Model Horse Terms

The horses part of my blog isn't JUST for real horses- why not throw in model horses as well? Today I'll just list all the model horse terms I know so far.

LSQ- Live show quality. There is such a thing as showing model horses to get rosettes and so on.

PSQ- Photo show quality. Basically like live showing, except with pictures of the horse.

NSQ- Not show quality, meaning it has marks that are very noticeable. I think it basically means shelf quality.

SQ- Shelf quality, meaning that it isn't live show quality, but that it still looks nice on a shelf. Most model horses come this way.

BQ- I kind of made this one up: Body quality, basically meaning that the horse has huge seam splits, a terrible paint job, and it would just look nicer if you just re-did the whole thing. Body quality horses are the horses that people usually use to customize.

And since I cannot put up a post without a picture, here is one:

I think this is like the biggest model horse show in like the world. As you can tell, it is called the North American Model Horse Shows Association. You have to pay a lot of money to show there, so you have to be an experienced shower, but it is often worth it because you get special ribbons and stuff. The horses that place first in these shows get a giant ribbon and a wooden plate thingie with a beautiful horse carving on it. Well, not a carving. But anyways. I would have put a picture up, but I can't find one that I can save. Sorry.

Dapples

Yup! This is the much- anticipated post about dapples! Dapples are little round light patches on a horse's coat. Like so (look to the side, technical difficulties): I love dapples.
But before you read anything else, I would like you to read this quote from someone who kindly corrected me on some of my points "dapples are not genetic. they can also appear on all horse colors. dapples usually occur when a horse's coat is changing colors, which is why they are most commonly seen on greys. greys are born one color, and slowly change to grey as they age, which is why there are very light greys that appear white, and darker dapple greys." I am keeping all the other original information on the post, though, just because other people have said otherwise about the matter and I don't actually know which is true (although I'm leaning towards the quote, I'm pretty sure that person knew what she was talking about).
I believe they can appear on any color coat except for duns. But I saw that somebody who had a dun got dapples! Who knows. Maybe the horse is a chestnut. Anyways, dapples are weird. They most commonly appear on grey horses, and don't appear as commonly with chestnut horses (don't ask). There are also different kinds of dapples! I think I basically just showed you classic dappling. Here is some star dappling:  There are basically three kinds of dapples (as far as I know): Classic, star, and reverse. Star dappling is my favorite. Do you see that some of the dapples in the right- hand corner look a bit like stars? Well, there you go.

Here is some reverse dappling (it actually looks okay!). It is basically like classics dappling, except the dapples are darker instead of lighter. I probably would've gotten this confused with a leopard appaloosa, but I wouldn't have been sure. I learned something new today!
I have looked up how dapples are caused, but I don't think there is much of an answer. Some people say that their horses have dapples some years and not others. Other people say that dapples are a sign of health. I even saw one person say that they felt the edge of their horse's dapples and that they felt oily. Some people thought that dapples are just purely genetic. I don't know why any of that happens. So yup! Here is my not- so- short article about dapples that I was dying to do!
(by the way, there's a normal post under this)

Chestnut

Today's horse color is chestnut. It is basically a red horse, except there is some brown in it. There is no such thing as a bright red horse. There is only chestnut. Here is a picture of a sorrel chestnut:

Sorrel chestnuts are the lighter variations of the color. They look almost like palominos. This color is also called a flaxen chestnut. Another example of a horse color with different names.










Next color of chestnut is th mealy or pangare chestnut. This is the lightest extreme of the color. I believe that all haflinger ponies are this color. First time I saw one of these ponies, I thought that it was a palomino. Not a chance. I guess this color is a chestnut because there is a slight reddish tinge. I guess I will be able to tell the difference between colors now.

This is a liver chestnut horse. This is the darkest extreme of chestnut color. Some people may get it confused with a bay or maybe even a black, but there is a difference. If I didn't know about liver chestnuts, I wouldn't know what to call this horse. It does have the slightest reddish tinge.

This kind of chestnut is the basic chestnut. Kind of like the standard bay, but in chestnut form. This color is very similar to the flaxen chestnut, basically the same. But there is a difference: the mane and tail. The mane and tail on the flaxen chestnut are very light, and the mane and tail on this horse is the same color. So there you go. That is basically it.




Oh yeah: I forgot the gene (or color pigment. Again, I don't know the wording). It is called pheomelanin. Chestnut horses do not have black as a base color, but only red. It is kind of predictable.

Bibliography (unofficial, I'm lazy today):
Source #1: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_horse
Source #2: http://www.texas-paint-horses-for-sale.com/chestnut-horse-color.html
Source #3:http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=equine+genetics#/d16oj50

Bay

My first real post for horses (other than the introduction) is about solid coat colors. Okay, maybe just shades of brown. But don't abandon this if it sounds boring. Because there are A LOT of shades of brown (or that's what you would call it...). First up, there is the color brown. Easy. This is what it looks like:

This is only one shade of many. Brown in the horse world is called bay. Bay is the most common horse color, but it has a lot of shades, like I said before: light bay, standard bay, blood bay, dark bay, black- bay, seal bay, mohagony bay. I also want to make the point that often one shade of color has different names, such as, in the simpler naming, dark bay. All of the following are the same color: black- bay, seal bay, mohagony bay, and brown (the picture here has that shade). I don't know why they are called different things. I also want to show you a blood bay, because I think that might be my favorite shade of bay:

You might not be able to see it in the picture, but this horse has a hint of red to it's coat. Blood bays are beautiful, especially the darker ones. I will also show you a darker, standard, and light bay (just for feel):

 This is, as you might guess, a dark bay. At first sight I would probably be calling it seal bay, because that is just how I recognize the color as. I think an example of a dark bay horse that I know is Black Caviar (ever heard of her?). She's got the same yellow tinge.

 This is the standard bay, what you would expect a brown horse to be. Well, maybe a little lighter. But you can't complain. I do have to say, though, this is the stereotype for a horse. I don't blame anyone for it, though. A lot of horses are standard bay.

This is the light bay. At first sight you might think it was a palomino. But I don't think palominos have a black mane and dark legs. Palominos are limited to cream manes, I think. But that will come later.
Correction: "Actually the light bay you pictured is in fact a buckskin.
Touch Gold is a really good example of a true light bay.
One of racehorse's is by him and he produces really nice looking foals!"

Thank you! I would have never known (I can never tell the difference between buckskin and bay, I am a MESS)! And just if you haven't realized already, that quote isn't mine, but another person's. She probably knows this stuff better than I do :)
Also: "You could also add in the color, Wild bay. It's really a quit beautiful color and the main color for the Przewalski wild horses."
Thank you for that too, I really had no idea it existed (and I LOVE the coloring on prewazlki's horses as well, I have to draw one sometime!). Here is the color:

Before I end this, I would also like to point out that the color gene that modifies a horse's color to bay (I don't know if I'm wording this right) is called agouti. Basically, all horse colors come from the base of black and red (although some horses don't have those bases, like chestnuts [red horses]... it is complicated). The agouti gene basically restricts the black to the legs, making the red take more control. That is all I can gather from my sources (genetics is very complicated, I guess).Hopefully you guys have liked this post. When I have done (what I think is) all the base colors, then I will move on to patterns like pinto and appaloosa... I think I might even dedicate a little tiny post to dapples (there is not much to say about them) just because they are so funny and I love dapple grey horses. By the way, two of the horses in this post have dapples. I will talk about them later. See you next time!
Bibliography (not official):
 Frizzel, K. (unknown). Equine Genetics. Retrieved from Deviant art: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=equine+genetics#/d16oj50  (this is where I will get most of my info).

Unknown. (2012, June 4th). Bay (horse). Retrieved from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_%28horse%29 (also will be used).

That bibliography was for my teachers, if they look.

(also, sorry about awkward spaces. Technical dificulties.)

Horses Label

I am adding a new "Horses" label to my blog. This part of my blog is specifically about horses and model horses... because I like that nonsense. You don't need to look... Just for the horse lovers (and whoever needs to research some aspect about the horse). Hope that you people like. This is also for my own learning- colors, breeds, etc.... so excited to get started! I don't know how frequently this will be updated and stuff, but when it is, hopefully it will fill you up with information. And hopefully it won't be boring.
And if you are a horse lover yourself, please comment! Please tell me if you are looking (its okay, nobody has to say anything, I'll still write with free time).