THE BALD FACE

A bald face, sometimes called a white face marking, is the most dramatic type of horse facilial marking.

Officially, a bald face is a white marking covering nearly the entire front of the horse’s face. The white often covers at least one eye and stretches down the whole front of the face from the forehead to the muzzle, often spilling over down the sides. It’s not uncommon to see bald-faced horses with blue eyes.

However, as beautiful as these bald-faced horses and ponies are, some health risks go along with the marking. Firstly, if the white hairs extend into the ear, there is a chance that the hearing of the horse is affected, and secondly, the large amounts of pink skin under the white hair are also more prone to sunburn, so owners of these horses and ponies need to apply suncream before the horse or pony goes out.

Bald faces are common in Paint horses as well as Clydesdales.