all-the-horses:ms-cellanies:ourprairiedog:ms-cellanies:inkededucatednnerdy:all-the-horses:GissargGia
all-the-horses:ms-cellanies:ourprairiedog:ms-cellanies:inkededucatednnerdy:all-the-horses:GissargGiaurs x GissaAkhal Teke, Stallion15.1hhBorn 2006@ms-cellanies Incredibly BEAUTIFUL. Beautiful, yes…but what evolutionary branch decided against protective coat?It would be helpful to have more details & background on this horse @ourprairiedog. My first instinct is to blame humans who are bad breeders as opposed to blaming evolution. Evolutionary “glitches” are usually fatal.So I may be able to help.This guy is a Akhal Teke, Akhal Teke’s are a desert breed from Turkmenistan, they have been selectively bred for at least 3,000 years by the nomadic Turkmenistanis, they were used as riding horses for their nomadic lifestyle, and as war horses. They are incredibly tuff hardy horses that were highly prized by not just their original peoples, but people all over Asia. In fact the 3,000 year old remains of a horse that closely resembled the modern Akhal Teke were found in Siberia.Their summer coats do tend to be thiner then say a Quarter horse, but that was to their advantage being from the desert, less hair means less sweet, which is a good thing in the desert.So as for his coat there are other things to take into account. The first is that all these photos show him with his summer coat, horses just like dogs or cats have both summer and winters coat that they grow to keep them comfortable during the different seasons. And one breed characteristic is the metallic sheen to their coats, selectively bred for, that makes him, and many Akhal Teke’s, look almost translucent in certain light.The second thing is his color, he is what’s called a “perlino”, this means he has two cream genes (a dilution gene) “over” a bay coat. All perlino’s and cremello’s, two cream genes “over” chestnut, have rosy pink skin that is much easier to see though their off white hair coat.This guy appears to be a American gaited horse of some kind, so not at all related to the Akhal Teke, and with his summer coat you can see his skin through the hair.Perlino’s and cremello’s grow a winter coat just like any other horse, and when they do you can’t see their skin anymore.In fact Akhal Teke’s grow a very good winter coat and rarely need a blanket, actually most modern Akhal Teke’s live, and thrive, in Russia.I tried to find photos of Gissarg with a winter coat but wasn’t able to, he currently lives in Oman, and is owned by the Royal Cavalry of Oman.But I did find this guy, another Perlino Akhal Teke but all fluffy for the winter - -- source link