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All about horses in northern B.C. Issue # 121: April 16, 2002 Published each Tuesday by Kristi McCrindle, editor, Southbank, BC SNOW!!!! More snow!!! I just can't believe this so called "spring"! It snowed ALL day on Sunday, and as I type this it is snowing heavily again. Is spring EVER going to arrive? I am fortunate enough to have the indoor arena to ride in, but I am still sick and tired of barely getting the car in and out of the driveway, slogging through the snow to feed, and all of the various winter blahs that should be long gone by the middle of April. it's hard to believe the first reining show is in two weeks!! Deep breath! I guess I should be happy that at least I can ride during the day - I know many of you are not able to even ride on your roads yet due to slippery and unsafe conditions. Farriers are still not in full swing - most people are questioning the wisdom of paying for shoes when they not only are not using their horses yet, but also would be creating more problems with the wet, sticky snow balling against the steel shoes. Soon hopefully spring will be here in full bloom and we get some sunshine to chase away our winter blues. The horses are shedding, the robins have arrived, some people already have foals on the ground - in spite of the icky weather, spring must be just around the corner! On a more sombre note, I would like to take this opportunity to send my sincere condolences to Roxy Bullock of Windy Ridge Farm, Topley. She lost her wonderful Appaloosa stallion, Rustlers Image, due to a severe colic at the beginning of the month. It is never easy to lose a horse, especially one that holds such a special place in your heart. photo courtesy Chris Hassell Roxy is one of the lucky ones with one foal already on the ground and a few more mares yet to foal. We are all hoping that one of them is a colt fine enough to take his sire's place. Rustlers Image, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge, April 1, 2002. (photo link) Until next week, ~ Kristi :) email to editor: kristi@hiway16.com Photo Show for horse photos Horse articles (word search: horse) Check our Horse Trailer Sharing Page or... add your listing if you wish to share your horse trailer ride Join us for a discussion about everything to do with horses on Horse Talk Your opportunity to meet horse enthusiasts across northern B.C

	Past articles are all available in the
Choosing a trainer - Choosing a trainer - Tune-ups - Part 3		Colour genetics 101 - Roans
What qualities do you look for when choosing a trainer for an older horse who needs finishing or a tune up? When your car needs a new engine, you don't take it to an oil change shop. When you want an antique dresser fixed up, chances are you don't take it to a carpenter. Horses needing finishing work are no different - they require a different professional approach than an unstarted horse. Most definitely look for a trainer who is current on the discipline you will be using your horse in. If possible, try to find one that uses complimentary methods to those used in the horse's past history - it is much easier to build on the foundation than to change the program and start again from scratch. If your plans are to show this horse, choose a trainer that pays attention to detail. Someone who has only basic principles of western pleasure may worry more about the "headset" and slow gaits of the horse than developing the balance and true collection required of a top pleasure horse. Again, if you are planning on showing this horse, you should try to find someone who is respected in your chosen discipline. There will be good reason that he or she is respected, and their knowledge will come to good use in helping you with your finished horse. This trainer needs to be well versed with different training methods in order to ride these different horses and still get them finished - you may choose a trainer with other things in mind than the horse's previous training, and in some cases, the trainer will have to overcome blocks or holes in the horse's foundation. In case of a tune-up job, the trainer needs to be able to work with behaviours that may be difficult as well, depending on the reason you are sending your horse. Be honest and up front - if your horse rears when being ridden into the roping chute, tell the trainer! If your horse has a tendency to bunch up and get racy when ridden near cows, ask the trainer to work specifically on that problem. Especially if the behaviour presented can be dangerous, make sure you inform the trainer so that he or she can be aware of bad situations before they happen.	If you are new to Northern B.C. Horse, check out all the previous issues on the Archive page. Kristi is building a great knowledge base about horses, with the emphasis on our area of the world. Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse Northern B.C. Horse is brought to you courtesy of our advertisers including: Burns Lake Building Supplies Griffin Crick Ranch Hoskins Ford Northern Horse Supply Ridennoure Paint Horses The Tack Store Thanks to our advertisers for making this all possible... ...for information about advertising, email jim@hiway16.com	Roans are often misunderstood, again because of the lack of knowledge for many years about what creates certain colour patterns. A roan, simplified, is white hairs scattered throughout the coat. However, as you have read in recent weeks, sabinos and rabicanos both often carry that trait and they are most definitely not roans. A true roan will stay one colour most of its life, with shade variations from summer to winter coats. A roan's head and legs tend to be darker than the shade found on the body. A red roan and blue roan will have black points (legs, mane and tail), and the strawberry roan will have a red points - neither will have an abundance of white hairs mixed in. Like many other coat modifiers, there are different terms used for the different base coats. A chestnut or sorrel roan is called a strawberry roan, while a bay roan is correctly called a red roan. A black roan is commonly called a blue roan due to the blue-ish hue the coat takes on. Please link to our Photo Page for some examples. Where things can get confusing is when people incorrectly refer to a partially greyed horse as a roan. This used to be very common in Arabians, where some lines have a high incidence of grey. Part way through the greying process, a chestnut horse may appear very much like a strawberry roan - however, you can usually tell by checking the head. If the face is also carrying an abundance of white hairs, chances are the horse is a grey, not a roan. This can get even trickier is when young horses are misregistered. The greying process usually takes place later in life, and registration papers are often left uncorrected. The horse may have been registered as a solid colour, or even as a roan, but if it has a grey parent and does not have a true roan parent, it is a grey, not a roan. I do know of one stallion in Alberta that carries both the roan and the grey gene. It is a 50% chance for him to throw each gene - so you could end up with a solid horse, a grey, a roan, or a roan that will grey later - you might not know for certain until the foal was mature! One thing to watch for in roans is that it is believed that homozygous roans do not survive in utero. Breeding a roan to a roan runs a 25% chance of reabsorption of the fetus - you would assume the mare miscarried along the way, when it in fact was caused by the fetus having two roan genes. The safest bet to get a roan foal is to breed a roan to a non-roan; you only run a 50% chance of getting a roan but no chance of a homozygous fetal death.
	If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com

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