[deltawave]

My bay mare's hooves, on her two black legs, are not black at all. They're striped. Vertical stripes, white and black. She's not an appaloosa, not a drop of that anywhere, but her feet are definitely striped. Her two white hooves are WHITE. The bottom of the black-legged hooves are white with a few black spots. I've always figured this was a couple more white socks that never quite happened--the white pigment migrated down as far as the hooves but not quite "out" entirely.

(I vaguely remember something from comparative anatomy about white-pigmented cells migrating down the limb, which is where that last thought comes from, I'm very happy to be corrected if that memory is wrong or outdated)

Could it be so--that Bonnie was meant to have four white feet but the only place the "white" shows up is in her hooves themselves, and not the hair of the legs? Or are striped "black" with white bottoms feet fairly common? Her mama was a dark bay with BLACK feet, her daddy a bay with lots of chrome, but although I met him once I don't recall much about his feet other than they were LARGE.

[JB]

I think you are not far from wrong

I've had this discussion with a few folks on another board who, like me, are utterly fascinated with the way white "moves" on a horse.

We are all of the same agreement, very similar to what you are thinking. We've seen examples of the opposite - white socks/legs, white feet, but with "black" spots and stripes on the soles.

I think it's all related - what is the pigmentation status of the single layer of cells *right at* the level of the coronet band (outer edge for what you see on the hoof wall, inside that for what you see on the sole).

so yes, in your case, perhaps they are "slipped" white socks!

[deltawave]

I'm trying to dredge up my old embryology book now and look up pigment migration. I doubt it has much on horses, though--human embryology is a vast ENOUGH topic!

[sublimequine]

I think the REALLY important question here is.. are the feet shod or barefoot?

:shot:

[deltawave]

Barefoot, of COURSE! But only until winter is over and it's back working hard and competing outside instead of in a cushy-soft indoor every day. Then I'll venture back to the dark side and nail on the cold, hard, evil iron. With STUD HOLES, no less. Mwahahaha!

I thought about posting pictures of the stripes, but then thought better of it.

[gabz]

are you sure there are no freckles of color / white just above the stripe?

But I have a "yellow" horse (that could be a silver dapple OR what's known as a red chocolate) that has striped hooves with solid white or solid "yellow" above. His legs, where they are not white, are more chocolate than yellow.

And my QH has one striped hoof. He has a white sock, with one small freckle - so his white socked leg has a nearly all white foot, with the brown/black stripe where the freckle is.

And, my B&W MFT, lower legs are TOTALLY white and he has striped hooves.

[equinelaw]

If they have ermine spots on the coronary band they will grow into stripes.

[Kementari]

My TB's feet are all striped - both the two with white socks (he has a couple of ermine spots, but they don't necessarily correlate with the stripes) and the two solid legs. The stripes aren't as "bold" as an appy, where you can usually see 'em a mile away, but though duller there's no question there are stripes. The best pic I can find is this one (I can only promise his foot conformation is better - somewhat - than it looks here! ). I actually quite dislike the way it looks, as it always looks dirty to me even when scrubbed and oiled. He usually gets hoof black for at least local shows (where I can get away with it without being hanged, drawn, and quartered ) because the hooves look like I didn't groom very well otherwise...

[deltawave]

are you sure there are no freckles of color / white just above the stripe?

Nope, her forelegs are solid black right down to the coronet. Back legs have short socks and WHITE hooves, no ermine spots.

Kementari, from what I can see those stripes are a LOT like Bonnie's.

[JB]

If they have ermine spots on the coronary band they will grow into stripes.

Yes, but in some cases (this is "our" theory anyway) those ermine spots can be single-celled, just enough to cause the downward growth to be darker, but not enough to make either a dark spot at the coronary band or, in the case of dark sole spots, enough to make a stripe on the outer wall.

[equinelaw]

That's what I mean. The pigment causing cells are actually in the coronary band. You may or may not see any hairs above that let you know there is a color variation, but horses with some spotting tend to get some striped hooves--even if the spotting is not on the feet with the stripes.

I also had to cut the toothpaste open to see how they got it to come it n stripes

[JB]

That's what I mean. The pigment causing cells are actually in the coronary band. You may or may not see any hairs above that let you know there is a color variation, but horses with some spotting tend to get some striped hooves--even if the spotting is not on the feet with the stripes.

Yes, agree

I also had to cut the toothpaste open to see how they got it to come it n stripes

[Daydream Believer]

I agree that it has to do with white socks that don't quite come up high enough to be in the hair but affect the coronary band. That has always been my explanation for it.

[deltawave]

So if her legs were JUST a little longer I'd have a fancy-fancy horse with four white socks.

[Livie]

My horse's front feet are the same. I like to tell myself his legs were meant to be longer so then he would have had socks

[amastrike]

I also had to cut the toothpaste open to see how they got it to come it n stripes

How do they do it??

[equinelaw]

They just squirt it in that way so if you do not mash the tube for 10 minutes it comes back out the same way it goes in.

I was very disappointed. I assumed separate little chambers My parents were never fully appreciative of my curiosity

But when I see striped hooves I also think of the toothpaste. They are just squeezed out that way.

[amastrike]

Well that's thoroughly anticlimactic.

I have to look at my horse's hind fee tomorrow... he has low socks and his hooves are striped.

[Ritazza]

We are all of the same agreement, very similar to what you are thinking. We've seen examples of the opposite - white socks/legs, white feet, but with "black" spots and stripes on the soles.

What about one black foot with a WHITE sole and some black spots on it (not bruising, just legit neverchanging black spots, always in the same place!) Weird.....

[Tom Bloomer]

Somewhere I read that striped feet are lucky. Doesn't mean that unstriped feet aren't lucky.

Horseshoes are lucky. If your horse has unlucky feet, you might have better luck by having a farrier put shoes on them.