sudden greying in gelding

[horseservant]

I had 7 horses and the herd leader died suddenly.
My neurotic thoroughbred gelding started getting a significant amount of white hair within days. His blaze is blurred roan, he has spectacles and he is getting a grizzled beard. It all seemed to have happened overnight.
He had little or no white hair other than his blaze before. He was 12 at the time of her death.
I assume this is just due to shock (and age) but I was wondering if the community had experienced this.
The Vet is unconcerned but he seems entirely too quiet and well behaved. He cleans up his food and is in good weight and coat. we tested his blood and found nothing out of order.
I don't want him to have a problem but I am suspicious. If there is something wrong with him it can't be what did in the other horse. She died from a reaction to a drug administered by my previous Vet. It was horrific but not contagious

 

[Red-1]

I think I would do a soil and hay analysis.

Spectacles can be a copper deficiency. I believe soil high in iron is more common, and isn't good.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Sort of interested in this. I have a bay that has developed various white spots (sometimes they dissapear or randomly appear) and all his tests came back normal. I don't feed any added iron and I even increased the copper and zinc just incase he needed more than what was "on paper" and they never went away. So I am a bit confused by it all, tbh, but he seems fine otherwise.

The roaning and signifcant amount in days is odd though.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I have known more than one horse with Appaloosa breeding 'colour out' in their teens. Our registered pure-bred whose foal photos showed her as chestnut all over roaned out after we bought her aged 9. She was the first foal her breeders had from her parents, who were both very spotty. They bred several more and none of them had spots in their first few years (I don't know about later, for all of them). Her immediately younger full brother did develop some spots before she started roaning. Funnily enough her half- siblings by the sire, that I knew about, were all gorgeously leopard spotted, .

If your horse could have some Appaloosa breeding , that could be an explanation, maybe triggered by the loss.