# Graying out, i figure this will be interesting to show.



## whiskeynoo (Mar 17, 2010)

So basically my cousins boyfriend bought Rocky from my dad (thank god as my dad shouldn't be allowed to own horses but i won't go in to that)
Anyways i have photos of rocky growing and his colour changes, His dam is an appaloosa and his sire is a dark bay tb x cob.
Rocky has just turned 5 (i think, could be 6) So what do you guys think, potentially turning to white gray? the most noticeable colour change is on his face. Feel free too post you're own graying out horses would love too see it.


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## TamaraB (Nov 17, 2010)

That is my favorite color horse. I had a mare that color when I was in high school. I bought her when she was 3 and sold her at 5 so I didn't get to see her color change but imagine she is very light by now. She would be about 17-18 now.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Yes he will eventually grey to white IMPO.


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## jyuukai (Apr 19, 2011)

If I'm not mistaken all greys go white with time.


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## Beauseant (Oct 22, 2010)

My gray 6 yr. old OTTB::
























His body is very dark so it'll take him a while to turn white.:lol:


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Lenox, 12 yrs old


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

i think she means if it will be more of a horse with flea bites or pure white or something.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

All greys go white with time or some develop fleabitten coats but its hard to know which for sure.

I'm not a grey fan, but I must say it has been interesting watching our chestnut tobiano foal turn different types of grey as he ages. He is 6 years old this year and it wouldn't surprise me if he was pure white by the time he was 10.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Homozygous gray horses are far more likely to end up pure white. Heterozygous gray horses are far more likely to end up with a large number of fleabitten specks.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Until they isolate the gene causing flea bitten, then I think it is premature to say that. There is so much more going on with grey - how do full siblings grey at different rates etc. 

Before the test for grey was developed, it was believed that homozygous greys always greyed faster than heterozygous greys. That has been proven wrong since the grey gene has been isolated.

Off the top of my head, the only tested grey horse I could think of was Winner from True Colors. He looks flea bitten, and is homozygous.


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## HowClever (Feb 16, 2010)

Semi-related, possibly dumb, question.

Is it possible for a horse to develop more "flea bites" as they age? My boy had a handful of flea bites when I first got him, but I swear with each shed he is getting more and more.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Yes, this seems to be the pattern. More as they age.


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## HowClever (Feb 16, 2010)

Glad I am not completely insane then. Thanks Chiilaa.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Chiilaa said:


> Yes, this seems to be the pattern. More as they age.


That's good to know. I had always heard that they get whiter with age. So I assumed that meant the flea bits went away too, but then someone else told me they got more flea bits as they age, and I was kind of like "huh?" Because I had never heard that before. So it's neat to hear someone else say that. :lol:

I've had two adult grays, and now my (almost) yearling is going gray too. I think he will be a slow color changer, based on his Mom, and that he seems to be changing rather slowly thus far.

His momma is 17 and still has a few dapples here and there.  

The two adult grays I've had (his mom and an Arabian) I haven't been able to tell if they were getting more flea bits or not. The Arabian didn't have a ton of them, and I've only had momma mare for about 1 1/2 years. 

So here is my 17 yr old Fox Trotter and her graying baby. You really can't even tell the baby is graying except for the close-ups. No one ever believes he's a gray in photos. I guess I wouldn't either, except in person he has all these funny white hairs. :lol:


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I've owned a grand total of 1 gray horse in my life. My Dad used to have one named Frosty, but she was in her late 20s when I was born and died just a few years after. She was completely white by that time though.

My guy Dobe was born buckskin, but by the time we got him as a 3 year old, he had turned to a dark gray.

This is the earliest picture we have of him. Sorry it's such poor quality, it was scanned off of a polaroid that was taken in the spring of '05 when he was 3.









Then as a 4 year old.









Then as a 5 year old.









6 years old.









7 years old









8 years old.









And this year at 9. 









He seems to be turning white fairly quickly now. I don't know if it is just the fact that he is getting whiter and that makes them easier to see or whether he really is getting more fleabites. Since they are yellow, they are hard to see unless he's really clean and white anyway.


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## whiskeynoo (Mar 17, 2010)

great photos smrobs! they really show the colour change!


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Chiilaa said:


> Until they isolate the gene causing flea bitten, then I think it is premature to say that. There is so much more going on with grey - how do full siblings grey at different rates etc.
> 
> Before the test for grey was developed, it was believed that homozygous greys always greyed faster than heterozygous greys. That has been proven wrong since the grey gene has been isolated.
> 
> Off the top of my head, the only tested grey horse I could think of was Winner from True Colors. He looks flea bitten, and is homozygous.


The original gray horse study noted the correlation between degree of fleabitten-ness and heterozygousity.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Eep! Smrobs, 3 year old Dobe looks like just a little guy. Haha.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Po, he was :lol:. I swear he was one of the ugliest, scrawniest, little blown out things I had ever seen. I never imagined that he would bulk up and get pretty like he did.


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## equus717 (Aug 20, 2009)

I have a gray mare and she produced her first gray. She has produced 3 other foals but QT is the only foal that will gray out. Here are her pics.

QT (Pocos Impressive QT)

The day she was born.










1 month old.










4 months old










6 months old










8 months old










1 year old










15 months old now


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## Deerly (Apr 18, 2010)

So interesting! Thanks to everyone who posted photos throughout the years.

I have a 9 y/o (as of March 31st this year) FB grey who looks almost entirely white until you get up close and see he's got some fleabitten freckles on his face and neck. I've only seen one photo of him a bit younger under saddle but he looked nearly completely white then too! I guess he must have lost his color pretty early!

My palomino gelding was born completely chestnut then shedded out to an almost cremelo light pally and now is a nice yellow gold palomino who can get very dark gold during the summer.


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## CopperHorse (Mar 29, 2009)

I hope you don't mind my adding my boy in here since he is a grey/white he is getting a lot more flea bitte.

I don't have quite as many pics but his color from birth until now at 8 years old he is a totally different horse!!


First two pics are him as a foal, when he was halfway greyed out he was about 4 months old, and then the last pic is him last year.


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## whiskeynoo (Mar 17, 2010)

Great pictures copperhorse, it's really cool how he's grayed out


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## CopperHorse (Mar 29, 2009)

whiskeynoo said:


> Great pictures copperhorse, it's really cool how he's grayed out


Thank you, he's my baby, lol. I blame all his coloring out on his momma, she is part Percheron. He was my perfect black Appaloosa that I always wanted, lol then he grayed which I knew he would.


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## dirtymartini (Aug 9, 2010)

wow, copper, I would never believe he was the same horse! he is GORGEOUS! Well, he was gorgeous before....but he is a handsome dude.

Smrobs-LOVED the progesssion pics! I posted about this topic on this forum not too long ago, my thread is probably on this page or the second page now. I really like the 6 year old picture. What a beautiful picture of him being ridden.

Here is a 2 1/2 year old filly. I was told she will grey out eventually...eventually become pure white. I love the color she is now. Anyway, she has the cutest white cowlick under her belly...a good sized swirl of white hair. I always wonder if that is some sort of "sign" about her whiteness to be...


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## dirtymartini (Aug 9, 2010)

ok, here she is! Sorry, forgot how to post pics, I guess..


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## CopperHorse (Mar 29, 2009)

Thanks dirtymartini, I love my boy either way, but I really loved his foal coat.
I love all the pics of the horses, they are all beautiful.


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## sarahver (Apr 9, 2010)

I love the greys! All the photos posted are beautiful.

I swore I would never own a grey horse, then I met Angel. My once in a lifetime TB mare that I sadly left behind in Oz. For anyone who knows their Aussie racehorses she is by Rancho Ruler and out of Heavenly Steps.

All that breeding did nothing for her on the track, but did make for a nice and solidly built TB that took me to many wins and placings in eventing/SJ.

Here she is when she was 4yo:









As a 5yo:








As a 10 yo:








At 14 years young:








Last Aussie winter just after she turned 15:








Still clutching onto those last few dapples!! As for the fleabites, it seems the more her dapples disappeared, the more fleabites appeared.


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## aneternalflame (May 25, 2009)

He's cute! So his dam is a grey Appaloosa? Sad that she lost her color!


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

aneternalflame said:


> He's cute! So his dam is a grey Appaloosa? Sad that she lost her color!


She said the dam was half Percheron... No way she could have been registered ApHC with draft blood.


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## aneternalflame (May 25, 2009)

NdAppy said:


> She said the dam was half Percheron... No way she could have been registered ApHC with draft blood.


Where? It says in the OP:


> So basically my cousins boyfriend bought Rocky from my dad (thank god as my dad shouldn't be allowed to own horses but i won't go in to that)
> Anyways i have photos of rocky growing and his colour changes, His dam is an *appaloosa* and his sire is a dark bay tb x cob.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

aneternalflame said:


> Where? It says in the OP:


Hmm well it would be interesting to know who she was talking to as right above her CopperHorse was posting about her black appy that greyed and copper said this -



CopperHorse said:


> Thank you, he's my baby, lol. I blame all his coloring out on his momma, she is part Percheron. He was my perfect black Appaloosa that I always wanted, lol then he grayed which I knew he would.


That is where my comments about being percheron came in.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Ok confusion here.

OP's horse is the Appy x TB cross

Copper's horse is the Appy x Perch cross


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Doesn't take much to confuse me some days! :rofl:


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Isn't it morning over there? That's excuse enough for me... lol


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Yep it's morning. About 9:20 where I am at. I am soooo not a morning person! lol


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

I hear that lol. I don't even have a good reason to get up in the morning - no ponies  It's the kids that get me up at sparrow's fart lol.


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## CopperHorse (Mar 29, 2009)

NdAppy said:


> She said the dam was half Percheron... No way she could have been registered ApHC with draft blood.



Looks as though the confusion was already cleared up, but just in case:

No my boy is not registered appy, ApHC would not allow draft crosses. Besides he is even more of a "mutt" then that, his sire is a Pintaloosa 
(appaloosa X paint).

So he has a lot of mixed breeding in him.


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