# Is my chestnut foal turning grey?



## Leisa (Apr 6, 2019)

My filly is 7 months old, thoroughbred, chestnut mother, grey stallion. I looked for all the signs when she was born to try & get an idea of whether she would turn grey & I was convinced that she would stay chestnut.

Her winter coat is just starting to come in & I can see a lot of pure white hairs through it & just at the point of her flank she’s looking grey 😱

I guess it looks like she might turn grey after all? What are your thoughts?


----------



## Leisa (Apr 6, 2019)

Ok, I'm not getting an option to edit so that I can update my post that now seems to have errors in it and I wanted to add some photos - there is no edit button, it has disappeared :-( Newbie here, sorry...


OK, somehow I got to edit this post and now my photos are all sideways.... I give up - I'm not cut out for this forum thing!


How do I delete this thread?


----------



## Leisa (Apr 6, 2019)

And I'm trying again, LOLOLOL. At least I'm keeping myself amused


----------



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I would,say she is going to,grey out. 

Usually the most telling is around the eyes. Difficult with winter coat though.


----------



## Leisa (Apr 6, 2019)

Foxhunter said:


> I would,say she is going to,grey out.
> 
> Usually the most telling is around the eyes. Difficult with winter coat though.


Thank you for replying! I can’t see anything at all around her eyes - she’s suddenly developed a lot of white hairs on her face but eyelashes are red & no white hairs. She does have a lot of white around her irises though - I’m not sure if that is significant?


----------



## Leisa (Apr 6, 2019)

Nothing around the eyes, but lots of white hairs starting to show down her face.


----------



## 3Horses2DogsandaCat (Apr 19, 2016)

I thought gray for sure until I saw the last picture with her eyes in it.


----------



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

The easiest way to tell is to clip around her eyes and see if she's got goggles.


----------



## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

If she was a grey, the hair around her eyes and lashes would be the same color as the hair on the picture of her flank. Usually, within a week or so of birth, they rub off the hair around their eyes while nursing, and the grey hair shows up.


----------



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Not necessarily! 
One filly we bred was dark bay/brown, she didn't decide to go grey until she was coming five years old. 

Had to get her passport changed.


----------



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Foxhunter said:


> Not necessarily!
> One filly we bred was dark bay/brown, she didn't decide to go grey until she was coming five years old.
> 
> Had to get her passport changed.


I had a foal born a deep liver chestnut without a single grey/white hair. He never developed his grey until he was coming 7 and then he got some grey patches. He was fully grey within 2 years after that.


----------



## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

Some of those greys can be a sneaky lot.
I would think with grey hairs in the coat she's headed in that direction. Might have to wait for the spring shed-out to be sure (if then).


----------



## Leisa (Apr 6, 2019)

Dustbunny said:


> Some of those greys can be a sneaky lot.
> I would think with grey hairs in the coat she's headed in that direction. Might have to wait for the spring shed-out to be sure (if then).



I think you may be right - she was laying on the ground yesterday and had the underside of her belly exposed and up between her back legs around her umbilicus is very grey! Oh my goodness, I was so sure she would stay chestnut, as some others have mentioned there are often signs around birth and the first week that will point in that direction. And others have mentioned how sneaky they can be and show no signs at all of greying until several years old. I agree, I think we'll get a much better picture of what's going to happen when she sheds her winter coat next spring. We've only just started Autumn here in Australia so we've got months to wait, but I think that's when she'll show. 



Here is a photo of a weanling and a yearling from the same sire - she may go this way.


----------



## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Do you have any photos of her as a newborn?


Her buff colored legs in the foal pic you did post makes me lean towards not-grey, but a newborn-but-dry pic would be better.


----------



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

The lighter color on the underside, legs and muzzle are a part of foal camo.


----------

