May 15, 2013

Several people have asked me what color Linus is.  And honestly, I am not completely sure.  When I got him he had a winter coat, which tends to be a little different than a summer coat, and often lighter in color.  He clearly has some roaning, but it was not clear to what degree.  up close it appears to be red roaning, but from afar it sort of looks like blue roaning.  he also had some blue in the to pof his mane, which might have been throwing me off.  To complicate things, he often has grass, mud or poo marks on him, making it harder to determine what color his marks are, and also, what is an actual natural mark and what is a stain.  Complicated.

I also confess that I am not a very observant person.  Particularly when it comes to color.  I suppose I do not store my memories in full color.  For example, unless someone has strikingly white-blonde hair, or fire engine red locks, I probably will not be able to recall what their hair color is.

Now that Linus has mostly shedded out, his patches are a bit darker.  But since he still has grass, dirt and poo marks on him, so I decided ti was best to give him a bath and then take a good look at him close up.

Mind you this was Linus’s first bath.  He did very well.  he was a little unsure of the hose, but he actually liked the water hitting him, and quickly stuck his head into the spray.  After a few minutes, chewing and licking his lips and deciding that the hose was not going to kill him, he stood happily, ground tied, while I worked away scrubbing and cleaning him up.

I determined that YES, as was pretty much apparent before the bath, Linus is a paint.  he is primarily white, which patches of red roan.  His roan does vary in darkness, and is heavily muted with white.  His patches are not clear and well defined and sort of blend away into his white.  They are also awkwardly shaped.  He also has a blaze and some blue in the top of his mane.

This led me to Google horse colors to determine if there is an actual name for a red roan paint.  No success.

So if anyone happens to know of a fancy name for a red roan paint, I am all ears.

pre-bath: grass stains on his front leg and shoulder and one near his stifle.

pre-bath: this side was pretty clean.

wet and freshly scrubbed. you can see how his roan patches are odd and the darkness is varying.

Freshly washed, and still damp. His roan patch sort of fades into his white on this side.

The roan patch under his neck is easy to see. Its wet and freshly washed here and the skin shows through nicely.

still wet, his roan patches are uneven here. The small black marks on his flank are little nicks.