OH NO! Will this horse grey out?

cptrayes

cptrayes

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4 years old, an American Paint by Like a Clu. When I bought him he had one patch of slightly roan hair. His winter coat is coming in like that all over, except his legs, and the slightly roan patch is now totally pink strawberry roan.


Please tell me he isn't greying out, I hate looking after greys!


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Of course you are very bad for hating greys - greys totally rock! :p

Are there any white hairs coming in on his face, especially around the eyes (grey 'goggles')?
Are either of his parents grey?

You can see that he has sabino which does cause white flecks/roaning, so it is possible that it's sabino at work. As he's four, I would have expected him to show signs of greying out before now, but some greys do grey very, very slowly.

You could have him tested for grey if you want to know for sure.

http://animalgenetics.eu/Equine/Coat-Color-Testing/equine-coat-colour-index.html
 
Had to chuckle at the title of this; my thoughts exactly when I bought a beautiful black foal, and mine is now 3 and steel grey!.
Don't think your chap is though, you would have seen more by now
 
Faracat said:
Of course you are very bad for hating greys - greys totally rock! :p

Are there any white hairs coming in on his face, especially around the eyes (grey 'goggles')?
Are either of his parents grey?

You can see that he has sabino which does cause white flecks/roaning, so it is possible that it's sabino at work. As he's four, I would have expected him to show signs of greying out before now, but some greys do grey very, very slowly.

You could have him tested for grey if you want to know for sure.

http://animalgenetics.eu/Equine/Coat-Color-Testing/equine-coat-colour-index.html
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There's nothing on his head or round his eyes. Ooh, thanks for the link, is not too expensive either. Interesting on the sabino influence, how can you tell? Is it the pale mane and tail?

I call him my blond bimbo :D
 
foxy1 said:
Had to chuckle at the title of this; my thoughts exactly when I bought a beautiful black foal, and mine is now 3 and steel grey!.
Don't think your chap is though, you would have seen more by now
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I hope you're right :)

I love steel grey, it's just such a shame they go white :(

I suppose I should be pleased. I've always wanted a strawberry roan or a chestnut and white, and now in winter it looks like I've got both!
 
I don't mind the colour really, more the melanoma problem with greys. I have been feeding my boy turmeric since he was 5 months old in the hope it keeps them away.....
 
Lovely looking horse cptrayes :)

May I leap onto this thread? My 2.5 yr old extended blanket spot appaloosa is doing something very similar - for the last 2 winters I've had her, the bay bits have stayed bay, but this year she appears to be growing white fluff through her bay bits as if she's trying to be a roan. I've started wondering if she's attempting to turn into a full leopard spot so I have more to scrub....:D She has also gone noticeably lighter around the eyes... It wouldn't have occurred to me had I not seen a photo on facebook of a horse who had gone from blanket spot as a yearling to leopard by age 2...
 
Faracat said:
It could be that your horse is a Varnish Roan SM. :) Just check that neither parent is grey. All greys have at least one grey parent.
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Sire is a leopard spot and dam is a grey few spot (I think!)... a full sister I know of is also a grey few spot, so I'm guessing that means that there could be grey in there?
 
I love clean grey horses! But then mine are more brown than white these days and you can draw on them :D

I HATE flea bitten greys - the look like spotteds - blergh! And what is my beautiful Gray doing? Getting more and more bloomin fleabites! Pete has been warned that if he goes tooooo flea bitten then he is getting sent home to Ireland lol!
 
cptrayes said:
I hope you're right :)

I love steel grey, it's just such a shame they go white :(

I suppose I should be pleased. I've always wanted a strawberry roan or a chestnut and white, and now in winter it looks like I've got both!
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I'm completely ignorant when it comes to colour but would be interested to know why a lot of coloured horses do seem to go roany at times. My old coloured was "piebald" and as black as black in the summer, but when I clipped him he was completely different. Will be interested to see more photos of yours (he is gorgeous where did you find him?!)

This is my last horse in summer:
SP_A1539.jpg

Winter:
SP_A0300.jpg
 
Can any of you tell me where to find the best (I.e. easy to understand) info about the genetics of colour? I have an appaloosa who has very few spots on her bottom and is the colour of a "chocolate brownie sprinkled with icing sugar" (quote from small child in our village) with very wispy mane and tail and no breeding info in her passport as she is getting on a bit, probably came from Argentina as she played polo at quite a high level. I'd love to find out more on this subject.
 
Mixedbag said:
Can any of you tell me where to find the best (I.e. easy to understand) info about the genetics of colour? I have an appaloosa who has very few spots on her bottom and is the colour of a "chocolate brownie sprinkled with icing sugar" (quote from small child in our village) with very wispy mane and tail and no breeding info in her passport as she is getting on a bit, probably came from Argentina as she played polo at quite a high level. I'd love to find out more on this subject.
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This site is a good place to start.

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/equinecolor.html
 
EKW said:
I love clean grey horses! But then mine are more brown than white these days and you can draw on them :D

I HATE flea bitten greys - the look like spotteds - blergh! And what is my beautiful Gray doing? Getting more and more bloomin fleabites! Pete has been warned that if he goes tooooo flea bitten then he is getting sent home to Ireland lol!
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Feel your pain on that one. Grey boy used to be so dark, and now he's got so make fleabites he is almost chestnut. He looks dirty :(
 
Thank you for the compliments, yes he is a pretty boy :) I found him on horsemart cheap because of his sarcoids. I've got rid of nearly all of them now, the last are just going, then he's clear.

He's got a beautiful personality, but can be very stubborn to ride and is very immature and slow to learn. I can forgive all that, but if he greys out, he'll be for sale!

Faracat, I don't know the colour of his mother, but he favours grey horses when working in company, and there is an old wives tale that says that they like horses the colour their mother was.

I've just found some white hairs on his cheeks too ........
 
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cptrayes said:
Thank you for the compliments, yes he is a pretty boy :) I found him on horsemart cheap because of his sarcoids. I've got rid of nearly all of them now, the last are just going, then he's clear.

He's got a beautiful personality, but can be very stubborn to ride and is very immature and slow to learn. I can forgive all that, but if he greys out, he'll be for sale!

Faracat, I don't know the colour of his mother, but he favours grey horses when working in company, and there is an old wives tale that says that they like horses the colour their mother was.

I've just found some white hairs on his cheeks too ........
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Love the idea of this, my mares mother must have been big and black....and a gelding, as that's what she favours, could be hormonal!
 
I would think he'd have shown more grey by now if he was going to :) Mine is most certainly coloured and has flecks of grey hair throughout his brown bits so i wouldn't worry too much!
 
dibbin said:
Mine seems to be developing more "freckles" daily ... he was a chestnut foal, I think he's trying to revert!
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Mine too . . . I don't know what colour he was as a foal, but we think he must have been some shade of brown because most of his fleabites are bright bay/chestnut in colour and he has chestnut in his tail . . . this summer he has gone very much more fleabitten . . . and I think he's gorgeous . . . nowt wrong with a fleabitten grey . . . so there ;).

P
 
Rather belated thank you to Ester, as I have spent a jolly evening reading the info on the link you posted earlier about genetics. Also found this site www.jenniferhoffman.net/horse/horse-color-genetics.html which has a great game thingy where you can play with all the different genes to see what variations of colour and markings you can come up with - brilliant fun. Have come to the conclusion that my horse is a Lplp Varnish Roan Appaloosa. Thanks again.
 
I didn't know that the jagged lines on the socks indicated Sabino - every day is a school day! Mine also has a white chin, white 'belly splash' and white fleck running through her otherwise liver chestnut coat, with a big white blaze. I guess that is also typical of Sabino?
 
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