another question for colour geeks...

[whisp&willow]

Would I be correct in assuming that if a coloured horse was destined to grey out that the skin under the white areas would be black rather than pink?

Grey horses have black skin, as do solid colours, where any areas of white (ie, socks etc) the skin is pink.

I guess this is a bit too straight forward a way of thinking, and would mean that people didn't need to genetically test for colour/grey gene, but it popped into my head last night and got me wondering!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Darremi]

The skin under the white areas of a coloured horse is pink and under the coloured areas it is black. If the coloured areas are in fact grey, the skin under those areas would still be black. You would not necessarily be able to tell that the coloured areas might later go grey/white, because the skin under both colours is black. The white areas would always remain white with pink skin.

 

[whisp&willow]

Yes, I understand that, it was more of a wondering if the skin under the white areas on a coloured horse who will grey out would also be black?

 

[AMW]

I noticed when washing my coloured yearlings white legs, she has a lot of dark skin patches but the hair is white :/ she does have ermine markings above her hooves though.
I love the individuality of their markings.
Not sure re the greying out, my filly's mum is blue & white and I did wonder if mine would be the same but looks like she will be black & white

 

[Darremi]

No, like I said, the skin under the pure white areas has no pigment and therefore the skin is pink.

 

[Kat]

No if a horse is coloured it will have black skin under the coloured areas and pink skin under the white areas whether or not it will grey out.

A coloured horse who has greyed out still has the two tone skin of a coloured. These horses are often referred to as historic coloureds and are still eligible for coloured classes. Often you can only tell that they were once coloured when they are wet or clipped and the skin colour shows through.

 

[Kat]

If you have a horse with any white markings (socks, blaze etc) the pink skin remains even if the horse greys out and you can see it when they have a bath.

Greys don't have to have black skin, they have skin colour which matches the colour they were born then the hair goes grey.

 

[whisp&willow]

No if a horse is coloured it will have black skin under the coloured areas and pink skin under the white areas whether or not it will grey out.

A coloured horse who has greyed out still has the two tone skin of a coloured. These horses are often referred to as historic coloureds and are still eligible for coloured classes. Often you can only tell that they were once coloured when they are wet or clipped and the skin colour shows through.

Thanks Kat- I thought that I had heard that before but couldn't quite remember.

 

[whisp&willow]

I noticed when washing my coloured yearlings white legs, she has a lot of dark skin patches but the hair is white :/ she does have ermine markings above her hooves though.
I love the individuality of their markings.
Not sure re the greying out, my filly's mum is blue & white and I did wonder if mine would be the same but looks like she will be black & white

My coloured has ermine markings too- I love them! I actually think they are my favourite bit of her!

I'm not worried about greying ( her dam is buckskin and sire bay tobiano) Just that I wondered about skin colour.