# Born gray with a black hip. What color is he going to be?



## Remiel (Dec 31, 2012)

My foal is out of a black and white Overo mare and Friesian stallion. He was born gray over his entire body (I know that blacks are frequently born gray) with his left hip being black. He is now 8 months old and looks like he will be all black except that I am now seeing white hairs in his flank. Will he be Rabicano? I have never seen a foal born this color before.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

Honestly, I dont know. He is really neat looking. I would be interested in seeing photos of him as he grows and see what color he turns.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

He looks like a black foal. We couldn't tell you anymore about the white hairs without an updated picture though.


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Have you any pics of him now, at 8 months?


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## Remiel (Dec 31, 2012)

Here are a few pics of him. The first one is him at 3 months and you can see how he has faded in the sun with the dark spot still clearly visible. The next pictures are at 6 mos and it is getting harder to see the difference in color but the the black spot does not bleach out like the rest of him. Kind of hard to tell in pictures. This is when the white hairs started to appear in his flank, though they are few. When the winter coat came in there were a few more white hairs. We were thinking that he would be black on black but the the white hairs are throwing us.


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## Kayella (Feb 11, 2012)

Possibly chimeric? Definitely interesting how the black spot does not fade/bleach as the rest of him. I wouldn't be worried about the white hairs right now, that's a pretty common occurence. With rabicano you would see a large concentration of white hairs in the flank/barrel area with a "skunk" tail.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Random white hairs are normal. I highly doubt he is either chimeric or rabicano, just black. It's like the "bloody shoulder". It's just a concentration of colour genes in one area.
Cute, though!


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## Muppetgirl (Sep 16, 2012)

He is a lovely looking colt!


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

I assume he is or will be gelded so it'd be pointless to know as he wouldn't be able to breed, but I'd be curious if he has frame based on the size of his star.


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## Peppy Barrel Racing (Aug 16, 2011)

My friend has a Percheron quarter horse and paint cross that is all black but has large concentrations of black spots that don't color fade like your horse and when he was a foal he had similar dark markings like your colt. We joke that he's a black on black paint.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Handsome fellow for sure. Very neat markings


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## Remiel (Dec 31, 2012)

That's what we were thinking, black on black paint. He does, however, have gray in his pedigree. Guess we'll know more when he sheds out his winter coat. As for breeding him, we may because he will be registered with the Friesian Heritage Registry. We will have some dna color testing done on him.

Thanks everyone for your comments and have a Happy New Year!


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## MsBHavin (Nov 29, 2010)

I guess you'll have to explain what that registry is, and why he needs to be bred just because he's with that registry.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

He can only be gray if one of his parents are gray and you already said both if his parents are black. Two black parents can only produce black or chestnut.

And in the event that you do breed him for whatever reason, please test him for frame because nobody wants a completely preventable LWO foal.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Remiel said:


> As for breeding him, we may because he will be registered with the Friesian Heritage Registry. .


That is, by far, the oddest excuse I've heard for breeding.
I've had lots of stallion quality, CAHR registered geldings.


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## LuvMyPerlinoQH (Jun 21, 2011)

He's a nice colt I honestly just dont like crosses and really hate them being used as breeding horses its creating more grade horses , regardless of what ever fad registry will register them.


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## Remiel (Dec 31, 2012)

I compete in combined driving and my friend, and partner, are cross breeding Friesians with paints because Friesians have the movement and look that we want but lack the endurance for the marathon portion of the event. The paints add that endurance plus we are getting the addition of color. We are not breeding willy nilly. Our program is very selective and we have buyers on a waiting list. If we find a mare is not compatible we remove her from the program. This foal that we are discussing is this mare's 3rd foal. All 3 have been exceptional colts. I was personally hoping for a match to the first colt so that I would have a driving pair. Luckily they are almost a perfect match. As for breeding him, that all depends on his conformation and his personality,which so far is exceptional. We are testing for homozygous black without the red gene. His sire died this past summer due to colic and there is a lot of interest in his offspring. I am not saying that we will breed him but I am leaving my options open.


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## MsBHavin (Nov 29, 2010)

How much endurance do paint horses actually have? When I think of endurance horses I do not think of paints.


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## HorseLovinLady (Jul 18, 2011)

He looks black to me as well, would love to see some current pics of him. Cute colt too and welcome to the forum!! :smile:


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## FeatheredFeet (Jan 27, 2010)

I think he's just black. Nothing else going on except that he possibly carries frame. I'd certainly not breed him unless tested for it. I probably wouldn't breed him at all, since there are tons of crossbred Friesians about right now, from which you could choose. I saw him on youtube I think it was, and he was very unfriendly and bitey there. With what I saw, I'd be gelding him asap.
JMHO of course.

Lizzie


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## Remiel (Dec 31, 2012)

This discussion seems to be wandering off topic. My question was if anyone had ever seen this coloring before and what color I might expect him to be as we have asked dozens of people who have asked other people and the reply has always been 'never saw that before, interesting, let me know what color he turns out to be. Now I find myself defending my breeding program and my chosen equine disipline.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Unfortunately that is the hazard you have to deal with posting in a public forum. You are going to get opinions, more so when you mention breeding what is essentially a grade horse...


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