Aging greys going flea-bitten

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Why do some greys get very flea-bitten as they get old, even if they had hardly any speckles as a younger horse/pony?

Some clever people must know the answer, enlighten me please.
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I dunno, it's weird! My grey was a true rocking horse dapple, now she is 17 she is mostly flea bitten, the only signs of dapple are on her hind quarters and legs.
 
Actually I would like to know the answer to this too... my boy was Rose Grey and as he's aged he's gone more fleabitten with a splodge of chestnut that seems to get bigger every year (that's when you can see it under the mud!)
 
Sames happened to my lovely girl:

This was in 1997 (I was VERY young in this photo!) You can see that she was slightly spotty though, but her legs were very dark- especially hocks...

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This was last December, 2008. Very spotty!
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and here her hocks are totally white- just right for those stains to be seen!!

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xxx
 
Mine is the same i bought her as a very dark dapple grey at 18 now she is still dark on her lower legs however the rest of her is very very fleabitten, her spotty bits are brown though so look like specks of dirt!! every year she gets more and more flea bitten to the point the spots are joining up and i reckon she will end up brown!
No idea why it happens, but would be interested to findout.
 
It's totally normal in greys. I don't know why but they seem to start dark (that's a survival thing when they are babies), they go through steel grey, dark dapples, dapples with darker legs and gradually get lighter and lighter. I think the flea bites start in their early teens and just get more obvious as the years go on.
 
Oohh ...good question, I was wondering this.

I dont know what my lad was like when he was very young, but when I got him he had just a few chestnut 'fleabites' along his neck/shoulders....now he's pretty much covered. In fact, i was musing the other day that if he lived long enough he might turn completely chestnut!
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Ditto to these... Kelts was a real dapple rocking horse when I bought her at 9, when she passed away at 18, she was really flea bitten, not a dapple to be seen in winter, and only traces of them on her bum in summer... her freckles were black though..
 
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Do all greys go flea-bitten then?

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I have 2 greys.

1 started rose grey, was dappled at 3/4 yrs with white legs and a white mane and was white by 5/6yrs. She is now 15 and not a dot in sight..

1 started off almost black, was iron grey at 4/5yrs. Dapple by 6/7 yrs and is still mostly dapple but her face is almost white, her legs dark grey and she has chestnut freckles.
 
Mine is covered in spots!!! She was white at the front and dappled over her bum when I got her, shes now just spotty all over.

Interestingly, one side of her neck used to have more than the other, but thats evened out now.
 
Kels is ten, and has a fleabitten head, pale dapples on her chest and tum, and her legs are dark dappled. She was much lighter in her winter clothes, with a plain whitish face, so much so I didn't even realise she had a sock till her summer coat came through, having got her last winter! I think she might have a star as well, but it's really hard to tell.

Early pics of her are very dark dappled all over.
 
Thanks everyone.

Silvershadow, your mare's lovely.
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I think I know some older greys that aren't flea-bitten, the changing colour must have something to do with genetics then, I imagine, like the lightening. I just wonder how and why it happens when it does. Does nobody know the science of it then?
 
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Thanks everyone.

Silvershadow, your mare's lovely.
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Thank you Flame! I love her to bits
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Its a really interesting one, something ive thought to myself about, but never really scooted about for the answer.

Im THINKING maybe it has something to do with the fact they have dark skin, more prone to melenomas (sp- sorry!) therefore wired to change colour throughout life?

OR-

As they cant go grey and develop grey hairs- they develop brown ones instead.... more feasable- lets go with that!!
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xxx
 
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