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Fading

TheRedHayflinger July 30, 2009 February 22, 2011

Forums

I've had a friend post this elsewhere before as she hadn't seen horses sunbleach out just in certain spots, but she forgot where....I've also posted it on a horse forum I admin at....and no one really knew what to think of it. A lot of people thought it was urine bleaching, but the hair is shiny, healthy, glossy hair...not at all brittle and loose and wanting to fall out. She normally only fades like this in September...but this year she is starting a bit earlier. It does not happen on her head at all, just her flank spots and under her tail, the majority of that rump spot stays black--I would think the part out in the sun would fade out more. The only fading blacks I've seen in person myself turn a brown color pretty much all over but the face(ears faded, just the actual face isn't)...this is on her rump/under her tail(so hidden from the sun) and on the flanks and the head stays black. She normally stays black all year round, with her turning in Sept and it lasting till about mid-Oct. She is outside 24/7. I just noticed her starting to turn slightly on her flanks early this year(this week). These are pics I had taken a couple years back [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/554.jpg[/img] [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/33333.jpg[/img] [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/345234.jpg[/img] [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/434443.jpg[/img] [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/11111.jpg[/img] and then...a few weeks later [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/herqe.jpg[/img] my first mare(who never faded out that badly again)...her faded hair was dry and brittle too. And her ears were sunbleached as well(hard to tell in that picture)...her neck was just as faded, but she was sweating there from her trailer ride [img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stauffie/Confo/FirstLibby.jpg[/img]

Morgan Thu, 07/30/2009 - 11:51

The fading around the tail and flank is fading from sweat. Sunbleaching happens all over the body and will look rather fried, like the last picture.

TheRedHayflinger Thu, 07/30/2009 - 12:18

wouldn't sweat fading be brittled hair too, or does it help that she gets hosed off and sponged down after being worked? And wouldn't it happen earlier in the summer when I'm really working her butt off? I had her at a Boy Scout Camp one summer where she was out 3-4 hours in the heat of the day and no fading..get home in a cooler climate where she is being ridden evening/night hours and then she fades.

Morgan Thu, 07/30/2009 - 12:29

what about the humidity? I dont know exactly how it works but I do know it happens just like that to my blacks after a week when they are really sweaty (I have days I have to hose them off even without riding :shock:). And like under the tail it can't be the sun, but they are sweatier under the tail hair.

TheRedHayflinger Thu, 07/30/2009 - 12:32

dunno...humidity is generally not as sticky as it was at the Boy Scout Camp either...

It makes sense...but we'd get sweat fading on our bays and chestnuts at camp(we even had one that would crust over ...ewwww--come out in the AM and he'd been sweating at night and was...crunchy! He got hosed a lot and electrolytes a lot) and they had brittle feeling hair like our sunbleached monster black mare we had there.