Keep Calm

Brindle pattern to horses?

Have you ever seen an Brindle pattern horse? I thought only dogs and cattle could have the Brindle pattern. But no, I'm wrong. There's acctually horses with this unique pattern.

Facts about the Brindle pattern.

The Brindle pattern consists of a watery or drippy looking striping (sometimes just partial striping) over the body of an animal. It is more commonly seen in dogs or cattle. In horses, the pattern is extremely rare. Brindle has occurred in such diverse breeds as Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Mustangs, Quarter Horses, Tennessee Walking Horses, German and Bavarian Warmbloods, Russian Horses, Spanish Horses, and also in Donkeys and Mules.

The first record of the Brindle Pattern in Horses seems to be by J.A. Lusis, in the publication Genetica vol.23, 1942. In the article on "Striping Patterns in Domestic Horses", he details a Russian cab horse from around the 1800's, that was preserved and put in a museum. Reports of Brindle or Brindle Dun patterns from the 1860's to 1870's in the Criollo horses of South America have been documented by writers such as Marrero, Pereyra, Solanet, and Odriozola.

Many people confuse the Brindle pattern with Dun Factor markings (stripe down the back, barring on the legs, and occasional regular-spaced striping down the ribs). At one time, it was thought Brindle was a just a variation of Dun Factor. Indeed, there have been many examples of horses that were probably carrying both Dun Factor and Brindle. However, as can be seen from pictures of numerous Brindles in our slideshow, many do not have any Dun Factor markings whatsoever, indicating the two patterns are probably distinct genetically. Click highlighted type to compare Dun Factor and Brindle.

Brindle horses also have texturing in their coat, similar to that seen in some Appaloosa horses. The pattern seems to be inheritable, especially in terms of coat texturing, but the expression of the darker or more intense pigment to make the pattern visible is highly variable, and even varies with individual horses seasonally / yearly. Sometimes the pattern seems to be composed of dark hair (black or brown), sometimes of white hair (roan or gray).

Information collected since 1990 on Brindle horses is now shedding some light on the Brindle pattern. It now appears there may be two ways in which a Brindle phenotype (outward appearance) can occur. In some horses, the pattern has not been inheritable, pointing to a possible mosaic or chimeric origin, such as seen in tortoiseshell cats. In other horses, the pattern has been shown to be inheritable. However, there could be several genes involved, producing similar patterns (much as pinto/paint spotting can result from several different genes).

Pure chaos!

Whew, it's not easy to give a bunch of hungry horses food! Today it was my turn to drive hay out to all the horses at the Flower Farm. And they are just so hungry. They are used to have access to hay 24/7. Because of all the rain there's now very much mud at their feeding place . So now we are driving food out to them 2 times at day, so we avoid all the mud. However, they are really hungry now, it's a bit crazy to go from food 24/7 to 2 times at day... I and many others are not satisfied... But peace be with that. I don't dwell on our long discussion.

Darkness, mud and many hungry horses are not a good mix, I'll tell you that! I was driving out with a small tractor and there was just SO muddy, so it slid around, I had absolutely no control of it. And it's not smart when some of the horses has no respect for the tractor. I was really close to run multiple horses down. I can promise you that my heart was sitting up in my throat several times. However, it seemed like the horses was amused. They jumped and galloped around me. They were probably just happy to see the food. Thankfully it ended well. All the horses were alive and they got their food :-)

Christmas "wish list"

My christmas "wish list" this year is very long. There's simply so many things I want. When you have no money, the list quickly gets quite long!

But here's some of my wishes

And if anyone is in doubt, it's the equipment I want, the horses are probably out of my budget...

Today's Quote

"The difference between the show-horse and the school-horse is that the show-horse remembers the exercise the school-horse understands the aid."

~ Bent Branderup

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

My've been pretty hectic. I had to drive to Jutland and get our horse trailer that had been "stolen" by the old owner. It's a very long history. But now it's back at home and ready to move the horses on the 30/11.

In addition, I still may not ride or do anything active (because of my knee). But I rode Giga yesterday, stupid I know.. I can feel that Giga she thought it was a little odd to have such a stiff legged girl up on her back, so she was quite angry and a little confused. However, I have two lovely ladies that look after my horses and it's just really nice especially now that I don't have the energy to train them seriously.

"The Big Horse Day"

In Denmark we have here on Zealand each year (in August), something we call "The Big Horse Day". It's a big horse event where horses are judged, there are shows, competitions and more. In addition, there are lots of small stalls selling horse equipment, food, fur/skin care, etc. This year I was there with my school and I was helping with getting some of the school horses ready. Two of the school horses were rated best in their breed and got on with the day's horse. Of course a Friesian won!

It was hard to get up at 4 am to take care of horses and first get the day off at  6 pm. But it was all worth it. I met a lot of lovely people and horses.


Please respect the copyright on all images!

The schools icelandic horse

The schools Pinto

I think the result of my pictures tell all about the horses I love the most, or what do you think ;-)