How do stallions get coloured hooves?

[Dec Browne 20]

Has anyone else ever wondered why some stallions, such as Big Macintosh and Shining Armor, have hooves coloured differently to the rest of their bodies, yet most others don't? And even more strangely, Big Mac's hooves were the same colour as the rest of his body as a colt, yet Trouble Shoes' were even whiter than they are today?

 

Theory 1: Blood Pressure

The reason that some heavy stallions have coloured hooves may be their higher level of blood pressure. This may also explain why Trouble Shoes had whiter hooves when he was shown as a colt in the rodeo, as his apparent higher level of activity would have increased his blood pressure, thus increasing the whiteness of his hooves. Big Mac, on the other hoof (literally), grew up with much slower-paced activity.

But what about ponies like Gladmane, who appear the same weight as the likes of Big Mac, you may ask? They're just a different type.

Then again, I'm no scientist. Maybe Trouble Shoes' hooves simply got browner the same way my Converse shoes have (even though they're only two weeks old). They didn't get much whiter when he came back into the rodeo as a stallion. Or maybe it just differs from pony to pony.

 

Theory 2: Skin Loss

This theory suggests that while all stallions are born with furry skin around their hooves, there is one kind that loses that skin with weight. The reason Trouble Shoes lost his hoof skin at an earlier age than Big Macintosh may simply be that he had weaker skin.

 

As for if mares can have coloured hooves, I just can't say.

[Venomous 18,813]

I can’t necessarily speak for hoof color but the feathered feet is used to indicate the breed of that horse (I know that they are ponies but hear me out). Horses, such as shires, clydesdales, gypsys, and fresians have feathered feet. It’s obvious that Trouble Shoes is based off of a clydesdale. I can’t say what Big Macintosh is supposed to be but the reason his feathers were absent as a child is because most feathering in horses don’t appear for awhile.

[RDDash 18,845]

I thought that just the "guy thing" that only stalions do since we never seen feathered hooves on mares

Edited February 3, 2019 by R.D.Dash

[Dec Browne 20]

16 hours ago, R.D.Dash said:

I thought that just the "guy thing" that only stalions do since we never seen feathered hooves on mares

Well, how about Thunderlane? Doctor Whooves? Mr. Cake? Cheese Sandwich? Sunburst? Huh?

[RDDash 18,845]

21 minutes ago, Dec Browne said:

Well, how about Thunderlane? Doctor Whooves? Mr. Cake? Cheese Sandwich? Sunburst? Huh?

An art style? Or they didn't shave it

Edited February 3, 2019 by R.D.Dash

[BlinkZ 1,151]

On 2/1/2019 at 6:05 PM, Venomous said:

I can’t necessarily speak for hoof color but the feathered feet is used to indicate the breed of that horse (I know that they are ponies but hear me out). Horses, such as shires, clydesdales, gypsys, and fresians have feathered feet. It’s obvious that Trouble Shoes is based off of a clydesdale. I can’t say what Big Macintosh is supposed to be but the reason his feathers were absent as a child is because most feathering in horses don’t appear for awhile.

Yeah i think they base some of the ponies off certian horse breeds. My one example i can think of right now, while not a stallion, is that one pony who had the flower luggage

Edited February 4, 2019 by BlinkZ

[Dec Browne 20]

On 2/4/2019 at 8:36 AM, R.D.Dash said:

An art style? Or they didn't shave it

I don't think their fur would wrap so neatly around the bottoms of their hooves simply by shagging down from their fetlocks.

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,832]

Well like you said, I think it depends on the breed. A lot of bigger stallions tend to have feathered hooves while the smaller ones don't really have them.

Honestly, I think it looks cool and I'm pretty sure they could use them to show off to the mares.

[Dec Browne 20]

It would certainly help to know if these were chips of hoof or simply strands of fur.

[Dec Browne 20]

Funnily enough, in today's science class (🤓), we were talking about body heat, which may well have some bearing here. After all, Trouble Shoes did grow up in a much hotter climate than Big Mac.

[Dec Browne 20]

It gets even stranger when you look at Rockhoof.

[Dec Browne 20]

I think this image might confirm that even on hooves that are the same colour as the body, even though it may be a visual representation of Rarity's exaggeration about how rustic she's become, in which case it may still show that the concept of 'cracked and dry' hooves is not unknown to Equestria's ponies, indicating that they are not surrounded by furry skin.

[Dec Browne 20]

On 2/4/2019 at 6:36 PM, BlinkZ said:

Yeah i think they base some of the ponies off certian horse breeds. My one example i can think of right now, while not a stallion, is that one pony who had the flower luggage

What episode did she appear in?

[Dec Browne 20]

On 2/2/2019 at 11:05 AM, Venomous said:

I can’t necessarily speak for hoof color but the feathered feet is used to indicate the breed of that horse (I know that they are ponies but hear me out). Horses, such as shires, clydesdales, gypsys, and fresians have feathered feet. It’s obvious that Trouble Shoes is based off of a clydesdale. I can’t say what Big Macintosh is supposed to be but the reason his feathers were absent as a child is because most feathering in horses don’t appear for awhile.

What if the reason Trouble Shoes' hooves were whiter and didn't have an outline drawn around the fetlocks as a colt was because he actually painted them to look tough, tired of being teased for his bad luck?

[Senko 459]

 

On 2/11/2019 at 9:08 PM, Dec Browne said:

What if the reason Trouble Shoes' hooves were whiter and didn't have an outline drawn around the fetlocks as a colt was because he actually painted them to look tough, tired of being teased for his bad luck?

Considering how popular the spa is I just assumed most of them dye'd their hooves like a lot of girls today have painted nails, that or this like mane loss is something that affects some stallions.

[Dec Browne 20]

2 hours ago, Senko said:

 

Considering how popular the spa is I just assumed most of them dye'd their hooves like a lot of girls today have painted nails, that or this like mane loss is something that affects some stallions.

But Rockhoof's just appeared on him out of nowhere, remember?

[Senko 459]

On 2/16/2019 at 11:45 AM, Dec Browne said:

But Rockhoof's just appeared on him out of nowhere, remember?

Sounds like baldness to me or maybe that Clydesdale furline Flim and Flam mention during the mriacle tonic episode. A sudden rapid loss of fur over the hooves over a rapid period same as his growth spurt and look at the face in that picture. Tell me thats not the face of a man discovering he's going bald.

[Dec Browne 20]

13 hours ago, Senko said:

Sounds like baldness to me or maybe that Clydesdale furline Flim and Flam mention during the mriacle tonic episode. A sudden rapid loss of fur over the hooves over a rapid period same as his growth spurt and look at the face in that picture. Tell me thats not the face of a man discovering he's going bald.

Nice theory, but pony hooves have been treated like real, furless ones sometimes, like when Rarity said hers were 'cracked and dry from working in the field'.

[Senko 459]

On 2/18/2019 at 10:54 PM, Dec Browne said:

Nice theory, but pony hooves have been treated like real, furless ones sometimes, like when Rarity said hers were 'cracked and dry from working in the field'.

True but that doesn't actually contradict my theory we see that some stallions like Rockhoof have that fringe and then a different coloured hoof which can be accounted for by referring to it as the Clydesdale fur line mentioned by flim and flam as a semi-equivilent to baldness without actually meaning their hooves aren't coloured. Light blue in Rockhoof's case, purple in Twilights or white in Rarities.

Of course this doesn't really answer why pony hooves are coloured in the first place but hmmm hoof polish maybe? We know that there doesn't seem to be much stigma associated with visiting the spa Dash notwithsatanding as we see a wide range of male and female ponies visiting it.

[Dec Browne 20]

4 hours ago, Senko said:

True but that doesn't actually contradict my theory we see that some stallions like Rockhoof have that fringe and then a different coloured hoof which can be accounted for by referring to it as the Clydesdale fur line mentioned by flim and flam as a semi-equivilent to baldness without actually meaning their hooves aren't coloured. Light blue in Rockhoof's case, purple in Twilights or white in Rarities.

Of course this doesn't really answer why pony hooves are coloured in the first place but hmmm hoof polish maybe? We know that there doesn't seem to be much stigma associated with visiting the spa Dash notwithsatanding as we see a wide range of male and female ponies visiting it.

Look at my picture of Thunderlane above. Also, it was fur BLIGHT, not fur LINE.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Dec Browne

[Senko 459]

On 2/21/2019 at 7:57 PM, Dec Browne said:

Look at my picture of Thunderlane above. Also, it was fur BLIGHT, not fur LINE.

So it was I misheard it.

The problem with the Thunderlane picture is that horse hooves as I understand it look like this

in real life and the pony ones don't regardless of whether your dealing with the fringe of ponies like Thunderlane or the all one colour of Thunderlane the bottom of the hoof is all one colour and structure.

and that doesn't even touch on their ability to do things with them so however you want to argue it Equestrian ponies don't have the same hoof set up as a regular horse of fur down to the coronet band and then hoof. Though its been awhile since I dealt with horses I vaguely recall the fur near that band can be very short compared to the rest of their coat too so it'd be less affected by wind.

EDIT

There's also on thinking about it ones like Sunburst who have a different coloured hooves but a clear dividing line rather than the fringe as well so 3 different fur/hoof combinations there.

Edited February 22, 2019 by Senko

[Dec Browne 20]

On 2/22/2019 at 6:08 PM, Senko said:

So it was I misheard it.

The problem with the Thunderlane picture is that horse hooves as I understand it look like this

in real life and the pony ones don't regardless of whether your dealing with the fringe of ponies like Thunderlane or the all one colour of Thunderlane the bottom of the hoof is all one colour and structure.

and that doesn't even touch on their ability to do things with them so however you want to argue it Equestrian ponies don't have the same hoof set up as a regular horse of fur down to the coronet band and then hoof. Though its been awhile since I dealt with horses I vaguely recall the fur near that band can be very short compared to the rest of their coat too so it'd be less affected by wind.

EDIT

There's also on thinking about it ones like Sunburst who have a different coloured hooves but a clear dividing line rather than the fringe as well so 3 different fur/hoof combinations there.

But how did Big Mac and Rockhoof's hooves actually change colour?

[Senko 459]

On 2/23/2019 at 10:11 PM, Dec Browne said:

But how did Big Mac and Rockhoof's hooves actually change colour?

I refer you again to my theory of hoof polish to match their fur. More seriously much as I like to make a nice consistent world I think this is one of those art style choices by different animators we can't do anything about but accept it.

 

EDIT

On thinking about this it's possible mlp pony hooves have evolved differently to horse hooves in our world to grant more protection, manipulation ability and comfort. They certainly seem to wear shoes rather than pieces of iron nailed to them yet do use horse shoes in their arial relay for some reason

Still trying to work out the timeline is enough of a puzzle for me right now, season 6 is lacking in a lot of little clues that existed in earlier ones.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Senko