maggies_lens

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Desi is not bay-roan like a lot of people call her. She's actually bay-rabicano. Or bay with rabicano. I've done as much research as I could into this pattern, there isn't an awful lot of information out there. For those that don't know, the fact that Desi's tail has the tiger pattern starting all the way at the very base hairs clearly marks her as rabicano. If the top hairs were black/brown/whatever and the white was further down, she'd be roan. There are also other trademarks which make her rabicano. She has faint tiger marks at her withers and down her back, generally you can only see them when she is very clean (ie just washed) and has dried fully in bright sunlight. She also has sort of darker lines in her coat which aren't quite tiger marks, esp near her hips. As she's gotten older the 'roaning' pattern in her coat has gotten more significant, but it started on her belly and flanks and moved sort of up and over her barrel. The birdcatcher marks only started this year. The first one was on her neck and came out in Spring. Yesterdays closer inspection has showed up a few more spots coming through. This could have been greying genes coming out but since neither her dam or sire were grey, it's impossible basically. My research online has showed this to also be a rabicano trademark. It's unlikely her head will 'roan' out, but she may get more spots. So there you go, next time you get told a horse is 'roan' check the tail first, if it looks anything like Desi's in the pics under the cut you can be a smart-ass and tell them no it's actually rabicano, or more accuratly bay/pally/dun/whatever-with-rabicano. It doesn't generally show with the pinto/paint genetic markers. And yes if you breed one rabicano to another, you will get rabicano. But anyone who breeds just for colour is nuts. :-)

little one on her forehead, I call it her beauty spot :-)

Through the roaning you can see a couple larger spots have appeared near the crest of her neck

Very outstanding one near her brand

Not saddle sores :P

The clearest indicator of a rabicano. And a little spot near my thumb

Closer look

Spur mark :-D No no, it's just another spot

a couple mroe on her rump, off side. And you can actually see the tiger mark. It's the biggest one, looks pretty when I was her. Might do that possibly tomorrow depending on weather forecasts. Will take better shots then.