72 EQUUS 498 AUTUMN 2019
Showed True Colors of Stone Age
Horses” (Science Now). But did they?
Not necessarily, says Phillip
Sponenberg, DVM, PhD, of the
Virginia–Maryland Regional College
of Veterinary Medicine and author of
Equine Color Genetics. “Even though LP
existed, the other question is how fully
it was expressed,” he says. “Many LP
horses only minimally express spotting,
so basically they are not all that spotted.
Further research might shed light on
the modifi ers that help to more fully
express the spotting.”
French archaeologist Jean Clottes
noted that the Pech Merle artists
painted spots both inside and outside
the outlines of their horses, “giving
them a meaning or role other than
About 1650 to 1654:
“The ‘Piebald’ Horse,”
Dutch, oil on canvas
Artist: Paulus Potter
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Circa 1750: “Scipio, a spotted
hunter, the property of Colonel
Roche,” English, oil on canvas
Artist: Thomas Spencer
1817: “Two Riders in a
Landscape,” Dutch, oil on panel
Artist: Anthony Oberman
Circa 1882
to 1892:
“Equestrienne
(At the Cirque
Fernando),” French,
oil on canvas
Artist: Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec