>Well, I have done some reading on this particular subject- the Crabbet
>stud, old Arab things, and the Bedouins wanted color too. THe highest
>sought after was black as it was exceedingly rare. Next were bay then
>chestnut, and gray was the least wanted of all. I will go get my sheet on
>it and print what I wrote down about it- took notes on it there. Also in
>the Crabbet books it was stated somewhere that the highest percentage of
>horses shown were chestnut (gee wonder why?) and in fact, a lot of grays
>don't really show up until Skowronek appears- I dare someone to go count up
>all the grays they can find and see how many of those horses have Skowronek
>in the pedigree- likely to be a lot I bet. That includes the Egyptians,
>Spanish, Polish, Russian and English. This won't account for all of them,
>but it will probably account for a good bit of it! The only exceptions
>might be some of the early imports, and might I add that some of the finest
>US Cavalry Endurance horses were NOT GRAY save a few, they were Chestnut or
>Bay. - El Sabok, BLunt blood, etc. LAdy Wentworth was exceedingly fond of
>grays- but I take it the Blunts were not.
>Feel free to correct if you find other evidence, this is my general
>impression from reading about the older horses!
>Gwen
>
>
>>We also need to ask ourselves if grey was a sought after genetic color.
>>Horses bred in the desert would do best if they blended in - a dark color
>>could be spotted from a distance more easily perhaps. Or at some point
>>was grey considered a "royal" color?
>No
>
>>I've observed that in excessive heat & humidity conditions most
>>chestnut/bays seem to suffer more than the greys. Dark colors attract
>>more bugs! True--those annoying flies that burrow in to the chest,
>>ticks, gnats--all seem to dive for the darker horses in the field first.
>>Chestnuts are especially prone to sunburn (they are redheads after all).
>
>My grays tend to suffer the most with the flies- the bays I have are
>generally in very good shape during the summer! I don't believe chestnuts
>are any more prone to sunburn than any other horse. I have an old pony who
>is chestnut, and he never seem to have a problem of any kind- I have lots
>of blazes on my horses, and that's is the only place I have problems with-
>they get their summer sunburn then they do fine- but I think it is more of
>a photosensitivity problem with the new lush grass coming in than a skin
>thing.
>Gwen
>
>******************************************************************************
>Gwen Dluehosh ***!!!OPEN HOUSE JUNE 22, 1996!!!***
>Desert Storm Arabians (|^|) "Pretty enough to show,
>2249 Mount Tabor Rd / \--__--_ tough enough to RIDE!"
>Blacksburg, VA 24060 (= +++ =)\__---__
>540/953-1792 \ + / \_-__--- Featuring our stallions,
>Endurance, racing, | + | \-__---_ mares, and foals, some
>halter stock available ()+() \___--- for sale or lease!
> \_/
>IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND, please CALL and LET ME KNOW! We'd LOVE to HAVE YOU!!
>****************************************************************************
>**
>
>
>
>