Thelma said:


> The vet wrote on the birth paper that she's an Albino, she is all white, pink nosed and has no sign of color in the coat. She has blue eyes, but that's a genetic thing that is not a color that comes like the coat color through the genes. This is what the vets say anyway.


I believe an Icelandic-to-English translation issue is occurring. 

I'm not well versed in colour genetics, but a horse with pink skin, blue eyes, a cream colour body, mane and tail is defined as a cremello in English. In Icelandic it seems to be defined as a albínói, which as English speakers, we would consider a misnomer since the horse is not truly pigment free.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

These the pics you were trying to post? 


















Your horse is not an albino. She appears to be a double dilute. What color were her sire and dam?


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

What a pretty mare!


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## BubblesBlue (Jun 29, 2010)

Oh well. It doesn't matter if the horse is albino or what. He's still a white coated horse.
Maybe you could use something like this. :rofl:


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

*keeping an albino clean*

You cant!!!!
Cowboy magic green spot remover is quite good and Greased Lightning does well on the tail but dont get it on the skin and wear gloves yourself as its terribly drying
I have just turned my sparkling clean grey out into the field and in seconds she had found a nice dust bowl and is now covered in it. Please will someone explain why the 3 dark coloured horses haven't done the same?


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## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

Yes these are the pictures  I don't know her parents, but she has no genes that control the coat of her baby if she would have. The vet said that if we would put her to a whatever colored horse the baby would get his color. That has been tested already  
Albínói in icelandic is the word for Albino in english. The vets said this, I guess I'll just have to believe them  the blue eyes are not controlled by color genes, they come because of other genes that do not work like the color genes. when she looks up in any kind of light you can see her eyes turn red because she has no colour in them.

thanks guys for the help anyway, I think I'll try to buy that cowboy magic spray, green spot something ! please keep the ideas coming


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

BubblesBlue said:


> Oh well. It doesn't matter if the horse is albino or what. He's still a white coated horse.
> Maybe you could use something like this. :rofl:


My Arab would LOVE this in the winter!!

Thelma - all horses eyes reflect light. I understand where you're coming from but albino doesn't exist in horses. Some horses can look albino in part but they're not. If you're horse has blue eyes, regardless of the why, that is pigment and right there makes your horse not an albino . Your horse is a mare, right? I she's an albino, her skin will not have color - her udders would be pink.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Thelma can you please post some head shots of you mare?

And can you tell us how its been "proven" that she will produce whatever she is bred to and what tests have actually been done on her?

DA - double dilutes have pink skin all over I believe.


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## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

first of all, this topic was not made to talk about my mare's color. I'm asking for advice here. I bought here some months ago but I was told that test were done, DNA tests and some kind of another test, and it's all written down on here health page at Worldfengur.com, were all icelandic horses are listed, their familytree, offsprings, ranking in competitions and health tests that have been done. I don't care what you believe, this is my mare, and this is what she is.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

*shrugs* Not sure why you are surprised you are getting questioned about the color of your mare that is physically impossible as there _are no albinos_ in horses. But do go right ahead and bury your head in the sand and refuse to learn anything. Good luck to you with that.


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## BubblesBlue (Jun 29, 2010)

fftopic:


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## mind (Dec 14, 2011)

NdAppy said:


> Your horse is not an albino. She appears to be a double dilute. What color were her sire and dam?





Thelma said:


> first of all, this topic was not made to talk about my mare's color. I'm asking for advice here. I bought here some months ago but I was told that test were done, DNA tests and some kind of another test, and it's all written down on here health page at Worldfengur.com, were all icelandic horses are listed, their familytree, offsprings, ranking in competitions and health tests that have been done. I don't care what you believe, this is my mare, and this is what she is.





NdAppy said:


> *shrugs* Not sure why you are surprised you are getting questioned about the color of your mare that is physically impossible as there _are no albinos_ in horses. But do go right ahead and bury your head in the sand and refuse to learn anything. Good luck to you with that.


Thelma and NdApy,
you both believe the horse is a CcrCcr - double dilute; not a WW - lethal white. You're simply referring to a double dilute using different terms, and the Icelandic term is a misnomer causing confusion. 

USA - CcrCcr = Cremello
Iceland - CcrCcr = Albíno



> Albíno - Cremello


Icelandic Horse Colors



> Cremello
> Icelandic: Albínói or hvítingur.
> Description: The foal is born snow-white with little pigment in the eyes, and stays that way.
> ...
> ...


http://www.icelandichorse.is/cremello.htm



> Double diluted
> Icelandic Horses look very much the same, regardless of base colour, and are called white (hvítingi, albino).


http://islandpferdemagazin.de/downloads/artikel-dilutions-chr-engels_ck_2.pdf

Sorry for taking your thread further off-topic,Thelma.


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

I know someone who did a study on horses in a wild herd out west. He studied how often the horses rolled in the dirt. He found that light colored horses rolled MUCH more often than darker colored horses. His theory is that it is an effort to disguise themselves and to make then blend in more. maybe the predators wouldn't see them as easily.

The horse in my avatar had a deep seated desire to be a chestnut. he rolled constantly in our red clay often giving him an interesting peach coloring. 

Nothing you can do but wash wash wash.


This whole argument about semantics reminds me of the chestnut vs sorrel debate. Just leave it as a difference between national cultures, folks. There doesn't really have to be a winner here. As long as the actual DNA test is acknowledged, who care what they call it?

I still, and always will, call a "kimblewick" a kimberwicke.


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## Mike_User (Oct 24, 2006)

NdAppy said:


> Thelma can you please post some head shots of you mare?
> 
> And can you tell us how its been "proven" that she will produce whatever she is bred to and what tests have actually been done on her?
> 
> DA - double dilutes have pink skin all over I believe.





NdAppy said:


> *shrugs* Not sure why you are surprised you are getting questioned about the color of your mare that is physically impossible as there _are no albinos_ in horses. But do go right ahead and bury your head in the sand and refuse to learn anything. Good luck to you with that.


This was started as a perfectly friendly thread asking how to keep a white horse, whatever its genetic disposition, white. If there's a contest to see how quickly we can turn others off to participating here, consider it over.

The OP made it clear that she's from Iceland and was relaying what she was told by her vet, so a simple "It may be called something different in my country because there are no albino horses in the strict sense" would have sufficed.

For what it's worth, National Geographic appears to agree with the OP and the country of Iceland that there is a type of horse referred to as Albino there, 1344141. Icelandic albino horse, close-up of eye - NG Stock Photography.

Please resist the urge to take a thread in an unnecessarily adversarial direction again.


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## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

Thanks Allison Finch for your help!  This sounds very true, she is the only white colored horse in the stable so she must feel like she has to blend in with the others. I've also heard that horses roll to keep flies away in the summer but in Iceland there hasn't been a lot of flies this summer, but still, she rolls every day, so often that it doesn't matter if I groom her in between hahah 

about this off topic thing: I guess what I call Albino is what you in USA call cremello. That's all right and we don't have to fight about that. Still she does not give any color genes to her offspring if she would have because her color is very rare and the genes are not strong enough to go against all other Icelandic horse colors. I talked to my vet and she told me this. the test that was done on her when she was young was to find out about her color, and how strong her genes were to give them to a offspring. the result was that there is nothing in her genes that can go against all other colors and therefor she is an albino, a horse that has pink skin, white coat and cannot give it away to a offspring.
Hope we can keep this topic going


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## Joidigm (May 8, 2012)

I have some experience washing Cremellos. I have always used Quic Silver shampoo. It is a bluing agent, much like the bluing stuff (that dark dark purpely blue stuff) you use after you bleach your hair. Same stuff. This will take out a LOT of discolor in your white horse, and make them silvery white. Like "take this horse out of the sun its so bright" white. It works on coats, manes and tails.

Quic Silver is expensive, but it really does work on those annoying poo stains. My instructor had a Cremello American Saddlebred that loves to never be white. Many poo and pee stains on her rump and sides, like she HAS to lay in her pee. Yuck. I know a lot of people at my barn pass around a bottle of Quic Silver to get socks and stockings clean and white on their chestnuts and bays. I have seen a couple palomino's too that it's worked on manes and tails.

Now, getting the deep yellow out of tails? Gojo hand cleaner is popular to do that with. I have no idea what is in it, but I know a lot of people with greys, cremellos, and paints who use it to take the discolor out of tails. You can research it across a lot of forums and youtube to see people use it. I have used Gojo once, and I cannot for the life of me remember if I liked how it turned out or not. Gojo is a hand cleaner used by automotive mechanics to take grease stains off of their hands.


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## Thelma (Jun 22, 2009)

Thanks!  many of you say "bleach the hair". what is that? what does it mean to bleach the hair. never heard that before hahah, english is not my mothertounge


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

Bleaching would be using something to take the color (or stain) out of the hair. Like when people change their hair color from dark to blonde or white .. they are "bleaching" it.


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## minstrel (Mar 20, 2012)

Bleaching is using an agent which removes colour from materials. It works on hair, removing all colour (leaving white hair very bright), but also works on clothing, so make sure you don't spill any on your clothes as they will discolour too!


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Thelma said:


> about this off topic thing: I guess what I call Albino is what you in USA call cremello. That's all right and we don't have to fight about that. Still she does not give any color genes to her offspring if she would have because her color is very rare and the genes are not strong enough to go against all other Icelandic horse colors. I talked to my vet and she told me this. the test that was done on her when she was young was to find out about her color, and how strong her genes were to give them to a offspring. the result was that there is nothing in her genes that can go against all other colors and therefor she is an albino, a horse that has pink skin, white coat and cannot give it away to a offspring.
> Hope we can keep this topic going


I've never heard of such a test. Do they only do it in Iceland?

Because if she is, in fact, a cremello in our terms, she does have genes to pass on. Each parent has 2 copies of a gene, with one being passed from each parent to the offspring. If she's a cremello, she will always pass on the Cream gene. She will also only pass on the red gene, which is recessive to black. 

But if such a test exists, it would be highly interesting to me and some others and I'd love to look more into it.


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## PaintingPintos (Jul 24, 2012)

I don't care whether the horse is true albino or not....she is stunning and is a real flashy girl 
I don't know how to keep the coat clean, though.
My mare NASDAQ is brown/white Paint coat....but somehow she never rolls in muddy or yucky spots *sigh of relief*, she's surprisingly clean. I never really find grass stains, but when I find a real dirty spot on her white, I just take a rubber curry comb and scrub the hell out of it. That usually gets most of the grime out of the coat.
I never use whitener or anything, though. I love her, filthy or not. Plus she's a 3 year old unbroken filly sooooo I don't show her xD


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## Harleerideshorses (Jan 13, 2008)

I haven't read anyone's responses but I used to have a sorrel and white paint mare. She was definitely 99% white. To keep her white I found some whitening shampoo which is really easily found at just about any tack shop...the color of the shampoo is usually purple and works really well - even on yellow tails. I chose vanilla for my aroma of choice :wink: Also, Exhibitor Laboratories® Quic Silver Whitening Shampoo | Dover Saddlery

They all work really well. For shows, they make show paint. Works just like spray paint. I personally never used it but I found spot remover and spot removing wipes. Can't remember where - Google :thumbsup: and they worked PHENOMENALLY. Keeping them glossy too, so like show sheen and stuff like that, helps keep them clean. It's like waxing your car. 

But that's all really if you want to keep them show clean. I let her get dirty if she had no reason to be clean.


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## Joidigm (May 8, 2012)

Poseidon said:


> I've never heard of such a test. Do they only do it in Iceland?
> 
> Because if she is, in fact, a cremello in our terms, she does have genes to pass on. Each parent has 2 copies of a gene, with one being passed from each parent to the offspring. If she's a cremello, she will always pass on the Cream gene. She will also only pass on the red gene, which is recessive to black.
> 
> But if such a test exists, it would be highly interesting to me and some others and I'd love to look more into it.


Maybe it is a recessive gene, which is very unlikely to pass on physically show in foals unless the sire is also recessive in his genes. You might get a heterozygous foal, but unless purposefully bred for the recessive genes, it will disappear in a couple generations.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

I also have a cremello horse, though I am lucky in that he doesn't seem to like getting dirty... except when I take him to shows. :eyeroll: At that point, he likes to poo in the middle of his stall and sleep in it.

I use Cowboy Magic Green Spot Remover on my horse's knees and hocks once or twice a week. Otherwise, he gets permanently stained there.

Before I go to the show, I bathe my horse with EZ All, mostly because it's really easy to use and smells great. The problem with pink skinned horses is that when they're wet, you can REALLY see how dirty they are. I'm sure the shampoo helps loosen up the dirt, but what really does the trick is a hose with a fairly high pressure nozzle (mine has a flat "fan" shape that does a really good job). It's kind of cool to see all that dirt wash off...

For the "fresh" stains he gets at the show, regular shampoo (currently using Gallop brand shampoo) and a scrubby glove works fine in getting it out. I've tried using Cowboy Magic Green Spot Remover for these, but I wasn't really happy with the results, especially on the larger spots.


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## Cintillate (Jan 8, 2012)

I had a white horse before. I dont have much access to horse products but if there was a stain that was really really bad I'd use hydrogen peroxide leave it on for 5 mins, it is a bleaching agent. But don't use it to often or too long because it can damage the hair and make it brittle.


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## LadyDreamer (Jan 25, 2008)

You look her deep in the eye and say "I am going to a show in two days and you are NOT going." she will be pristine. If you tell her she is going she will try to become a chestnut with dirt.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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