Just A Random Odd Dapple Question

That's a new on me !!! - wow strange. :?

Lol! Yes, I have seen that once or twice, oddly enough on a my faded black :shock: I've had them dry in stripes too :lol: I think different color hairs hold water easier than others.

I'd never really paid much attention to drying horses...so I was dying laughing when I seen it. Will have to try it again later on this week..haha

Try it on a flea bitten grey in winter coat, they just look awefull till it's all dry :rofl

Not your horse, but mine, or the one who used to be mine.

As far as I know she was just bay and not a fading black. I may have more that show it better but these are the only ones Ive uploaded as they were the only semi conformation shots that would semi work for a critque

[img]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/…]
[img]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/…]

I think dapples and some other forms of fading are heat connected- most colours on horses seem to lighten in the hotter areas and be darker in the colder areas like the effect you get with siamese cats where the pigment production is regulated by heat- the cooler the skin the more pigment is produced. I think the capillaries in the skin of a horse are formed in circular patches (maybe radiating from individual feeder arteries) meaning there are small patches that are hotter from the blood supply with rings round them with less blood supply. Has anyone seen a very young human baby with no clothes on? Their skin often forms dapple like patches from differential circulation. Another thing that makes me think this might be why- sometimes when horses are greying out they have white lines on their legs where the blood vessels seem to be under the skin. So a horse will be hotter in the lighter inner areas of the dapple and cooler round the edges, so the coat will dry quicker in the middle of the dapple than the outer ring round it.
Thats probably as clear as mud :D

I've noticed it too.

[quote="Dogrose"]
Thats probably as clear as mud :D[/quote]
Made perfect sense to me! :geek:

Interesting point! :idea: :)

my bucky mare used to dry like that too. the last places to dry were her dapples and ribs, she would be stripes & dapples, it looked really kool. I cant find the piccys I had of it thou :(

Now i"m gonna have to wet down my dappled horses to see! LOL

Good idea dogrose, with precident in cats too. I like it.

[size=85]how about reverse dappling?[/size]

lol

[quote="lillith"]
[size=85]how about reverse dappling?[/size]

lol[/quote]

Doesn't ACC's Lace have reverse dapples? Hose 'er down and see! LOL

Yup she does... I hosed her yesterday but didn't even pay attention. I'll check when I get back home.

I think reverse dappling would still be connected with the blood supply pattern, dunno how though :-?
Will look up stuff on pigment in hair and heat.

ETA Found this fascinating paper on a study of a human family that has the same mutation that makes siamese cat colour!
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picren…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Anyway it explains the reason for the colour related pigment pattern in siamese cats, I know horses aren't albino but they might have a type of hair pigment production that is heat sensitive to greater or lesser degree.

[quote="TheRedHayflinger"][quote="lillith"]
[size=85]how about reverse dappling?[/size]

lol[/quote]

Doesn't ACC's Lace have reverse dapples? Hose 'er down and see! LOL[/quote]

[img]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss29…]

COOL!!!