Dappled Gray

If you look at the above picture from a couple of months ago, you will have to agree with me that it's very likely Chrome will dapple out soon.  I'm very happy because I've been concerned that he would be one of those grays that just slowly fades out all over without dappling.  I love dappled grays so I really want to experience that stage in his graying process.  It's so crazy how much he changes!  This next picture is from a couple of days ago (see previous post) and look how dark he is again!  I don't know if all the white on his neck and shoulders is part of his natural graying process or if it's because of the sweet itch sores from last summer.  I'm sure those of you who've had horses go gray know that any time they get a cut or sore the hair grows back in white.

For example his legs I'm pretty sure would still be jet black if his sweet itch hadn't caused sores on his legs.  When they healed his hair grew back in white.  So I don't know exactly how far along he is in the graying process, but I'm fairly sure he will dapple out sometime in the next year or two.

See how white his front legs are, but how dark his back legs still are?  He only got sores on his front legs (not all at once, he got new ones all summer as old ones slowly healed, it's not like his whole legs were big sores), so his back legs have stayed dark.  That's why I think the fact that his shoulders are lighter is because of the sweet itch and not because of his graying.

So anyway about a week ago I was doing random searches of dappled gray horses on Google and found all of these awesome examples (I do not own any of the pictures below this point, they were all borrowed from Google and I forgot to save the links so I don't remember where they all came from... sorry).

This first one I saw and thought it looks so much like Chrome! There is something about his face that makes me think of my boy, so I looked up what breed he is.... he's an Irish imported Connemara stallion!!!  Here is the webpage http://www.breeding-stallions.com/stallion604.html.  The funny thing is that when I posted Chrome on a forum one time asking people to guess his breed several people thought he was a Connemara lol.  I could definitely see Chrome looking like this guy in a couple of years.

This one is gorgeous!!  Freya is actually a Friesian cross sired by the Friesian stallion Friso.  So gorgeous!  I would love it if Chrome ended up dappling out like that.

I forgot to look at what this one above is, but I could totally see Chrome dappling out like that!!  He already has the white face with the little bit of dark on the forehead and cheeks.  It's easy to see where he could look like this in a year.  So pretty!

This one is a little more advanced.  I was worried that as quickly as chrome's face went gray and that his shoulders are lightening up faster than the rest of his body that he wouldn't dapple, but this horse shows me that it's a normal stage in the graying process.  It looks like his haunches and rear legs dappled out last because of how dark they are.

This horse is gorgeous too!  

 And while I'm dreaming... look at that mane!!!  I soooo wish Chrome could grow a mane like that!

So anyway, I just wanted to share the pretty dappled gray horses with you.  :D  I've enjoyed watching Chrome's color change over the years and I look forward to the fun changes coming up over the next few years.  I'm so happy I've been able to take lots of pictures of him to record the whole graying process.  :)  It will be fun one day when he is completely grayed out to go back and post pictures of how he started out.