# Roan or grey? Help!



## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Pictures?
Any horse with grey can grey out, so it might be possible that she was roan to start and then is greying out.
Key things to remember is that to be a roan, one of her parents will have had to be a roan. Also, roan on its own will NOT affect the mane, tail, lower legs or face (though it can spread a little into the lower cheeks, it will not show on the bridge of the face or the eyes).
Grey, however, is opposite and will usually show first in the mane, tail and face


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## jnieman (Feb 28, 2018)

I uploaded two photos of her and one of her sire. They're about a couple months old. She's gotten even creamier in her face and has black at the roots of her mane and tail. Along with a white base to her body coat. Neither parents were roan. Her mom was a bay and sire registered as grey.


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

jnieman said:


> I uploaded two photos of her and one of her sire. They're about a couple months old. She's gotten even creamier in her face and has black at the roots of her mane and tail. Along with a white base to her body coat. Neither parents were roan. Her mom was a bay and sire registered as grey.


I have no idea what she is except that she's adorable!


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## jnieman (Feb 28, 2018)

She's even cuter in person! She looks like a wooly mammoth right now but I'm so so anxious for her to shed out! You can't see it but her bottom lip is complete white


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## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

None of those colours are accurate. Sire isn't grey, looks more dunskin. Baby looks brownskin?


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## jnieman (Feb 28, 2018)

She is definitely more sorrel if anything right now. She has so many white hairs which is why they registered her roan I believe. I agree though, sire is definitely not grey!


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## jnieman (Feb 28, 2018)

Here's two more photos of sire


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

She looks like she's greying out to me.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

She looks chestnut to me


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## jnieman (Feb 28, 2018)

Her a day or two old


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## jnieman (Feb 28, 2018)

Here she is a day or two old


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

To me the sire looks dunskin turning grey and the baby looks chestnut turning grey.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I'd need closer pictures of sire but my initial impression is dunskin going grey. One picture legs look dark enough to possibly be black but baby pics are of a sorrel so I assume shadows for that other picture.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

QtrBel said:


> I'd need closer pictures of sire but my initial impression is dunskin going grey. One picture legs look dark enough to possibly be black but baby pics are of a sorrel so I assume shadows for that other picture.


If you look at the cornet line you can see that this baby is not bay. Unless the lighter creamy color on the cornet is dried mud or something. Pics are hard to see though, I had to zoom in on it.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Sire looks more like a very pale buckskin IMO. Slight possibility that he could be a dunskin but if so his markings are very diluted. 
Filly is red (sorrel, or chestnut, you can pick your term lol). Definitely not dun or carrying cream and honestly I think if you give it until this summer, you will have a better idea of color. To me it just looks like she's faded in areas, which foals are prone to doing in their first year.
Also, keep in mind that there are other genes besides grey & roan that will cause irregular white ticking. Sabino is a big one, and the filly could be carrying it. The sire looks like he might have it in his face, though the first pic is a little blurry to tell for sure..
It would be neat to see more pictures later on once she has shed out


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Foal is red going grey - her hyperpigmentation at birth and black muzzle are indicators.

Sire is also greying - note the light end to his tail in one of the pics.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

You can’t say the stallion is a dunskin from that picture. Greys can look buckskin/dun and any variation in between as they grey out to the uneducated eye. My bay and chestnuts as they grey out often look EXACTLY the same. I would guess he was a bay based grey (unless he had any TRUE dilute parents).

Both of these babies are at a slightly different spot of greying than he was. But as they got older, their dapples faded to what he looked like. 

Your baby is a chestnut going grey.


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## Fimargue (Jun 19, 2015)

Baby is going to be grey. My mare is dapple grey like the sire and more she ages, turning 12 this month, she seems to be getting more and bigger liver spots. And she was born black...

I hope she doesn't end up like this.

Has anyone seen an Arab like this before? I think this horse was well in her teens.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

^That's the "bloody shoulder" marking. Any grey (any breed) can show it and it can express anywhere not just like this (ex, small spot on chin). This mare is pretty classic in terms of the story (faithful steed carrying injured/dead master home) but it's really just a spot that can show up on a grey. I think you're dislike is a matter of preference. I haven't seen anything so extensive in person but know a few with smaller markings and it adds character 

Baby is definitely grey and unless sire is not sire we can assume he is grey. (Those pictures don't show anything either in terms of his base color or whether he is grey or not, as we are assuming he IS the sire let's just go with grey, which is definitely possible based on those pics).

As shown babies do not pop out of the womb white with flea bites! They can go through many interesting stages that mimic other colors.

Baby is definitely not roan.


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## Fimargue (Jun 19, 2015)

@Yogiwick, thank you! I have to read into it. I actually would absolutely take that mare, no problem, but I like mine the way she is now.  She is sort of silvery.

I would be quite pleased to have a collection of grey Arabs.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Oh I meant to add that I'm assuming the sire is pretty young still and that his grey color is still developing. Likely <10?


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

Yes, that mare has a bloody shoulder mark. Many of my greying babies you can tell and see the flea bites developing as they grey out. That first mare pictured went on to have extreme pretty and large flea bites, she was spectacular, but died quite young and you could just see them if you knew what you where looking for. Her sister is not quite as flea bitten, but has also been very obvious since she was 2 as she started greying and leaving the flea bites behind. Bloody shoulder marks are just HUGE mismarks/flea bites. And they can be anywhere... the face, anywhere on the body... multiples.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

I have a herd of greys. They are great fun to look at when they are clean. When I need to give them all baths at 4am for a competition, not so much.


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## Fimargue (Jun 19, 2015)

Dehda01 said:


> I have a herd of greys. They are great fun to look at when they are clean. When I need to give them all baths at 4am for a competition, not so much.


Jealous! But not so much about the second part. :lol:

So it seems it is possible for Talila's fleabites to get bigger eventually, there are some big ones in the shoulder area and big one in her face. I looked at the horses in her pedigree again and there are some horses with bloody shoulder marks from the sire line. And dapple greys with fleabites in general.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

My line of grey arabs flea bites stay the same size throughout their lives. They can get a few more over time, particularly with skin injuries. But most of my horses have the same freckles at 4, that they do at 20. Just more obvious. 

If they have a LOT of marks they come out with it... but can be most obvious in a short summer coat. I think similarly to freckled people. Our freckles are there all the time, but they can be more obvious some times if the year. When I am tan, my freckles are VERY OBVIOUS all over my face. I probably have more freckles than clear skin But in winter, they are not very obvious at all!!!


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I hope someday they will figure out what controls fleabites, though maybe that would spoil some of the fun.

Of our 4 greys, 1 is not fleabitten now at 18, nor has she ever been (base color chestnut). One was solid "white" until about 16, and now at 19 has a handful of bigger red fleabites spattered around his body (base color bay). Another, also 19, has been fleabitten forever, but is getting more and more fleabitten every year, to the point that we joke he he turning back to bay (his base color), with red fleabites on his body and black ones on his lower legs . The last, age 10, so far is not fleabitten (don't know his base color).

The super fleabitten one also has a blood mark.. which ironically has not changed much over the years. Go figure!


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

Both baby and sire are gray, baby will likely go through a lot of changes.


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## CamelBone (Mar 22, 2018)

Well, I have to agree, baby looking sorrel. But. Cute. So. Cute. I cannot get over how fluffy she looks!
Oh god, I need mine own horse and to stop living vicariously through other's horses.


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