Rabicano

Rabicano, sometimes called white ticking, is a horse coat color characterized by limited roaning in a specific pattern: its most minimal form is expressed by white hairs at the top of a horse's tail, often is expressed by additional interspersed white hairs seen first at the flank, then other parts of the body radiating out from the flank, where the white hairs will be most pronounced. Rabicano is distinct from true roan, which causes evenly interspersed white hairs throughout the body, except for solid-colored head and legs.

The word "rabicano" is of Spanish origin - rabo meaning "tail" and cano meaning "white" - thus, it described a horse with white hairs in its tail. The word appears very early in epic poems in Italian literature: Argalia, a character in Orlando Innamorato (1495), rides a horse named "Rabicano". So too does Astolfo. In Italian, the term simply means "roan" and might therefore have been a descriptive name.

The characteristics most often associated with the rabicano pattern are white hairs at the tailhead and the flank, where the body of the horse is joined by the hindquarters. Like other patterns and colors, the expression of the rabicano trait varies. Most of the factors affecting these variations are unknown, however, it is known that horses with a chestnut or chestnut-based coat express white patterns such as rabicano more readily; that is, they tend to have more white. Minimal expression may include a few white hairs in those areas, but is often not mentioned in descriptions of an individual horse's color. Rabicano is a white pattern that falls into the category of roaning or scattered white hairs, the genetics of which are not yet fully understood, but are apparently a different genetic mechanism from true roan.

The original definition of "rabicano" referred to the presence of white hairs in the base of the tail, a characteristic called a "skunk" or coon tail. The term "coon tail" is associated with white hairs in the form of striping at the tailhead. The sides of the tail at the tailhead may have much white hair. Extensively marked rabicanos sometimes exhibit striations in their pattern on the ribs, giving them a striped appearance.

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