Turning Gray

[debbiesshelties]

How can you tell if a horse will turn gray? By what age will they start to turn?

Thanks, Debbie

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Normally (and you do realise there is no such thing as a "normal" Mini- right???

: )....but, normally horses are recognisable in their foal coats as Grey- they get"goggles" very early on.

There are, however, no hard and fast rules about the time they change, and "normally" does not mean it is cast in stone.

There does however, HAVE to be one parent who is Grey. (Or turning Grey!!)

:

 

[tifflunn]

rabbitsfizz- what are "goggles"?

Thanks Tiffany

 

[rabbitsfizz]

:lol: The grey starts showing round the eyes, causing "goggles"!!!

 

[tifflunn]

:bgrin Of Course!- Thank You :bgrin

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

Here is a filly "Crayonbox Ring Around the Rosie" aka Rhyme, who has the grey "goggles"

Same filly after clipping:

She is a roan with the grey gene, her dam is a true silver bay roan, her sire is a black leopard appaloosa who carries the grey gene.

My stallion Chips is 6 years old (photo in avatar) and only has a few white hairs mixed in the spots on his head. It was not obvious from birth that he was grey. He will most likely go grey very slowly, some horses grey quickly, others grey very slowly, depends on the horse and what other color genes they have at work.

Here is a foal photo of Chips:

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Appy patterns do seem to inhibit Grey and Roan- especially Roan- so this example is not completely typical.

I have to say all the ordinary Greys I have had, no Roan, no Appy to complicate things, have turned Grey almost in their first coat, I have never heard of one going solid until six or seven without turning, altho' I have heard of Appies doing this.

I would have expected Grey to affect the black spots on the coat of an Appy- has this horse actually had a solid Grey (ie non Appy) from a mare, or are you speculating??

 

[justaboutgeese]

I believe that the term goggles used by our learned English friend is what many of us refer to as the dappling hi lights that show up early in the horses coat. Seem like each country takes its own liberties with the Queens English.

 

[zacharyfarms]

Sorry, Vic, you are wrong

: on this one..Goggles has nothing to do with the dapples that you might see at some stages of greying. Goggles on the grey foal are exactly what we call them in the US also..greying circles close to and circling the eyes.

 

[KenBen]

I have 2 grey mares in my barn. All the foals from them have turned grey. The googles you talk about can be quite prominent . I have had some foals at one day old you could see grey hairs under the foal coats when you run your hand over them.

Ken

 

[Marion]

I have a grey mare that her father went white by his 9th year. Her full sister was white by her second year. She is still hanging in there with some grey but getting white. She had a chestnut pinto filly that was grey by her first shedding.

We sold a half sister to her that is still mostly solid black with grey specks. They are both 6 now.

 

[Minimor]

Here is a photo that shows the goggles rabbitsfizz referred to. This filly was born black but is going grey; right from birth you could see the grey coloring if you parted the hair on her croup. These photos were taken when she was just a few hours old, so her goggles were there right from the first.

And yes, we call them goggles here in Canada too!

 

[Sue_C.]

I would have expected Grey to affect the black spots on the coat of an Appy-

: Exactly so. That is one of the best ways to know if an appy has roaned, or greyed. A roaning appy who started out with a blanket or spots, will not lose those spots to the roaning process.

but, should that same appy turn grey intead...all upper body colour is typically lost.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Yippee a universal term!!! :aktion033:

Another thing to remember is that Silver Appears also to alter the speed at which a horse Greys out- Silver + Grey can often be born white and is usually snow white by a yearling. HB Egyptian King and his get (some of them) are a good example.

 

[billiethekid40]

I have heard also that horses who will turn grey are often born the "adult" version of a color. What I mean by that is that most often when a black or bay horse is born, their dark points are light in their foal coat for a while (making them look like the may even carry a silver gene when they do not). What I have heard is that instead of being born with a usual foal coat color, a horse with the greying gene would be born with the dark point already darkened. For example, instaed of a black horse being born that fuzzy grey color, they are born dark right from the start. Has anybody experienced this to be true?

 

[Wally]

Both these ponies are the same age!

This guy is 5, but he's more blue and white piebald, but the white grey was a very, very similar grubby colour at the same age.

 

[Tammie-C_Spots]

Research has shown that apps that are homozygous for black (having no "red" gene) tend to hold thier color longer often loosing the body coloring but retaining the spots till advanced ages. Many of the apps you see that seem to only have black spots in a blanket pattern but not throughout the body have shed the color off having most likely been born quite colored and turning white as time passes. Appy roaning can also do this but it tends to leave varnish marks on the horse (color on knees, facial bones ect) where a grey would also make those areas white. Distinguishing a appy roan from grey on a homozygous black appy is difficult- until a grey test is available it's speculation on those horses most of the time. As someone else stated though, one clue is one of the parents must be a grey. Unfortunately if the pedigree is mostly homozygous black or black apps it's very difficult to see.

Tammie

 

[debbiesshelties]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I was looking at a little filly and they said she is grey and white pinto.

She looks like a silver dapple pinto to me, but hey what do I know. I am waiting for pictures of the sire and dam.