Chestnut foals are born with their characteristic red color. The mane and tail will also be red. Sometimes slightly lighter red than the body. Flaxen or blonde manes and tails aren't there when they're newborns. They lighten when they're an older foal or sometimes even older.
Chestnut foals will have white or grey looking legs initially. The light colored legs can make spotting white leg markings a challenge. They legs will eventually turn the red of the body as the foal coat sheds. Foals will often have camouflage in the form of mealy or primitive markings. Mealy is lighter hair usually around the nose, on the flanks, and that lighter hair on the legs. On chestnuts the lighter hair is a light reddish to a near white. The primitive markings might be a dorsal, striping, or others. Both mealy and primitive markings a foal might keep as an adult but also might not.
The first shed of the foal coat will always be darker than the adult color. The foals will often have darker "goggles" and dark around their nose or other areas. So while some foals will actually be a dark chestnut don't take that first shed as an indication just yet. Foal coats will frequently fade in the sun more severely than adult coats.
|
Chestnut foal in newborn coat color with foal mealy.
2005 Filly, (Phantom Mist x Cinnamon Blaze) Pedigree |
|
Chestnut newborn color with foal mealy.
|
|
|
Chestnut foal starting foal coat shed. Dark shedding googles on face and beginning to shed on legs.
2007 Colt (Courtney's Boy x of Ella of Assateague) Pedigree |
|
Chestnut shedding the foal coat.
2005 colt |