Is there a white horse? Ask any passerby on the street - and he is 99% likely to answer you - of course, it happens! Remember at least the famous Arab stallion Kazbek, where Marshal Zhukov hosted the Red Square Victory Parade in 1945. However, if you ask the same question even to a beginner cavalryman, you will get the opposite opinion!
Any expert in this field will confidently tell you that a white horse - it is an early grayish animal of gray color, and so white horses - does not happen. How so? And how many of these animals have we seen in the movies in boiling white color? So, the white horse is a myth, and the princes will have to look for another means of transportation? Maybe there are white wild horses? Let's try and figure this out together.
Who do we really see when we meet a white knight
Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that experts are right about here. White horses practically do not exist. The lion's share of these animals, which at first glance seem white, are genetically grayish by nature. Visual deception, in this case, is explained quite simply - gray horses are predisposed to early gray hair, in which their wool simply loses its original color.
Such graying can also occur in horses of other, quite "colored" suits (e.g. nests, redheads and even ravens), but the most common phenomenon is that of gray animals. It is worth noting that horses often remain gray until their oldest age, as this process of bleaching varies from animal to animal.
So what happens - there are no white horses? What about albinos? Isn't this a phenomenon typical of many mammals? We'll deal with it further.
Albinism in these animals
First, let's be clear about what it is. Albinism, as defined by zoologists, is the absence of dyeing pigment in the hair of the animal. Albinos usually have pink skin and white skin. However, there are true albinos and false ones. The true color of the eyes is red because there is no pigment in the iris. In fact, the eyes are transparent, and redness appears because of the blood that passes through them. False albinos usually have blue eyes or even darker shades. This is due to the fact that it is in the iris that the dyeing pigment is preserved.
True albino horses to this day - unknown to science, but the false - these were.
Pink skin, white wool, blue eyes - everything as it should be. What - science is shamed? Is there still a white horse? Well, there isn't. It is impossible to call these animals really white either. Over time, their suit (as opposed to the gray animals described above), on the contrary, begins to darken and becomes creamy or ivory.
Such horses are called isabella horses, and experts will die on their own, proving that these horses are not white.
Truly white horses
Still, the white horse is real! However, there are very few such animals. Let's talk about them in detail.
Once in the United States of America, in Illinois, a pure white colt was born. As time went by, he was not going to become an Isabella foal. This miracle horse was born in 1908 and received the name, Wald King.
This unique case was explained by scientists-zoologists as a random mutation of the White gene, which is quite possible in the process of evolution. This foal could have been the only white horse in the world if it hadn't been for its masters, Ruth and Caleb Thompson. These people thought it would be unfair for them to have a white horse, and began to use Wald King to cross with other mare suits. By gradually screening out their "colored" offspring, they managed to fix the white color on a genetic level. It was a painstaking and long work because even after several generations, colored foals continued to be born.
White horse
And the result is here!
Currently, the only real white horse breed in the world is the Thompson White Horses.
They are still very few, as it takes centuries for the breed to spread throughout the world without losing its unique properties.
So if you are really asked if there is a white horse in the world, say yes!