29
Jul 18

This filly was born yesterday morning when these pictures were taken of her newly born. Mother is Álfhildur frá Syðri-Gegnishólum and father is the palomino "gæðingur" Spaði frá Stuðlum. Can it be that this foal has the color smokey black?

I got this enjoyable email from Páll Imsland who is our greatest expert in horse colors, I'm publishing it here since I find it very educating:
Hi Olil.
If you have been hoping for a smokey black foal from Álfhildur I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. I came by this evening and went with Elin to look at the foal.
It is apparent the the foal has ordinary black color. It can be seen mostly on the skin, edge of the eye, her nostrils and her genitals. The skin there is black which is a characteristic for black and most other colors but those that bare the palomino gene. Their skin is pink, hazel-red dun or chocolate brown and tend to be a bit dappled. On smokey black, the typical skincolor is chocolate brown or coffe brown(with a spot of cream). It does not show on this little princess.
The gray color in the eyes which Kristinn Hugason mentioned on facebook was a phiz washer, that is a so called foal grayness which is characteristic for eyes of newborn foals and usually lasts for few weeks but then fades during that time when the coloring in the eyes produce a normal eye color. Fetus development is hardly finished in the eyes and the brightness the foals get at birth affects the final outcome. Then the grayness disappears and the eyes get amber, faded black or black.
Give greetings to my kinsman in the east.
Regards, Páll

{gallery}Globrunt{/gallery}