Never Seen a Horse Quite that Colour

Meowy Catkin

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He's super. :D A fleabitten grey with lots of fleabites. He could either be chestnut based (as the fleabites are chestnut) with Sooty causing the black pigment on his legs, or he was bright bay before greying out.

fff79958448c636b2c444cc8e0232650-360x270.jpg
 

Princess16

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He's super. :D A fleabitten grey with lots of fleabites. He could either be chestnut based (as the fleabites are chestnut) with Sooty causing the black pigment on his legs, or he was bright bay before greying out.

fff79958448c636b2c444cc8e0232650-360x270.jpg

Faracat intrigued as to how you are so knowledgable with colours? Do you do it as part of a job?
 

Meowy Catkin

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No I'm just interested in it because long ago I had a super anglo arab (who is also to blame for me loving arabian and PBA horses so much) and he was bright bay but with a 'grey' tail. I wanted to know why he was like that and started to look into horse colours. I found that he had a 'gulastra plume' and that it was nothing to do with the grey gene, but related to the gene that caused him to also have a white sock and a blaze (sabino).

Here he is. :)
Seamus.jpg
 

tobiano1984

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Weird but mine has a gulastra plume too (which Faracat identified when I put it on here) and is now for sale, directly above the fleabitten grey..! (At least on my screen he is) :)
 

sasquatch

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He is quite stunning :D

Just a very fleabitten grey, similar to greys who have bloody shoulders and blood markings I think.
His winter coat/clipped coat from photos makes him look even more interesting.

We have one on the yard who is very fleabitten, depending on the colour he was before and how long it took him to grey out may be why his legs were dark - he could have been a bright bay.

Not sure if it's coincidental, but all the ISH's I have met who are fleabitten grey seem to be more speckley than other breeds!
 

Meowy Catkin

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He is quite stunning :D

Just a very fleabitten grey, similar to greys who have bloody shoulders and blood markings I think.

Bloody shoulder/Blood markings are areas that fail to grey out and they don't need to be on the shoulder, fleabites grow in, so they are different.

He is only 13, so yes, I expect that he did grey out quickly.

Here's a horse with a blood mark on it's face, plus fleabites.

Warface1.jpg


A very fleabitten horse (looks araby).

fleabitten2.jpg


They tend to get more fleabites as they get older. :)
 

Barnacle

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Given that he has no black anywhere else, I'd be very surprised if that horse is a sooty chestnut... You'd think there'd be some on the body. Would go with bay base for sure.
 

Hoof_Prints

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Fabulous colour! looks like he's had a good roll in the mud :D I always said I didn't like fleabitten greys, think I've changed my mind !
 

Meowy Catkin

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Given that he has no black anywhere else, I'd be very surprised if that horse is a sooty chestnut... You'd think there'd be some on the body. Would go with bay base for sure.

I have seen similar on a horse that was born orange chestnut, then was a very dark dapple grey, lost the dapples on the body, but kept the black on the legs, the fleabites came in (although had much fewer than the horse in the OP) and then it lost the black on the legs too.

SP, this is a good site.

http://whitehorseproductions.com/equinecolor.html
 

EquiEquestrian556

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Was he black due to sooty covering the chestnut? Or a very dark liver chestnut, which can look black?

This is a very, very sooty palomino.

http://www.morgancolors.com/heathermoorgoldbanner.jpg (link as it's a big photo).

You can't mention a really interesting horse without posting photos, preferably showing the progress of his greying out, if you have them. :)

Faracat, didn't want to hijack this thread, but please could you tell me what colour this pony is? :)
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?708434-Faracat-What-colour-is-this-pony
 

Embo

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This is a very, very sooty palomino.

http://www.morgancolors.com/heathermoorgoldbanner.jpg (link as it's a big photo).

Really? There's palomino under there?? Looks like dark bay/black to me! :D I'm clueless when it comes to colours other than the standard. Very interesting thread.

My grey horse still has dapples to his bum, stifles, hocks and knees. He also has quite a bit of 'red' through his feather, often mistaken for mud! Some chestnut fleabites have appeared on his face. I'm quite upset, to be honest! Not a fan of fleabittens, I was hoping he would just go white. He's only 6, so has greyed out very quickly.

Does the fact his fleabites are coming through chestnut mean he was a chestnut baby?
 
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Meowy Catkin

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Yes, he was born pally and the sooty added the black pigment as he aged. If you DNA tested him, it would show that he's Chestnut with one copy of cream (so pally).

Yes, it's quite likely that he is chestnut under the grey, especially as the 'red' is on his lower legs. With greys they usually do go fleabitten after greying out but as you said, some grey out fast and others grey out slowly, so you could have a horse that only gets fleabites coming in when it's pretty old. Mine was white by two and fleabitten at three - she was super fast - but had no Sooty (so no dapples). I like fleabites though. ;)
 

Annagain

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I thought M was very fleabitten until I saw this horse. He started off pretty much bay
m20baby_zpslhpbzjel.jpg

and took years to grey out. He still hasn't completely and he's 19. He still has quite a dark mane and tail and his legs have dark patches too. He was quite a dark iron grey until about 10, then was dappled for a few years. About 4 years ago his winter coat suddenly grew through white
Image016.jpg
and when it fell out he was fleabitten underneath!
MontySapeyedit_zps29ed3a88.jpg

Not the clearest picture of his fleabites but the best one I've got!
 

Meowy Catkin

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Im sure Ive heard of this being called a rose grey ?

Rose grey is used to describe horses that are chestnuts or bright bays with grey, as they grey out, they go through the 'pink' stage, which is what is referred to as Rose Grey. It doesn't last, although it's pretty while it's there.

Flossytwo.jpg
 

Barnacle

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Was he black due to sooty covering the chestnut? Or a very dark liver chestnut, which can look black?

That is in itself a rather controversial statement... It is unclear whether the two differ. :p

To anyone who wants to learn about genetics, this is a wonderful blog: http://equinetapestry.com/

You'll quickly discover that equine genetics are a minefield. We still don't know a great deal.

The author of that blog has two books out - one by the same name that is an introduction to genetics and one that has a focus on draft breeds (she will be re-releasing that one soon - she is working on a series, each focusing on a different group of breeds). I highly recommend the one that is an introduction. I have just bought it to help teach my partner about colours and he is loving it. You can buy it off her page or from amazon.
 
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My American TB is registered as Rose Grey/Roan on his passport. I do not have any pics of him as a foal but this is him at 3yo.

GrayAmerica2_zpse54a942c.png


6yo
GrayPerth.jpg


9yo
GrayMoStirling2_zpse64ce240.png


12yo
GrayMo%20Dabbs_zps5xqoglov.jpg



Personally I hope he doesn't get any more fleabites as I hate them - makes them look likes spotteds! Blergh! (Sorry spotted fans!) But alas he will!
 

Barnacle

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I wish that there was some kind of enforcement of colour description accuracy on passports. It would not only make things easier for future owners but would mean we could look back on pedigrees with more confidence.
 
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I wish that there was some kind of enforcement of colour description accuracy on passports. It would not only make things easier for future owners but would mean we could look back on pedigrees with more confidence.

Yeah my horse is a yank and on the passports for them that I have seen come through the yard they like giving basic colours fancy names!
 

Meowy Catkin

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I wish that there was some kind of enforcement of colour description accuracy on passports. It would not only make things easier for future owners but would mean we could look back on pedigrees with more confidence.

I completely agree. Having the right colour on the passport is surely a basic part of identifying that horse as an individual. I'd like it if you had colour DNA results showing the colour genes the horse has. I have seen PRE's for sale with a colour panel showing exactly what genes they have. If anyone gets the Connemara society to start correctly identifying their 'duns' as the buckskins that they actually are, a small miracle will have occurred. ;)

So my grey would have 'eeGg' and 'chestnut/grey' down as her colour results. I know that we can't test for everything yet but it would be better than some of the wildly out colours that I have seen in passports.
 
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