Dapples!

In the almost nine years that I've owned Izzy, his coat has done some wild things. I've written about this many times, and each time I get a lot of feedback: He's deficient in some mineral. It's genetic. It's something else. I've done lots of research and even had him tested for the cream dilution gene - which was negative, but I finally accepted that the seasonal changes in his coat are simply due to sun fading.

August 2019

Last summer we moved Izzy into the stallion paddock and moved Dollar, the stallion, next to Speedy. That friendship has worked brilliantly. Speedy gets a much gentler neighbor, and Dollar finally gets to have a neighbor. As a younger stallion he was too "manly" to share a fence line with anyone. Izzy wasn't too thrilled in the beginning to be "alone", but he's perfectly happy now.

Today's living arrangement.

When Izzy lived next door to Speedy, the two of them hung out along the cross fence between their two paddocks. This meant that even though there was plenty of summertime shade, they never used it. Now, Speedy and Dollar hang out under the shelter when it's hot, or Speedy will stand in the back corner of his paddock under the tree. Now that Izzy is in the larger paddock alone, he likes to hang out in one of the two corners closest to Speedy and Dollar which are well shaded. Or, he hangs out under his own shelter which is where his feeder is.

August 2023 (no bath or grooming)

Where the horses hang out isn't really newsworthy except that over the weekend I took a close look at Izzy's coat and realized that it isn't sunburnt and faded like it usually is in August. In fact, his coat is super shiny and his dapples are fairly glowing. I haven't seen dapples in quite a while. It occurred to me that he must be spending a lot more time in the shade than he had been when living alongside Speedy.

Side by side comparison

Both coats are beautiful, but I am partial to his dark brown coat.