Opinions: Would a grey horse put you off?

A grey horse in itself wouldn't put me off, however if buying an appy - a grey dam/sire 'might' make me think twice due to the grey gene being passed on to offspring and appy colour greying out - I would want them tested in that scenario.
 
No, I wouldn't be put off - in fact we have two greys. Just remember that if you're going to be competing that it will mean more cleaning....
 
Last edited:
I probably wouldn't set out to look at a grey horse but if I happened to try one and it fit the bill in every other respect it wouldn't be an issue.
 
TBH you buy a hot horse shower and a thermatex and it's very simple to keep a grey clean you never let them get dirty and stay on top of it and it's easy peasy .
 
I've never owned a grey but one of mine is a majority white piebald, including mane, tail and legs. Yes, he is hard to keep clean but tbh is anyone really that bothered? If need be, a good wash with the old fashioned animal shampoo in a big tub gets him pretty clean. I certainly don't wrap him up in boots and tail bags.
So grey wouldn't put me off. The horse is what counts, not the colour.
 
I know people who wouldn't want a grey/wouldn't have a grey. A friend would only look at bay geldings. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and now she is totally horseless after hers was PTS and she's been looking for a new one for almost a year, she is now considering them. Another friend didn't want a grey but reluctantly went to see one that was recommended. He is fabulously talented and she has done very well in every dressage test shes ever done with him. He looks incredible at a show too, stands out against the sea of bays. I now have a dark bay and I think he's a bit boring, although granted much easier to smarten up I'd buy another grey for sure tho, I love them. But I'd say yes, some people definitely wouldn't consider a grey.
 
I love greys, have two, have had dozens, and my next (and last) horse will be a grey. Would be better if I lived in a warm country where bathing horses was routine*.

*Note to self: move to Spain.........
 
I like bay thoroughbred types. Don't like greys at all. So ended up with a white grey loan mare with a fondness for her own waste and a dark grey youngster who is lightening out faster than I'd like. Great choices :D
 
I think greys are beautiful. A clean grey stands out. I have evolved from grey horses via skewbalds to bay and chestnut, and have to say that the darker red tones are easier to keep looking clean!

If there were two identical horses for sale that suited me and my needs I have to say I'd opt for the bay nowadays. We live in a clay bog and I've done my share of scrubbing!
 
We don't really have mud so my grey is always relatively clean. He's a neat horse and stable stains are never an issue; he's out 24/7 unless we have a storm but even then he is tidy.

He's lived out, in the sun with no problem for 12 years. It's often up to 40 degrees on the farm. He's not had a single sarcoid/melanoma issue. He has dark skin except for his snip but doesn't burn. He's an Arab, Egyptian lines but bred in Namibia.

I'd easily have another but I realise I've been very lucky with him. He's a little star.
 
Goldenstar said:
TBH you buy a hot horse shower and a thermatex and it's very simple to keep a grey clean you never let them get dirty and stay on top of it and it's easy peasy .
Click to expand...

I subscribe partially to this, but only partially . . . Kali is a mud monster and it's hard to keep his face and legs clean in the winter - and in the summer (when he is unrugged) it's a constant battle to stay on top of stable stains . . . and I do avail myself of the hot water shower at the yard and I do try and stay on top of the stains, but I do "let" him get dirty . . . being dirty makes him happy. The very first thing he does when he goes out in the morning is get down and roll and roll and roll and cover himself in as much mud or dust as he can . . . so he gets brushed twice a day every day, in the summer I spot clean the stable stains and the dirtiest bits get washed every ten days or so. I try to keep on top of his tail to stop it getting yellow . . . but at the end of the day he's a horse and will get dirty.

P
 
I hate trying to keep them clean and have one at the moment but each time I see a horse I like, grey seems to be the main colour of them so no it wouldn't although I would gripe about trying to keep them clean :p
 
I would never own a grey or a high percentage white coloured. Purely because I am a tiny bit OCD about keeping them clean and couldn't handle the stains! Though I will admit a clean grey looks stunning. But I like to see the shine come up in darker colours in summer, which you don't get with greys. There are plenty of horses around for sale that aren't grey that fit my bill, so I don't really see an issue with it. Plenty of people will only have geldings or mares, I find that more restricting when buying than colour.
 
Absolutely not! Definitely personal preference but if I'm ever looking for another horse I will look out for a grey. An absolute pain to keep clean but there's just something about them! I'm so bias tho cos my best boys have been grey
 
twiggy2 said:
If a bay and a grey were equal horses I would choose the bay unless the grey was a nice big fleabitten grey called Scallywag and he had come back over rainbow bridge just for me
Click to expand...

Was Scallywag a TB ? I only ask as I remember one from when I used to visit a racing yard in Newmarket,many years ago.
 
I've got a couple of greys and neither have a history of sarcoids or melanomas. My bay on the other hand has had sarcoid trouble.
Colour is the last thing I'd consider when looking for a horse. Good temperament, good conformation, athletic ability are top of my list, certainly not colour.
 
my criteria when looking for my new horse included 'no greys' - having gone through the trouble of sacroids with my coloured horse i had to rule out greys as i didnt want the increased risk of skin problems.

I bought kasper then panicked that he may be grey due to his unusual colour so sent some hair off to be dna tested, it came back negative, woop!
 
Three of my four have been grey and I'm never having another one. I don't remember my first pony being that bad but maybe at 12 I just didn't notice! My share horse is very flea bitten so dirt doesn't show too badly on him and his tail has lots of brown in it so he's not too bad but Archie is disgusting. You expect a bit more work keeping a grey clean but he is beyond. He also has a really dense coat so you think he's clean after bathing but then he dries and loads more mud comes out. You brush it off and then work him and he sweats more mud. I'm so sick of constantly bathing horses in freezing weather and within half an hour they look like they've never been washed! My next horse won't even have white legs, he's going to be a plain old boring bay or a dun/buckskin with beautiful black points.
He's also riddled with melanomas which is obviously far more of an issue than the dirtiness. It's heartbreaking to know they'll gradually take over his body and ruin it. His are inoperable as they're huge and inside his sheath so they wouldn't leave enough skin left if they're removed.

ETA I read something the other day that only homozygous greys get melanomas and flea bitten greys are all heterozygous so don't get them. My share horse is 19 and doesn't have any so I assume it's correct, but without DNA testing I suppose you wouldn't know if they're heterozygous or not. Archie's melanomas are all on black skin (he only has a bit of white skin on one pastern) so it's not a pink skin issue.
 
Last edited:
I've always got on well with greys, they are my preferred colour. I don't care about dirt. Sarcoids etc were never an issue when I was young, but they do seem to be an issue for greys now. I'd want a full vetting but it wouldn't put me off, especially if it was a dapple. I just love them!
 
I always liked bays. Never thought I would end up with a predominately grey skewbald being my horse of a lifetime.

As Mark Rashid says, a good horse is never a bad colour*

* unless grey and a bogwappit!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top