Whats The Problem With Greys?

helloamys

helloamys

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I love love love grey horses and have my eye on a lovely grey ID however, i've been told not to get a grey because they're prone to melanoma. I didnt think was a problem, i mean, i've a lab who prone to diabeties but he's 12 now and perfectly healthy.

Is getting a grey that big of a risk?
Are some breeds 'safer' than others?

Thanks, could do with help
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Greys are more prone to melanomas, but then not all greys get them and when they do they are often not a problem at all (and I say this having bought a grey with melanomas who had 5 years of ridden work and 4 retired before being PTS because of the melanomas).

Horses get so many problems anyway that you never know. You can buy the perfect horse health-wise and it can break its leg in the field the first day you get it home.

If you like the horse in every other way buy it!
 
I have a blue & white ID & im not worried at all, i wouldn't write anything off on the cause of probability, a horse on my yard who is coloured with small amount of white markings has been treated for sacoids/melanoma's, its just your luck imo.
 
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a horse on my yard who is coloured with small amount of white markings has been treated for sacoids/melanoma's

[/ QUOTE ]

So are coloured horses at just as much risk?


Thanks! i'm edging toward just going for it and if its got melanoma, its got melanoma
 

I love greys too. I have a grey arab mare who i love to bits. She has a sarcoid which i have recently had removed but it certainly hasn't put me off greys. I've also just bought another grey arab gelding. I love them.
All other colours / breeds come with their problems too....
GO FOR IT
 
Sarcoids are entirely different from melanomas!

Sarcoids can occur in any horse but vary in type. If you're lucky the sarcoid will be a self contained single lump that can fall off easily with banding (or even by itself), and won't recurer. If you are unlucky there can be multiple invasive sarcoids. There are more treatments available for sarcoids nowadays, including the Liverpool cream, but they can be a problem if they return or if they are in an area which affects tack.

There is no treatment for melanomas. Usually what you see externally is matched with a much bigger lump internally. They may or may not grow and expand, some horses seem to get more melanomas when under stress or with a depressed immune system (although the same can be the case with sarcoid growth). They can be a problem if they are in the mouth, or an area where tack goes or really large ones, but the majority do not pose problems.
 
Our 26yo mare is grey and she doesnt have any obvious melanomas - I know you cannot see internal ones but she is 26 and so far so good
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I think it must be pot luck.
 
Melanomas are off putting. I have had them with my two greys -my old girl was PTS at 20 due to suspected melanoma-but they do tend to be something the horse lives with for many years. My current hunter in the pic is rising 20 and has had melanomas since she was in her early teens. They are now huge but haven't affected her yet, touch wood. She is a fantastic horse and still as sound and agile as a 4 year old. So; I would buy another grey as they tend to be really good horses IMO! However I would probably not try to breed a grey.
 
The dapple grey in my avatar died without any melanomas at 10/11 from protein losing enteropathy (bowel disease) and my current grey is about to be written off for spavin at the age of 7. He hasn't got any melanomas either.

Unfortunately as misst says, everything about horses seems to be pot luck.

If I decide not to give up with horses, I'd probably end up with another grey as I like my ISHes & they're often grey. (Altho I **HATE** bathing, which for me is the biggest reason not to have a grey... wears v thin when competing every week...)
 
Not sure how accurate this info is, but I was told that a grey bred from two greys was more likely to have problems from melanomas, so it may be worth asking the owner if they know the breading of the horse you want to buy, if its only got grey on one side of its parents then there should be less likelyhood of it developing problems.

I brought an andalusian filly at five months old, she was then black but with a grey dam and a black sire, she is slowly going grey now at 3 years old, however, she has now had an accident and will not be able to be ridden, so melanomas is the least of my worries.

If you like the horse, buy it for its character, comformation and temperament, its colour should be incidental.

best of luck
 
I think the percentage of greys who develop melanomas is around 90% if I remember correctly what my vet told me. All my horses are grey, one, my 30yo Anglo has had a melanoma under her tail since she was around 7, no more appeared until her mid twenties and she now has several - she is 30, retired and has had them all her life. Sirena has melanomas under her tail and I just watch them, her father was put down in his mid 20s because of them, she is now 12. My other two 6yo and yearling appear for now to be clear of them.

I personally don't think they are a real problem unless they are somewhere like the throat, for instance when they can obstruct feeding etc, and you would be very unlucky to get one there, although I know it does happen.

Definitely would not let it put me off greys tho!
 
I have a grey Arab gelding, now aged 10, who has two grey parents - and as far as I know neither of the parents (sire now in his 20s and dam in her late teens) has ever had melanomas and my boy shows no signs yet.

Something will go wrong with most horses at some time, and I think the risk of melanomas is just one of those things.
 
I would love another grey, my best horses have been that colour. My vet says that if they do get melanomas, they will probably die/be put down due to something else first so i wouldn't worry.
 
SirenaXVI, thought you might be interested to hear that my girl has an enormous melanoma under her neck, has had since early teens I think. It is about rugby ball sized, very noticeable yet- touch wood- has never caused any problems (other than getting neck hoods to fit!). A vet once remarked that it isn't as bad a place as people assume because there is room for it to grow..
 
Melanomas are just a type of tumour (melanin is, to put it simply, what colours the skin) - they can be malignant or non-malignant, present only on the skin or internally. In other words, not every horse that has a lump necessarily has an invasive form of cancer.

I believe the feeling is now most if not all grey horses have a melanoma or two somewhere, regardless of whether you notice it or not. Whether the tumour causes a problem or not relies on too many factors to say. Also, there are treatments, most notably Cimetadine, for aggressive melanomas.

Grey is not even technically a colour, it's a mutation overlaying a genetic colour. (Which is why grey horses are often born a solid colour and lighten over time.)
 
You are quire right there TarrSteps, it is a build up of melanim that causes melanomas, the majority are benign and will only cause problems when they grow aggressively.

ALL grey horses are born the colour they would have been if they had not inherited the grey gene from one or both of their parents.
 
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