Live and learn
Horse colors are weird. All these years I’ve read about chestnut mares, I thought I was reading about brown horses. Turns out a “chestnut” horse must be reddish. And a bay horse looks nothing like a bay .)
Itsy-bitsy spider has a significant regional variation, eensy-weensy spider — Google shows itsy-bitsy leading eensy-weensy 33,600 to 7480. ( Googlesmack claimed 13,100 to 3100, a difference so suspiciously round that it prompted me to check manually.)
This resulted from conversation with Pocaontas. Shortly thereafter, I listened to a CD by a favorite group of mine, an Australian duet called the Velvet Janes , and their lyrics referred to “eensy-weensy spider.”
Both the American Heritage Dictionary and Kenyon and Knott admit three different pronunciations of tiara .
Okay, this is probably way Too Much Information, but that linked site *way* oversimplifies the wondrous weirdness that is horse coat colour genetics. Basically, there's black and red, plus endless variations on dilutions and white markings. It's amazing.
Here's a primer, with good pics.
Here's a great big site outlining more modern research on color genetics and breeding.
Here's an even bigger site, including the wiggiest of the wiggy, the ultra-rare
brindle horse.
This has been your horse coat colour geek Rach. Thanks for your time.
Posted by Rachel on May 3 2004 13:03