Albino ? ? ?
Songcatcher
May 27, 2010 February 22, 2011
Forums
An e-acquaintance posted this on the Smallest Horse Group forum and gave me permission to post it here.
[quote]A friend of mine had a filly born a few days ago, and she appears to be an albino. At first I thought cremello or perlino, since she's out of a buckskin mare, by a pally stallion. But this filly has RED eyes! I'm not talking bloodshot or anything like that, truly red eyes. I've never seen anything like it! Her vet wasn't sure if it's albino, since he's never seen one either! Has anybody ever heard of a true albino horse? She's gonna send hair samples to have her color tested, but not sure if that will really help or not. BTW, she gave me permission to post about this. She also said the filly sorta acts like a preemie. She nurses fine, but just seems a little slow to her.
Melba
So, what do you all think? That's not 'flash' red eye, that's the color of her eyes!
Melba[/quote]
Here are pictures:
[img]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Reference%20horses/…]
[img]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Reference%20horses/…]
[img]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/FreelandNash/Reference%20horses/…]
Looking forward to everyone's thoughts on this.
Re: Albino ? ? ?
The vet said basically what I tried to say. The iris is blue (as expected with a double dilute) and the reflective surface of the eye (tapetum) is non-pigmented so the appearance is only colored by blood vessels flowing in the back of the eye (hence the red). It is the same as humans getting the red eye in photos. Pupils are always clear...actually the pupil is really a nothing; it is the opening of the iris that allows light to the lens and back of the eye. If the pupil wasn't 'clear' than no one could see.
Re: Albino ? ? ?
I confirmed with my husband that we've both noticed our new-to-us Meezer kitty w/ light blue eyes will sometimes look red to our naked-eye in natural light. It is just the way the light hits his eyes every once in a while.