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Examples of silver dapple horses.
Icelandic: Móvindóttur.
Description: The
horse has a chocolate-brown body colour and flaxen mane, and usually dapples
on the body.
Þokki from Ysti-Mór
in winter coat.
C: Lukka.
A very clear example of silver
dapple in summer coat.
Vindur from Enni.
C: Lukka.
Vindur from Enni.
C: Lukka.
A silver dapple yearling.
The dapples can't always be seen untill they're 2 years old.
Simon from Keldulandi.
C: Lukka.

On the other hand, when
they get older... here's a 6 year old mare in heavy winter coat, but the
dapples peek through as lighter spots.
C: Lukka.
The dapples showing very clearly
in a summer coat.
A huge horse, 14.2 hands.
Húni from Þúfu.
Sometimes the contrast is not
very sharp. Here is a very light silver dapple. This mare became
grey later, which is propably why the body color is so light.
Litfríð from Keldulandi.
C: Lukka.
This contrast is as sharp as
it can get.
C: Lukka.
On the other hand, here we have
a very unsharp contrast. Sometimes the mane can be even blacker than
here. This is not the most popular version of the silver dapple,
but genetically it's a silver dapple, and can produce a light silver dapple
foal. It is possible that the base color of such a very dark silver
dapple is pure black (svartur in icelandic), but a lighter silver dapple
has a lighter black base color (brúnn or móbrúnn in
icelandic).
Snekkja from Höfnum.
C: Lukka.
Silver dapple with blaze, a
rare sight, as Icelandics with black base color are rarely with blazes.
Embla from Fremri-Hundadal.
C: Lukka.
The silver dapple foal:
It is always easy to differ between
a silver dapple and other colors on the very first day. After that
it becomes difficult, untill the foal has shed it's foal coat.
If the inner edge of the eyelids
on the newborn foal is pink it is a chestnut or other red based color (and
the foal is not silver dapple). Reminds of a red haired human.
If the inner edge of the eyelids
on the newborn foal is black (that is, the foal is all ready wearing make
up) it is a black base coat, so the foal is a silver dapple!
So: look at the newborn foal:
1) light grey beige with same
or lighter mane/tail and make up on = black silver dapple
2) reddish color with lighter
mane darker tips of ears greyish legs and make up on = bay silver dapple
3) reddish color with same or
lighter mane and in need of make up (pink skin closest to the eye) = chestnut
Silver dapple foals also have
striped hooves but that is not a sign to guarantee on since since markings
can interfere.
This picture is taken of a few
months old foal. It shows on the upper body of the foal how the foal
hairs look on a newborn silver dapple foal. A newborn silver dapple
is very light, often in a very unidentifiable mud-color, with little contrast
between mane and body. Later when the foal drops it's foal hairs,
the real body color emerges, as is happening on this foal's feet and muzzle.
C: Sigrid Younger.
A foal that has fully shed the
foal coat.
Gæla from Hofsstöðum.
C: Catharina Hedsåter.
Some genetics:
The silver colour is on the Z-locus.
You need one dominant gene Z which changes a black body colour into a chocolate-brown,
and black mane and tail into a flaxen mane and tail, or silver-grey mane
and tail. So, one of the parents need to be silver dapple for the
foal to become silver dapple. There is though one fact that makes
this a bit complicated, the fact that the silver dapple gene lightens a
black mane and tail. Horses that don't have a black mane and tail
to begin with can thus carry the silver dapple gene without you seeing
it. If a palomino, yellow dun, grey or chestnut horse is carrying
the silver dapple gene you can't see it, and if a silver dapple parent
has a foal in these colors, you can't see whether the foal carries the
gene or not. It is thus adivicable, if you want to breed a silver
dapple horse, to get a foal in this color, to breed the horse to a horse
that has a black mane and tail, to increase the likelyhood of getting a
silver dapple foal. For example, if you have a silver dapple mare,
breed her to a black stallion, not a chestnut or palomino stallion.
The color in different languages:
USA: Silver, silver dapple.
Dutch: Zilverappelzwart
.
In Europe they are usually called
by the icelandic name, vindótt.
Swedish: Silversvart.
History
I Characteristics I Colors
I Breeding goals I Gaits
I Training
I
Raising
our horses I Our broodmares I Foals
1999 I Foals 2000 I Onelist
I Location I Weather
I Winter gallery I Summer
gallery I Us at Langhus
I
Icelandic
cow I Icelandic sheep I Icelandic
sheepdog I Articles from the website IWebrings
I Link-collection I Horses
for sale I
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