COAT, COLOURS AND PATTERNS

Description of the Appaloosa coat colour and patterns used by the Appaloosa Horse Breeders Society of South Africa. 
Sue Fairman May 2002

COAT COLOURS
The coats of Appaloosas are doubtlessly their most distinctive characteristic.  When describing the coat, one should begin with the base colour, which is the colour of the 'solid' and spotted parts of the coat.  If the base colour is 'white' the animal is grey and the spots will not be visible. Grey animals are not eligible for registration with the breed society.  The most common base colours in Appaloosa horses are:  black, bay and chestnut.  Also occurring but less common are:  dun {a diluted bay coat}, palomino and grulla {a diluted black coat}.  Besides grey; albino {cream} and pinto are not eligible for registration with the breed society.

The main base colours are recognised as follows:
Black  The whole coat, including the muzzle and flanks is completely black.  This colour is genetically recessive and quite rare.  Some breeds, such as Friesian, exhibit it clearly.
Dark Bay  The whole coat is black or dark brown; the muzzle and or flanks and elbows are brown, not black.  The legs, mane and tail are black..
Bay  The coat is brown {dark, medium or light}, with black points {mane, tail, legs below knees and hocks, muzzle and tips of ears}.
Chestnut  The whole coat is brown, including the mane and tail.  'Liver' chestnut describes a dark chestnut while 'sorrel' describes a chestnut with a lighter {not white} mane and tail. 

SOLID COLOURS
Horses with one or two Appaloosa parents may be born with a solid coat colour, with no Appaloosa colour or other characteristics and they do not "roan out'.  Such horses are considered to be Appaloosa by virtue of their breeding and they are eligible for registration as non-characteristic {NC} animals. 

COAT PATTERNS

LEOPARD:
"Leopard" coloured Appaloosa horses are those which show spots in the "base colour" over the entire body on a white coat.  There are several variations on the Leopard coat patterns, distinguished by the colour at birth and the extent of spotting.
 

a)	True Leopard:  The main coat colour is white at birth, including the head and legs, there is spotting over the entire body and it is usually
	bold.  There is no change in the coat pattern as the horse matures.
b)	Near Leopard:  The main colour is not entirely white at birth, it may be white with dark head and legs, a solid colour or a blanket pattern,
	there may be white hairs mixed in with the darker areas of the coat, as in a roan or snowflake colour.  At birth spots may be visible in
	any of the white areas and even within the darker areas.  Over a period of time, the dark hairs are replaced by white hairs through the
	roaning process, revealing any spots that were originally hidden in the darker areas.  The final coat pattern on the mature horse will be
	dark spots on a white or light {roaned} coat.  The near leopard pattern can almost always be distinguished from a true leopard by the
	remaining darker areas, especially on the legs and head.
c)	Few Spot Leopard:  This is a sparsely spotted leopard that may be a true leopard (born with this colour) or a near leopard (roaned to
	this colour).  In some cases there are no spots at all.  There will, however be darker hairs around the knees, elbows, hocks and
	possibly stifles.  'This is not an albino {cream} or a grey horse and there is normally mottled skin and a white sclera present.

Leopard spotting comes in three main colour variants - these are the base colours of the leopard spotted horses, being:
Black leopard - with black spots only;
Bay leopard - with brown spots on the body and black on the legs, may be referred to as "tri-coloured leopard";
  Chestnut leopard with chestnut spots on the body and chestnut legs, may also be referred to as a "red leopard".

Other colours can also provide the base colour of the leopard pattern; they will be described by their name, e.g. 'palomino leopard'.

BLANKET:
The blanket pattern is variable, but essentially it is where the rump is white and the rest of the body another solid colour.  The blanket size is highly variable.
The variations within the blanket pattern are:
 

a)	Lace blanket - The blanket area is not entirely white, but an arrangement of white and dark hairs giving a lace effect, particularly around
	the edges of the blanket.  The lace blanket is usually restricted to the rump.
b)	White blanket - The blanketed area is entirely white, may be referred to as a 'snowcap'.
c)	Spotted blanket - The blanketed area contains spots.  It may vary from densely to sparsely spotted.
d)	Extended blanket - When the blanketed area extends to the belly, withers and even the shoulders.

The blanket pattern can come in the same colour variations as the leopard pattern.  Roaning may also occur to increase the extent of the blanket.  It is common for 'lace blankets' to roan out completely and give the appearance of a few-spot leopard.

SNOWFLAKE
The base colour may be roan or a solid colour, with groups of white hairs forming spots, speckles or blotches; thus causing a snowflake appearance.  The extent of the white spotting is variable.

ROAN
Roan occurs when a dark coloured base coat has white hairs evenly sprinkled throughout is.  The Appaloosa roan has the white hairs sprinkled unevenly through the darker ones and the roan usually develops over time through the roaning process.

Roaning can occur in any Appaloosa colour pattern, i.e. leopard, blanket or snowflake.  Also in any base colour coat, in which the more common results are:

	Black roan when the base coat is black;  commonly called blue roan.
	Bay roan on a bay base coat; commonly called red or strawberry roan.
	Chestnut roan on a chestnut base coat.
The Appaloosa roan, which dos not contain an even mixture of white and coloured hair falls into two main categories, being:
	Varnish roan where the coat is mainly a fairly even mixture of white hairs throughout the dark coat and there are obvious "varnish marks"
	where there is a greater concentration of darker hairs, often where the bones are near the skin.  There is no spotting present in the coat.
	Marble roan where there is a fairly uneven mixture of white hairs throughout the coat, including white spots and or blotches, and
	including dark spots and dark or white 'veins' of hairs.  This colouring is occasionally described as "spotted roan' or roan with spots'.
The third category of roan is therefore:
	Normal roan this should be used to describe the non-Appaloosa roan coat colour where there is an even distribution of white hairs
	throughout the coat.  Horses with this colour are only eligible for 'non-characteristic' registration, unless they exhibit other Appaloosa
	characteristics.

The roaning process:
'Roaning our' in the Appaloosa horse is a process where the base colour gradually changes to a lighter colour due to the replacement of dark hairs by white hairs. 
When roaning our an Appaloosa will never lose its spots, the roaning process often reveals spots originally hidden in the darker base colour coat.  If an Appaloosa possesses a grey gene it will turn grey (white) and the spots will also lose their colour and eventually disappear.  Grey horses are not eligible for registration with AHBSSA.
 

Lace Blanket	OTHER CHARACTERISTICS:
Mottled Skin	Striped Hooves	White Sclera

OTHER COAT CHARACTERISTICS

THE SPOTS
 

a)	Size, shape and density
	The dark 'Appaloosa' spots, which occur on a white or light background may vary in size from speckles and flecks to larger spots
	of more than ten cm in diameter.  They are usually round or oval but may be irregular when two or more spots overlap.  They can
	give interesting shapes such as hearts.  Spots may occur in large numbers and dense clusters or be very sparsely scattered over
	the horse.
b)	Raised spots
	The hair in the spots is often longer and stronger than the surrounding white coat hair and the spots can be felt.  This author has also
	observed spots  where the hair is shorter and finer than the surrounding white coat.
c)	Halos
	A lighter coloured ring of the dark colour mixed with white hairs may surround the spots.  They may also be called 'Peacock' spots.

VARNISH MARKS
Varnish marks are a concentration of darker hairs, usually sprinkled with white hairs as in a roan coat.  They are found in various places on the horse's body.  They commonly occur on few spot leopards, near leopards and horses that have roaned out.  They are usually found on the face, ears, knees, elbows, girth, stifle, hocks, hips and flanks.

MARBLING
Marbling is when there are varied areas of spotting and speckling that give a lace, veined, flecked, slightly blotchy or marbled appearance.

FROSTING
This is a sprinkling of white hairs over the hips.  It is commonly seen in the foal coat of an animal which later roans out.

LIGHTNING MARKS
These occur on the legs, mainly below the knee or hock and the legs appear to be striped. It is the result of spots that merge to form dark stripes and between them leave white areas as stripes.  Hence "lightning".

WHITE FACE AND LEG MARKINGS
These may also occur with Appaloosa coat patterns.

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH APPALOOSA COLOURING

MOTTLED SKIN
The bare skin of the muzzle, dock, anus, genital areas and around the eyes may be mottled.  On the face this will be irregular speckles and small botches of pink {unpigmented} and grey {pigmented} skin, it does not include the inside of the lips.  Mottled muzzles may also occur in greys and sometimes horses of other colours.  In Southern Africa it is not particularly desirable to have unpigmented skin on the face because of the risk of sunburn and skin cancer.  Mottling in the other areas is more of an irregular pattern of pink and grey patches, with smooth or jagged edges.

WHITE SCLERA
The area of the eye-ball surrounding the dark {or occasionally blue} pigmented iris may lack pigment.  This is very common in Appaloosa horses and in a foal born with a solid colour may be the only indication that he could roan out to give 'colour', but it is not normally visible for the first few weeks after birth.  The white sclera may not be readily visible in all Appaloosa horses.

STRIPED HOOVES
The colour visible on the wall of the hooves in the Appaloosa may be light {white}, dark {black} or striped dark and light in vertical stripe of varied width and number.