Forestfreedom
Active Member
Can a horse of rose grey colouring, ( Horse breeds that have a lot of grey in their breed such as Andalusians) be born and stay rose grey their whole life ? as I have seen rose grey horses that have turned white.
They are not born rose grey. The term tends to be used for chestnut born horses (sometimes a bright bay) with a grey gene (or genes) that are greying out and are at the stage of being a reasonably even mix of white and chestnut hairs which results in a 'pink' look. They will continue to grey as they age, possibly even darken and go through a 'dapple grey' stage until they lighten and go white. After that they probably will develop fleabites.
My 12 year old did this as well. Was born bay, turned a darker grey black colour, then "rose grey" then dapple and now is a gorgeous fleabitten colour.This exactly what my 22yo has done colour wise. Rose grey as a 6yo, then greyed out to white and he is now very fleabitten.
You seem to have a lot of interest in horse colour genetics. I'm sure there are plenty of books that could give you a far more thorough knowledge than just constantly asking a forum.
And if they looked it up in a book then I wouldn't learn the answer, because it wasn't a question I thought to ask myselfYou seem to have a lot of interest in horse colour genetics. I'm sure there are plenty of books that could give you a far more thorough knowledge than just constantly asking a forum.
You seem to have a lot of interest in horse colour genetics. I'm sure there are plenty of books that could give you a far more thorough knowledge than just constantly asking a forum.
And if they looked it up in a book then I wouldn't learn the answer, because it wasn't a question I thought to ask myselfI quite like learning more from these threads.
I always thought dapple greys and fleabitten were totally different - I hadn't realised until very recently that dapples can develop fleabites once they've greyed out.

And if they looked it up in a book then I wouldn't learn the answer, because it wasn't a question I thought to ask myselfI quite like learning more from these threads.
I always thought dapple greys and fleabitten were totally different - I hadn't realised until very recently that dapples can develop fleabites once they've greyed out.
Monty did too - in the shedding of one winter coat! He was dapple grey in the winter and by June he was fleabitten!My grey skipped the white stage and went straight from light dapple to fleabitten
they wouldn't be called flea bites though ycbm
because flea bites are associated with greys. I would never know anyone call marks on a varnish flea bites, they would just say varnish.