Though everyone still needs to finish shedding, this is the part of spring that I, as a horse owner, really love–dapple season. Dapples are often seen as a sign of health and bloom on a horse’s coat. The more dappled the horse, the healthier it’s often thought to be. And Fortune, as well as her filly Firefly, are dappled like copper pennies. I ran out and took this picture this morning. Firefly wasn’t cooperating, but you can see the dapples start to come in on Fortune’s hindquarters and her side.
It’s an understatement to say that I’m not a show barn. My horses are “pasture puffs”. They don’t get fancy supplements, though Fortune gets MSM for her joints and general maintenance. They do get supplemental grain (a 12% sweet feed) twice a day, and Fortune as well as Firefly receives soaked alfalfa pellets with it, mostly to soothe my concern after Fortune’s colic episode last summer. (They also get 1/2 a scoop of Redmond Rock and when that bag is empty, a bit of supplemental salt/electrolytes to help boost water intake.)
So yeah, you could say I baby the “Empress of the Pasture”, I bit, but she’s my senior horse girl, and having had her for 19 years (she’ll be 20 in August), well, she’s a big part of my life.
(Look at that butt. Can you tell she’s a stock-type horse? LOL)
But I won’t lie, when I looked at my ladies and saw that they were getting their dapples in, and even Holly, the rescue was getting a copper penny shiny coat, well, I admit it made me feel good. Because I know that coat health is an indicator of horse health and my girls are looking good! (Even Thunder is, though with his mostly white coat it’s harder to see the dapples.)
