Leopard Patterns - Information and open discussion

[Silverine]

HAH! She'll come in every day for dinner and you won't recognize her... She'll be bay one day, brown the next... Dunnish when she rolls in the sand...

Just watch - one days she'll come in red with white spots because she rolled in clay and then somehow found white paint to get into.

[BlackOak2]

HAH! She'll come in every day for dinner and you won't recognize her... She'll be bay one day, brown the next... Dunnish when she rolls in the sand...

Just watch - one days she'll come in red with white spots because she rolled in clay and then somehow found white paint to get into.

That poor filly... such a mess!
I actually knew at least one horse much like that. Hated to be washed and would foam up the mud-hole before rolling in it. And of course, he was a gray.
He did it so much that whenever he wouldn't, the barn manager would be checking his temp and health. There were a couple times he was in fact, running a fever. Apparently, he suffered from dust allergies or something in the hay occasionally.
Still, I wonder what the drive is?

[Silverine]

That poor filly... such a mess!
I actually knew at least one horse much like that. Hated to be washed and would foam up the mud-hole before rolling in it. And of course, he was a gray.
He did it so much that whenever he wouldn't, the barn manager would be checking his temp and health. There were a couple times he was in fact, running a fever. Apparently, he suffered from dust allergies or something in the hay occasionally.
Still, I wonder what the drive is?

Far-fetched, but I wonder if it isn't a camouflage reflex for the greys. The grey stands out against the other colors, so without other protection factors (like humans and fences) they would be more vulnerable than the other horses.
I knew a grey at a summer camp where I was a counselor who would come in every day with one of his sides completely orange. Our theory was that he slept on his side in the mud. The side changed from day-to-day, but as long as there was mud he came in half chestnut.

[BlackOak2]

Far-fetched, but I wonder if it isn't a camouflage reflex for the greys. The grey stands out against the other colors, so without other protection factors (like humans and fences) they would be more vulnerable than the other horses.
I knew a grey at a summer camp where I was a counselor who would come in every day with one of his sides completely orange. Our theory was that he slept on his side in the mud. The side changed from day-to-day, but as long as there was mud he came in half chestnut.

That is an excellent theory. The other one I was thinking was sunscreen and bugscreen, like some other animals do.

Itchy skin can't account for all of it. But then again... with 'our' breeding practices... maybe it can.

Are you having trouble saving images? I keep saving images but some of them don't end up in the galleries when I go back. It's unusually annoying and rampant today.

[Silverine]

That is an excellent theory. The other one I was thinking was sunscreen and bugscreen, like some other animals do.

Itchy skin can't account for all of it. But then again... with 'our' breeding practices... maybe it can.

Are you having trouble saving images? I keep saving images but some of them don't end up in the galleries when I go back. It's unusually annoying and rampant today.

I had the sunscreen thought as well. It makes sense for the pink-skinned, light-colored horses, but a lot of greys have black skin. Bugscreen makes sense, too.

Ugh, itchy skin. My horse gets some sort of fungus on his tail head every summer and if I don't catch it in time he rubs the top of his tail out on the fence. One year he rubbed it so much that he rubbed the pigment out of it so he now has white hairs in his tail.

Not today. I've previously had some issues with it, but none recently.

[BlackOak2]

I had the sunscreen thought as well. It makes sense for the pink-skinned, light-colored horses, but a lot of greys have black skin. Bugscreen makes sense, too.

Ugh, itchy skin. My horse gets some sort of fungus on his tail head every summer and if I don't catch it in time he rubs the top of his tail out on the fence. One year he rubbed it so much that he rubbed the pigment out of it so he now has white hairs in his tail.

Not today. I've previously had some issues with it, but none recently.

I'm also now wondering if (since apparently a lot of grays eventually develop melanoma skin cancers), if these spots develop itchiness as a pre-warning type of thing.

I rode a horse that did that to their tail too. Except it was year round. Baby oil was my remedy, but that was just dry skin.

[Silverine]

I'm also now wondering if (since apparently a lot of grays eventually develop melanoma skin cancers), if these spots develop itchiness as a pre-warning type of thing.

I rode a horse that did that to their tail too. Except it was year round. Baby oil was my remedy, but that was just dry skin.

I have no idea. Most of the horses I deal with aren't grey. There were a bunch at that summer camp, but I was only there for three months. XD

Yeah, my guy is fungus. T_T I usually use MTG. It keeps the fungus down and helps the hair grow.

[BlackOak2]

I have no idea. Most of the horses I deal with aren't grey. There were a bunch at that summer camp, but I was only there for three months. XD

Yeah, my guy is fungus. T_T I usually use MTG. It keeps the fungus down and helps the hair grow.

I didn't know about the connection until I worked for a retired TB breeder. She said that something about the genes that cause the gray color, has some sort of a deficiency or something that mutates too easily into skin cancers. She also said that very few gray lines exist that don't have the same problem, but as far as she knew, they hadn't yet figured out what the difference was between the gray lines that didn't mutate and those that did.

Who knew?

[Silverine]

I didn't know about the connection until I worked for a retired TB breeder. She said that something about the genes that cause the gray color, has some sort of a deficiency or something that mutates too easily into skin cancers. She also said that very few gray lines exist that don't have the same problem, but as far as she knew, they hadn't yet figured out what the difference was between the gray lines that didn't mutate and those that did.

Who knew?

Huh. Very interesting. Makes me glad that 1) I tend to avoid grey because it's harder to keep clean and 2) we don't have to worry about that in-game.

[BlackOak2]

Huh. Very interesting. Makes me glad that 1) I tend to avoid grey because it's harder to keep clean and 2) we don't have to worry about that in-game.

Not in-game Yet.

But at the rate we're progressing, it looks like it'll be quite a few more years before we get to that point.