Significant white in tail of chestnut foal - flaxen? New photo link added

[tri]

New filly foal that is chestnut with high white stockings and blaze, the bottem 3 inches of the tail are pure white and there is lots of white shooting through the underside of the tail. Does that mean that the tail will go flaxen?

Also, on these chestnut and chrome babies, how "white" is their underside usually? My regular line is grey on a dark basecoat so I don't know a lot about chestnut colored foals. This baby's underside (between the back legs and between the front legs) is very very white.

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New filly foal that is chestnut with high white stockings and blaze, the bottem 3 inches of the tail are pure white and there is lots of white shooting through the underside of the tail. Does that mean that the tail will go flaxen?

Also, on these chestnut and chrome babies, how "white" is their underside usually? My regular line is grey on a dark basecoat so I don't know a lot about chestnut colored foals. This baby's underside (between the back legs and between the front legs) is very very white.

Only because you mention that you usually are looking at greys.... is the sire or dam a grey?

If not - yes, definitely a possibility of a flaxen mane & tail.
This filly

http://www.irishhuntersandjumpers.com/Lacey.html

was born so pale it was nearly impossibly to tell where her hind stockings ended, and her entire underside was white as well. In her case, it was the sabino pattern driving the lightness of color - she is a yearling now and has a LOT of white hairs (roaning) in her body coat, high white stockings, her white face, a big patch of white on her cheek, and lost of white still on her belly - and still has lots of white in her tail and mane, though she's most definitely a bright chestnut base color.

Most of our light chestnut foals have been very light colored at birth - they shed the baby coat to show the rich red colors underneath. A lot of chestnuts also shed the light colored baby mane and tail too, to reveal their adult darker red.

[JB]

Do you have a picture? If the "white" you are seeing at the bottom of her tail truly is white, that would be a pretty clear indicator of Splash. I ask about the picture because depending on what exactly her chrome looks like, it might be easy to see if Splash is present.

But, often with chestnut foals, the ends of the tail hairs are just very light, and it will all darken as they age.

[tri]

No grey. The sire is a red chestnut with four irregular very high whites, big white blaze, big lip spot. The dam is a red chestnut with two high hind whites and two front high socks, big irregular blaze and big lip spot and a strawberry mane.

Both are traditional euro wb bloodlines

The foal's tail is pure snow white. Here is a photo link - look at the second photo in the slide show
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg269/rubyredfoal/?albumview=slideshow

[Fairview Horse Center]

Some blonding is pretty normal in a chestnut

[shawneeAcres]

I would call taht a normal chestnut tail for a new born foal. She may or may not have flaxen or roan hairs when she is older, no way to tell from that tail. Foals often have very light "points" i.e. tail, legs, and sometimes mane. Many bay foals have creamy colored legs that blacken as they age. I do not think you can draw any conclusions from this tail.

[tri]

Fairview, that is a pretty baby! The photos I posted up are taken when mine is only a couple hours old. Did your baby's tail go flaxen or does it just stay a bit blond?

[tri]

Thanks Shawnee. I didn't realize that chestnut foals could have so much blond and her undersides are so white!

[Fairview Horse Center]

Actually that would be 2 pretty babies (different white on the hind feet & different color moms) ;) thanks!

Not the best time in the first one's life for her topline, but here they are groing up.

[tri]

ohhh, you are trying to trick me eh?! Maybe I should try enlarging the photos more often!

Looks like one ended up with a strawberry mane/tail?

[desilu]

I'll be sad when Sammy no longer has his blond highlights on the underside of his tail.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Desilu/Sammy/sammy3mon.jpg

But sadly, I think he'll lose them.

[Fairview Horse Center]

Actually both of those fillies have just a bit of blonding hairs in their mane now. It shows more when the mane is long.

[Fairview Horse Center]

My orphan Freckles had the blonding at the tip of the tail and has kept it at least here as a yearling.

[Secretariat2]

I have a 2 year old TB gelding that looked like he would be a chestnut like his sire and dam, but as he grew, his mane and tail got lighter and lighter. He is definitely a flaxen. I didn't put that in his JC description for his registration but the JC added it just from his pictures. You can see pics of him from birth through yearling here: http://www.nonesuchsporthorses.com/Jasper.html

I don't have any pics of him as a 2 year old yet - waiting for him to shed - but his mane and tail are still very blonde.

[allanglos]

I had a chestnut colt born almost a month ago. I expect his mane and tail to look like his sire's and his brother's. Here are pics of the new colt and his tail:), plus photos of his brother as a yearling (he is three now, and his color is the same) and his sire. The colt is shown at age two weeks, and his tail is at age 2 days. His mane roots are coming in white, as is the tail.