COLOR

While I'm on the subject of counterfeiting, it's rare, but it has happened that people have bought Appaloosa spots and ended up with a Miss Clairol pony, or a painted-up Paint. If you buy a horse for color alone, expect to be taken. Research has shown that basically all horse hair is brown. An American Albino is a brown horse with little pigment in his coat. The same is true of a Palomino ( light brown ). A true black has an excess of color.

If this is true, how then could the color of any horse— spots, stripes, blotches — make a difference in his performance? The only instance where pigmentation has any effect is in the hardness of a hoof ( black is tougher ), or the soundness of the eye.

The old saying to remember is: " A dog is a dog, even when a horse of a different color."

Surprisingly, the un-popular colors of yesteryear, are the ones in favor today. Blame this on films and television. Roy Roger's Golden Trigger photographed well in Technicolor. Pintos and Paints were easier to find on a small black and white TV screen.