A Horse of a Different Color

Forgive me for using such a hackneyed phrase, but that is the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this fellow:

(A BRINDLE horse!)

Edited to add: Okay, thank you to Anon for pointing out to me that this guy is, in fact, Rabicano. I'm afraid my poor knowledge of fancy horse coloration is showing! :-) I actually have heard of Rabicano and seen photos/read about it online, and the white hairs on top of the horse's tail tweaked something in my memory, but no, I didn't figure out that's what I was seeing. In fact, I don't even know why I said "brindle." I guess it was because I know that's what they call dogs like Great Danes, Pit Bulls and Boxers who have that coloring and my mind leapt ahead to pinning that label on the horse.

Anyway, I knew Rabicanos existed, but until today I had never laid eyes on one in person. This one is a two-year-old QH, in training and/or being shown in Western Pleasure. I had no idea he was a stud until I happened to see his dangly bits as I was walking away. He was extremely well-mannered and pleasant to be around, and his "mom" was justifiably proud of him.

I asked the handler if his parents were Rabicano as well, and she said yes, his mother is except she is black and white. That would be a nifty coat pattern as well! I thought the white patch at the very top of his tail was really cool, and he had some white on the back of his left fore that I thought maybe was the result of an injury but that turned out to be coat pattern as well.

So what was I doing at a QH show, given my general distaste for the genre? A friend of mine from work (now the only other horseperson in a 350-person+ office*) is showing at this one, which is the biggest of the year for her chosen (local) QH organization. The show facility happens to be five minutes from our office so I zipped down there on my lunch hour today to say hello to Janet and meet her mare. I know I did not fit in at the show venue in my khakis, sneakers and brightly-colored cotton sweater, but I didn't care, even when Maggie the Mare greeted me by snorting snot all over me. Here's a cute photo of the two of them:

Maggie is a really pretty girl, isn't she? I think flea-bitten greys are fairly uncommon in QHs so a nice one with a lovely head must really stand out. She's also going white more slowly than many greys, so Janet is enjoying her "greyness" for some extra time. Maggie is 15, and they show in both disciplines. Today they had trail class and something else Western, and tomorrow night I will go watch them compete in Hunter Under Saddle. Usually that's akin to torture but since it's my friend I will show up and root for them!

* We had one more lady here who's ridden her whole life and even used to stand a Trakehner stallion, but she retired a month ago. So it's up to Janet and I to represent the horse world. She's got a bunch of gorgeous championship ribbons and win photos in her cube. This display stopped me dead in my tracks when I first saw it, of course, or I wouldn't have known about her "real life." I'm still settling in to my new office/cube, but I have my treasured original TIME magazine Secretariat cover, the same photo as my avatar of me on the Paintaloosa pony, some brochures from horsey events such as the WEG, and several stuffed horses, but nobody has asked me about these items. Oh, well, it makes me happy to look at them all day!