What Colour is my Mare? What Coloured Foals I Could Aquire?

Ambïe_Gracïe

Ambïe_Gracïe

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Hey, I’ve recently bought an Irish Draught mare and we’ve been looking to put her in foal however long down the line, but I’m not overly sure on her colour — I don’t know if she’s a chestnut or bay flea bitten grey.

I’m particularly fond of grey and white tobiano and dilutes, if that’s possible. I bought her just before the self-isolation so she’s still with her old owner on his yard but he didn’t have her as a foal and I haven’t got her passport to look at her parents colouring, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me what flea bitten colour she is and what possible colours of foals I could get out of her depending on the sire.

The picture I attempted to upload is too large so she’s the one on my PP.

TIA
 
Ambïe_Gracïe said:
Hey, I’ve recently bought an Irish Draught mare and we’ve been looking to put her in foal however long down the line, but I’m not overly sure on her colour — I don’t know if she’s a chestnut or bay flea bitten grey.

I’m particularly fond of grey and white tobiano and dilutes, if that’s possible. I bought her just before the self-isolation so she’s still with her old owner on his yard but he didn’t have her as a foal and I haven’t got her passport to look at her parents colouring, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me what flea bitten colour she is and what possible colours of foals I could get out of her depending on the sire.

The picture I attempted to upload is too large so she’s the one on my PP.

TIA
Click to expand...

please pm me so I can send the photo, new to this and can’t change my icon
 
flea bites dont always indicate base colour. Animal genetics will do a test for you so you would know with certainty.

You do know shes carrying one copy of grey, possibly two copies. If she has two then every foal will grey out. If she has one then only 50% of foals will grey out.

As shes an ID she wont be either tobiano or dilute, so that would need to come from the sire. Its a pretty silly idea to breed from a grey mare if you are breeding for colour though unfortunately.
 
We haven’t bought her for breeding, but had the idea to do so since she’s recently had one with the previous owner, henceforth we didn’t know about the whole grey have rather slim chances of coloured foals. We’ve been looking at dilute and tobiano stallions but we’d like a coloured foal since we’ve got a chestnut and now a grey, I’ve had blacks and bays in the past. I don’t overly care for the colour so long as it’s a healthy foal, but it’d be a nice little change.
 
Unfortunately without foal pics or genetics it's impossible to tell the underlying colour. In order to guarantee coloured or dilute you'd need to use a stallion homozygous (two copies) for tobiano or double dilute (cremello, perlino, smoky cream). That depends if your mare is homozygous for grey (which is a possibility if there are two grey parents) then the foal will grey out but you might get your blue and white horse for a bit before they go white.
I can't remember if there is a link between fleabites and zygosity if there is I don't think it's 100%.
 
with her being ID the chance of having 2 grey genes is high. If you use the animal genetics site is about £30 to test and heres no vet involved, you just pull some mane hair. I'd start with that.
 
I'm sure I read somewhere that there was a theory that combining grey and cream (or another dilute gene) was possibly not wise due to the link between greys and melanomas. How true it is I don't know. It is definitely true that some greys suffer from melanomas more than other greys do and that there will be reasons why that is, even if we don't fully understand them yet.
 
Leo Walker said:
with her being ID the chance of having 2 grey genes is high. If you use the animal genetics site is about £30 to test and heres no vet involved, you just pull some mane hair. I'd start with that.
Click to expand...
I ordered one the other day, but unfortunately we can’t go and see her until this whole thing is over and done with?
 
Cloball said:
Unfortunately without foal pics or genetics it's impossible to tell the underlying colour. In order to guarantee coloured or dilute you'd need to use a stallion homozygous (two copies) for tobiano or double dilute (cremello, perlino, smoky cream). That depends if your mare is homozygous for grey (which is a possibility if there are two grey parents) then the foal will grey out but you might get your blue and white horse for a bit before they go white.
I can't remember if there is a link between fleabites and zygosity if there is I don't think it's 100%.
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I’m sure I remember reading that fleabites often indicate heterozygosity.
 
Meowy Catkin said:
I'm sure I read somewhere that there was a theory that combining grey and cream (or another dilute gene) was possibly not wise due to the link between greys and melanomas. How true it is I don't know. It is definitely true that some greys suffer from melanomas more than other greys do and that there will be reasons why that is, even if we don't fully understand them yet.
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Malachys breeder said that heterozygous Grey's (of which he is, and is fleabitten) don't get melanomas, only the homozygous Grey's. Unsure if it's true, but she's been breeding Connies for a long time.
 
KEK said:
Malachys breeder said that heterozygous Grey's (of which he is, and is fleabitten) don't get melanomas, only the homozygous Grey's. Unsure if it's true, but she's been breeding Connies for a long time.
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I had a look and saw this on wiki. I haven't found the original study (which sounds interesting) but it does seem like the various genes that cause colour beyond the grey gene (which has the most impact) affect melanoma likelihood and aggressiveness.

"Latest research by UCD has shown that horses that are GG (homozygous for grey) are more prone to aggressive melanomas than horses that are Gg (heterozygous for grey), base coat colour also plays a part and horses that are also aa (recessive for bay) are, again, more prone." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_melanoma
 
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Meowy Catkin said:
I had a look and saw this on wiki. I haven't found the original study (which sounds interesting) but it does seem like the various genes that cause colour beyond the grey gene (which has the most impact) affect melanoma likelihood and aggressiveness.

"Latest research by UCD has shown that horses that are GG (homozygous for grey) are more prone to aggressive melanomas than horses that are Gg (heterozygous for grey), base coat colour also plays a part and horses that are also aa (recessive for bay) are, again, more prone." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_melanoma
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Huh interesting. So she probably is right then. She said she hasn't had any with her heterozygous Grey's and her oldest mare is 22.
 
I read it as less chance rather than no chance. My grey is heterozygous and she's had awful skin issues with fungal lumps and sarcoids, it it nice to know that she has a lower chance of developing melanoma... but knowing her luck she'll probably get them. :(
 
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Meowy Catkin said:
I read it as less chance rather than no chance. My grey is heterozygous and she's had awful skin issues with fungal lumps and sarcoids, it it nice to know that she has a lower chance of developing melanoma... but knowing her luck she'll probably get them. :(
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Oh yes definitely less not none. That sounds rough, are they more common in grey's too?
 
The fungal thing is just her having a 'sensitivity' I think. The vet was convinced it was melanomas but I decided to have the removed lumps sent for histology at the lab and it was fungal. She's had a few over the years.

She is an arab and breed was put down on her form for sarcoid treatment, so I think there might be some correlation between breed and likelihood of developing those, well an inheritable likelihood anyway I suppose.
 
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