# Are dapples actually a sign of health?- b. chip advert



## ester (6 February 2009)

Keep seeing blue chip's new advert with the tag line 'healthy dapples even in winter'.

Now I have never heard of dapples being a sign of good health at any time of year, either your horse has dapples or doesn't!

Horse is in good coat but clipped which i spose might make the dapples more obvious.

Any thoughts or is it just a rubbish tag line. Won't make me buy it, though would be nice to see if I can get dapples on my liver chestnut and palo!


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## scotsmare (6 February 2009)

Tis a crappy tag line - fine if your horse has dapples but Blue Chip won't make it grow any if it doesn't


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## Paint it Lucky (6 February 2009)

I have always been taught that dapples are a sign of good health.  Have seen them on bays, coloureds, chestnuts etc, when they are feeling particularly healthy and well, whilst at other times they won't have them.


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## Donkeymad (6 February 2009)

They are not talking dapples as in dapple grey. A healthy horse can indeed get 'health' dapples, where a natural dappling of the coat occurs.


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## scotsmare (6 February 2009)

Depends on the individual horse though - I've got four perfectly healthy horses, grey, bay and chestnut and none of them have dapples - ever!  

Worth remembering that part of the reason Blue Chip et al are nearly £40 a bag is because a HUGE part of it goes into their advertising budget.


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## ester (6 February 2009)

damn best go get some see if I can make mine dapply, have only ever seen them on a bay tho I think.

Think too much hair on both my bottoms to see anyway though.

Scientist so tend to think about these things too much! ie what would make the coat dapple occasionally and the mechanism by which this is sign of 'health' rather than just old wives taleish.


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## Three (6 February 2009)

Yep. My cob gets dapply when he's fit and working hard. He's black so they're not there all the time! I attribute them to cider vinegar though.  
	
	
		
		
	


	





No dapples but healthy and shiny.







Et Voila!! Dapples!


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## scotsmare (6 February 2009)

Very nice,  but does he have dapples cos he's fed blue chip?


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## Three (6 February 2009)

Sadly not - out of my price range!!

Just edited to add I think cidar vinegar helps but I've no scientific evidence of that either!!


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## christi (6 February 2009)

my horse gets dapples but i only feed hay and anti lam


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## Enfys (6 February 2009)

I think dapples are just an individual thing. Yes, palominos get them, mine has dapples all year round and he certainly doesn't get fed any fancy 40 pound sack of feed. All my horses are fed the same thing, are all healthy and it is only the palomino, and the paint in summer, that have dapples. Nothing to do with climate or coat length either.


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## Three (6 February 2009)

Maybe they are a sign of health though? 

Obviously not in permanently dappled horses but ones that come and go like mine?

I'm not suggesting that 'no dapples = not healthy' just that perhaps they're like the cherry on the icing?


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## Abbeygale (6 February 2009)

I think that is a load of piffle paffle that blue chip are peddling about dapples. 

I think that some horses get dapples, some don't.  THe horses I have had before that did get dapples just got dapples at certain times during the summer normally.  I always just thought that they turn up at certain times rather than anything else. 

x


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## ester (6 February 2009)

Three-your cob looks fab. 

Enfys- palo dapples. Maybe mine has them, I am going to have to go look closer! In fact I think in the photos her mum might have, she was what you might call a 'dirty palo' if you know what I mean- did your palo intend to go down in your sig or was it sinking!!


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## SNORKEY (6 February 2009)

thats a very nice cob you have there Three, my boy gets dapples when he's really fit and well, ive always taken them as a sign of good health, but ive not noticed it with any type of feed and never fed him blue chip!


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## Ezme (6 February 2009)

Mags get dapples when he's well, i.e. in work and on good food and he's a black (although not a true black as turns a v dark bay in height of summer)

I think its a sign in some horses as there is anecdotal evidence as has come up here that some horses to get them when they're well. I think Blue chip is just stretching the truth slightly.... lol


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## PopStrop (6 February 2009)

I do think that a lot of horses get dapples in the summer when the sun's out and the grass is good. I've got photos of a couple of my old horses (bays &amp; blacks) from shows and they've got visible dapples in their gleaming summer coats 
	
	
		
		
	


	




.

Mine's working her way through her second bag of blue chip (I can only afford it because she eats literally only a handful a day and it lasts months 
	
	
		
		
	


	




) and she hasn't got any dapples 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 Do you think I can get my money back?


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## Dubsie (6 February 2009)

I always thought it was to do with the sunlight on their coat, in the same way my hair goes a bleachy blond at the edges in the summer?  But then I suppose most horses will be fitter and in peak health in the summer anyway?


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## ester (6 February 2009)

brightsyde, they might be smaller dapples on yours so you just can't see them, suggest trying use of magnifying glass before asking for your money back!

in a cute way 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 I think she is gorg


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## alison247 (6 February 2009)

our pony was black and dark bay in summer like ezme.
He had dapples on his bum every summer. 
I was always led to beleive that it was a sign og good health aswell!
He was diagnosed with cancer of the penis (squas cell carcinoma) in may and pts in nov but he still had his dapples in aug.
So no I now don't beleive it is a sign of good health!!!!!!


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## PopStrop (6 February 2009)




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## Three (6 February 2009)

Thanks for the kind comments. I like him!  
	
	
		
		
	


	





Dubsie - my dapple picture was taken in early December!


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## alison247 (6 February 2009)

ooohhh just saw my spelling-sorry opended the bar at 6.30!!!


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## Donkeymad (6 February 2009)

dapples are also known as hammers


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## the watcher (6 February 2009)

I have always understood that dapples show up particularly on high fat diets, which could be why they are thought to reflect wellbeing.


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## PapaFrita (6 February 2009)

PF has only had dapples when pregnant or with a foal at foot.


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## Ludi-doodi (7 February 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
Keep seeing blue chip's new advert with the tag line 'healthy dapples even in winter'.

Now I have never heard of dapples being a sign of good health at any time of year, either your horse has dapples or doesn't!

[/ QUOTE ]

My bright bay develops more and more dapples each year but you can only see them in the winter when he's clipped!  His summer coat is really fine, but the dapples disappear.  Either that or he's only healthy in the winter lol!


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## Enfys (7 February 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
 did your palo intend to go down in your sig or was it sinking!!
	
	
		
		
	


	





[/ QUOTE ]






  Belly flopping into drifts seems to amuse him. He is always doing it. 
	
	
		
		
	


	





It does rather look as if he is sinking though doesn't it? Our drifts aren't quite deep enough to swallow a 15h horse altogether though, thankfully!


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## badgerdog (7 February 2009)

I've heard a lot of people say that dapples are a sign of good health.  I thought so too but maybe it's an old wives tale.


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