Can a horses mane and tail change colour naturally?

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ben456

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Can a horses mane and tail colour change with age? My friend saod it can but im not too sure. I know the coat can change. If the manr and tail could changr colour, how long would it take to go from dark to pure white?
 
Well it depends, some colours like grey/lp (spotted varnish gene) are progressive over time, others are more static
 
Greys will nearly always change colour as they age - but it really varies from horse to horse how quickly this happens. Our old pony didn't go really white until she was 20 or so, but my younger horse now is almost entirely white at 7yo.

Foals can often be born one colour and change to another - my nearly white horse now was actually chestnut when born!
 
My mare was a Welsh shade of chestnut, sort of ginger biscuit coloured or teak maybe, and when I first got her she had a black mane and tail, to the extent that the vet put her down as a bay on her certificate. Her lower legs were much lighter in colour and her feathers were blonde apart from her back legs because she had a white sock and a white ankle bracelet. She changed colour from season to season and was never exactly the same shade from one year to the next. Sometimes she had dapples, sometimes she didn't and her dorsal stripe varied in visibility. During a couple of years she sprouted some white spots. But the thing that changed the most was that her mane went body-coloured. Her tail was composed of chestnut, gold, silver and black hairs but still looked darker than her mane.
 
Some breeds are born one colour and change - I think most Iberians are born black? Otherwise greys change obviously - mine was dark grey all over when I got him then he turned totally white with age.
 
A friend has a chestnut who had a chestnut mane and tail but now it's changed to a flaxen colour.
 
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My boy had a black/brown mane and tail as a baby and was slowly becoming grey and black as a 2 year old, last year as a 3 year old he was almost blonde and grey and this year his mane is darkening back up again. His coat pattern also changes in places on a yearly basis aswell 😁
 
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