Silver (blue?) dun pony mare?

OK - having trouble figuring out how to upload photos. I wrote a message in the "Getting to know you" forum several days ago and have finally had a chance to take some pictures. They show some of the dun characteristics pretty well, but the zebra stripes didn't show up very clearly. Her dark "mask" is really as blue-grey as it appears. She's about 11.2-12 hands, very long-legged and fine featured - doesn't look anything like a mini or a typical stocky pony type.

Alright.. I give up on the photos. I have them on Snapfish if anyone is interested. I tried to paste in the URL from Snapfish that is supposedly for sharing with blogs, but it wouldn't take... I'm going to try one more time and then just go ahead and post this and hope for some helpful advice .

http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=2066618013/PictureID=77614012013/a=128338270_128338270/[/img]

Snapfish photo links don't end in an extension (.jpg, .gif, etc.) and phpbb forums don't understand how to process a photo that doesn't. Your best bet is to use PhotoBucket in stead of Snapfish.

I was able to see one photo. She is definitely silver. I can't tell for certain if she's dun or not, but it certainly does look that way. What confuses me is how blue her body is and yet how red her face looks. It's almost like she could be roan. Roan can mimic dun VERY well sometimes. So I will say it's possible she is a bay silver roan. Or she could be a silver grulla, maybe with the adition of roan, but her face sure seems too red to be a true black base. I can't wait to see the other photos!

For what it's worth, she looks very much like a miniature to me. She's too tall so she is probably a mix, but she definitely has mini characteristics. I'm thinking maybe a Mini x Welsh cross.

ACC

I just wanted to say that the more I think about it, the more I think bay silver roan. She could be dun in addition to that, but might not be.

ACC

Yes, I thought a Welsh cross, too. Her face is actually a very blueish grey - I don't have a very good camera, but some of the other pictures show it pretty well. I'll try to put them on Photobucket soon. Also, I've sent her tail hair sample to VGL so should have something conclusive soon. Thanks!

Wait a minute!! I just got into the whole album. Are those all the same horse!!??

ACC

Yes - on a semi-overcast day. Her coat really looks different under different light. I just noticed yesterday, on a couple of spots where her coat has been rubbed shorter, that the "under" color (at the base of the hair shafts) is the same steel blue grey as her muzzle. If it wasn't already cooling down here I'd clip her and see how dark she is under all that shagginess, also I'd like to see if her dapples come out more. Next spring!

Now see I could SWEAR I've seen that mare before. On a Welsh site. I can't remember if she was listed as half or full Welsh. If I'm not mistaken she was listed as silver buckskin or possibly silver buckskin roan. The photo of her going over the jump *definitely* looks silver buckskin and the other photos support it as well. The other photos seem to support the addition of roan, as well as the photo you took.

What are you testing her for?

ACC

Hm.. there must be some glitch or something - I don't have any pictures of her going over jumps. Just a bunch of pictures of her grazing, all taken within about 20 minutes or so. No action shots. Maybe Snapfish directed you to another photo album? I'll try to get some pictures on Photobucket tomorrow if I can, but in the meantime if you are able to get into Snapfish there are (I think) 11 photos of her, all under an album called "Cookie" and taken on the same day (I think 8/14), and they're all pretty obviously taken at the same time. Maybe there's another photo album with the same name - wouldn't surprise me. I'll see if I can figure out how to post an invitation to my album here.
I just ordered the test for the Z gene. As I understand it, there isn't a test for the dun gene(s), and her markings are pretty clear.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2066618013/a=128338270_128338270/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Maybe this will work. I'll try to do the Photobucket thing tomorrow.

Ok yes that worked. I'm not sure how I was seeing that other album.

You're right, she is definitely dun. However... I'm not convinced of her base color. Her dorsal stripe is very red looking as are her legs. I'm starting to think she could be dunalino. I just can't imagine a bay or black base having such a red dorsal, even with silver. Her silver test may tell us something (for example, if she's negative), however I would definitely like to see an extension and agouti test on her as well. A cream test would also be helpful.

What an odd, odd little mare.

ACC

She is quite odd! Trying to describe her to someone the other day I said that she was like a palomino but with the gold switched to silver. I looked up photos of dunalinos, and some of them really do look like her - especially the reddish color of the dun markings. And the mane on her withers, meeting up with the dorsal stripe, is reddish golden too. I don't think she's roan because all of her coat hairs are the same color, though much darker/bluer at the base than the ends.
I wish I had some way of learning her history. She definitely hasn't had much formal training to speak of. We've been working on lunging and it's obviously new to her, though she's trying hard to understand the voice commands and figure out what I'm asking. She'd make a beautiful Pony Club or 4-H pony with some formal training, but I'm not the person to do it, unfortunately. For now she'll be a leadline pony and pet - she is very sweet, and she's a joy to watch.

Do you have to sign up to see the album?

I had to sign in to my account to see it, so I presume so.

Yeah the more I think about it, the more I lean to dunalino without roan. But I wouldn't put it past silver to make another color looks like that. I guess we'll know if the silver test comes back negative.

She's a precious little girl. I'm glad you're enjoying her.
ACC

Thanks for all the info, ACC. I'll get those pictures on Photobucket and post again when the results come back from VGL.

I got the results from VGL yesterday - Cookie does have a copy of the silver dilute gene (N/Z). I thought she probably did; she looks so much like the pictures I've seen of silver duns. I'm looking forward to next spring when I can clip her and see that lovely blue-grey coat that is only visible in the rubbed off patches now. It's funny, she's such a "princess" pony, with her long mane and tail and lovely color - I think she would have been my dream pony when I was a little girl. But my two boys just got a Powerwheel and for now that's the only thing they're interested in riding! I'll take some more pictures when I can and try to post them here - it's so interesting to see the varieties of silver that are out there. If you want any specific shots to use as example photos of silver dun coloring let me know.

Keep in mind even a red based horse can carry silver.

I'd love to see more photos. If she were mine I'd still be testing.

ACC

Congratulations! That's great!

Please do post a link to your photos when they are on photobucket. I would love to see them.