# Roaning in Thoroughbreds?



## CheyAut (Nov 26, 2008)

Lots of horses have odd roaning areas here and there.

There are a VERY FEW RARE TBs that are true/classic roan, but this girl is not one of them.


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## QHDragon (Mar 6, 2009)

I have seen a couple of roan TBs. Here is a really old thread I made asking about the TB I owned at the time roaning, and somebody posted some good explanations as well as a picture of a road TB: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeds/roan-tb-33330/


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

CheyAut said:


> Lots of horses have odd roaning areas here and there.
> 
> There are a VERY FEW RARE TBs that are true/classic roan, but this girl is not one of them.


FYI-just for explanation purposes...I was not saying that she was a roan TB...I said she had an AREA that resembled roaning...

Thanks for the link QH!


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

TB's do have Sabino and Rabicano roaning. That is not to be confused with a true roan though.


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

Thank you...

She is for sure not a true roan, hands down.

I just have never personally seen a roaning type pattern anywhere on a TB, which is why I was curious.

Hopefully I will be picking her up on Thursday and I will be able to get a good close up shot of the area where the "roaning" is.


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## Supermane (Sep 23, 2007)

This is the closest to true roaning I could find on a thoroughbred


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## VelvetsAB (Aug 11, 2010)

_I think it is possible that it is just her sock. I've seen a few horses, although not TB's have a sock that is partially roaned out and not a full sock._


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## kat44bg (Sep 2, 2010)

I see what your saying. We had a tb that had the same roaning patterns. As he aged it got more and more too.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

*facepalm* I meant to comment on the roan sock.

Kind of looks to me like there was trying to be a sock there, but the mare has a white suppression gene which isn't quite wiping it out. Kind of the same idea when a horse has ermine spots on a sock.


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

NdAppy said:


> *facepalm* I meant to comment on the roan soak.
> 
> Kind of looks to me like there was trying to be a sock there, but the mare has a white suppression gene which isn't quite wiping it out. Kind of the same idea when a horse has ermine spots on a sock.


I think you are 100% correct 

I will make SURE to post a pic in this thread as soon as I can get one tomorrow!


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Yay! Can't wait for new pics.


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

DubyaS6 said:


> It was more prominent at the coronet band and then kinda faded out up near the stifle.


That's a sign of sabino.


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

ponyboy said:


> That's a sign of sabino.


That would be really cool...if one day I decided to breed her for some reason (once again I will state that this is not likely).

Horses can be tested for this gene, correct? Does anyone have any more information regarding that?

Edited to add...her Dam has gr/rn next to her name in the pedigree...does this stand for gray/roan? Maybe her Dam was roan? Unfortunately I have no pictures of her...


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## Supermane (Sep 23, 2007)

DubyaS6 said:


> That would be really cool...if one day I decided to breed her for some reason (once again I will state that this is not likely).
> 
> Horses can be tested for this gene, correct? Does anyone have any more information regarding that?
> 
> Edited to add...her Dam has gr/rn next to her name in the pedigree...does this stand for gray/roan? Maybe her Dam was roan? Unfortunately I have no pictures of her...


It does stand for gray/roan, but I'm guessing your horse is very minimum sabino if anything. The only true roans in TB appear to come from the brindle stallion Catch a Bird; the others are rabicano or sabino.

Testing is available for colors, but I'm sure if it would be worth it.


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

My TB has a lot of white hairs throughout his body and seems to be getting more. I've wondered if he may be roaning out or something? Very interesting thread.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Carleen how old is your boy and where are the white hairs?


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## CheyAut (Nov 26, 2008)

There is a teat for ONE of the sabino genes, but your horse would likely test negative for that one. Doesn't/ ean she's not sabino. IMO, that test is a waste of money since a negative result doesn't mean not sabino.


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

CheyAut said:


> There is a teat for ONE of the sabino genes, but your horse would likely test negative for that one. Doesn't/ ean she's not sabino. IMO, that test is a waste of money since a negative result doesn't mean not sabino.


Thanks for the advice...

I would just be curious, so not really worth it for me  

Just for kicks, I will post her pedigree. Her dam and granddam were both registered gr/ro...


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

Chiilaa said:


> Carleen how old is your boy and where are the white hairs?


He's 3, and they are mostly on his barrel, hindquarters and neck. I've only owned him for 5 months but I've noticed more and more since I bought him.

Here is a picture that shows it fairly well.


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## ptvintage (Feb 12, 2010)

I've been reading this thread with interest. I'm not sure if this is helpful for you, but since you were asking about gray/roan, I just bought a TB mare registered as gray or roan. Here is a picture of her coat. 
Summertime, before I bought her:









She looks more less bay and more gray to me now. Here's a picture from over the weekend, I don't have one without her coat on that shows the red hairs:









I don't know what any of those genetic terms mean at all.. but I did find the link from the other page on rare colors of TB's very interesting!


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

ptvintage said:


> I've been reading this thread with interest. I'm not sure if this is helpful for you, but since you were asking about gray/roan, I just bought a TB mare registered as gray or roan. Here is a picture of her coat.
> Summertime, before I bought her:
> 
> 
> ...


Very interesting! She is a pretty girl! Whats the time difference between those 2 pictures? If I read your post right, the first was this past summer?? She seems to have really grayed out or roaned out (whatever you want to call it) in a short period of time!


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## ptvintage (Feb 12, 2010)

The first picture was taken in August, the second one was taken this past weekend, on Dec 3rd. She's definitely changing colors! I'm excited to see if she'll get grayer or whiter (whatever the term for it is!). 

I looked up her bloodlines to see if she had Catch a Bird, and she did not. I looked more into it, looked up terms and I'm guessing she'd be called a rabicano. She seems to fit the discription of one. I'm not a color expert though, so I could be wrong on that.

Edited: actually... reading again I think I am wrong on that... I need to look at her again to determine it I think.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Not seeing any rabicano on your mare ptvintage. She looks to just be a grey with a bay base coat.


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## ptvintage (Feb 12, 2010)

Well, I'm not a color expert. I perfer to keep things simple... chestnut, bay, black, etc. I didn't even know some of these terms (like rabicano) existed before I found the horse forum. Her papers say gray or roan, so that's what I call her.


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## Haley (Aug 18, 2009)

VelvetsAB said:


> _I think it is possible that it is just her sock. I've seen a few horses, although not TB's have a sock that is partially roaned out and not a full sock._


I have seen this, as well.

edit: check out this mare's "roan sock"









ptvintage- your mare is definitely greying out.


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## QHDragon (Mar 6, 2009)

ptvintage said:


> I've been reading this thread with interest. I'm not sure if this is helpful for you, but since you were asking about gray/roan, I just bought a TB mare registered as gray or roan. Here is a picture of her coat.
> Summertime, before I bought her:
> 
> 
> ...


Oh, she is beautiful! Seems like a really fast transformation from being mostly bay to mostly gray. 

I have never seen a bay horse gray out, but I had heard of them. When I think of a horse graying out I always envision them starting out black.


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## CheyAut (Nov 26, 2008)

Ptvintage, definately a grey. I knew it from the first pic bevore I scrolled down to the second due to her tail.


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

Ok, I know this has been a LONG time coming, but I picked up Santana on Friday and she is officially mine!

*Disclaimer: I know her feet were long in these pictures, she has since been shod and all four feet look amazing 

Here are pictures of her right hind where her roan-ish area is:


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

Hmmm, I was perusing another thread and came across this information that I thought some of you may be interested in.

According to UC Davis (who performs many tests for color and genes):

Roan Zygosity Test 

Roan is a white patterning coat color trait of intermixed white and colored hairs in the body while the head, lower legs, mane and tail remain colored. Roan horses are born with the pattern, though it may not be obvious until the foal coat is shed. The white and colored hairs are evenly mixed in horses that inherit the classic Roan gene, which can differentiate this from several mimic patterns called *roaning*. Roaning patterns tend to be uneven in the distribution of white hairs and the inheritance of roaning has not been defined. The Roan gene is found in a variety of breeds such as Quarter Horse, Paints, Peruvian Paso, Paso Fino, Welsh Pony, Miniature and Belgian, *but not in Thoroughbreds* or Arabians.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

The roan they are referring to is the true roan (i.e. dark head and legs with a roaned body). 

There _are_ true roan TBs. They are only from the Catch A Bird line and there is not that many of them.


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