# Please help me clear this up once and for all, White or Grey?



## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

Yes and no. Yes and horse can be white, and yes it will have pink skin. And no, sort of, because if you genetically tested that horse it would test as bay, or brown, or palomino, or black, etc. In other words it's a colored horse covered in white! Personally, it's still a white horse to me, but I guess it just depends on who you are and what you want to think.

Gray is different, a white horse is born white, a gray horse is born colored and grays over time, some to the point of appearing completely white, but they will have dark skin.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Grey: 










White: 










Grey horses fade gradually to white over many years. "White" horses are born that way (although some will have a bit of colour along the topline). Greys have black skin, whites have pink skin. 

Both white and grey cover the base colour - so the horse is genetically bay or chestnut etc, with a blanket of white over them. Grey is caused by the grey gene, and white is caused by a pinto gene. Essentially, white horses are pintos with a huge white patch


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## horseNpony (Sep 27, 2013)

Ok, let me get this straight. A white horse is born white and has pink skin, a grey horse is born another colour and fades to grey, they also have dark skin. Wait, if both horses are just other colours with white/grey coats over them does that mean they arnt actually white/grey at all? No, now im very confused...


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

it is confusing.. think of it like this.. white is not a color more of a lack of color or pigment.
a white horse with pink skin and pink eyes is an Albino .. no pigment.
but there are white horses pink skin with blue or brown eyes. 
Look at the blaze or socks on your horse and you will see the diff in the skin color.


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## horseNpony (Sep 27, 2013)

Thanks everyone whos trying to help me, but i still cant get my head around this. Ugh, it seems like it should be something thats so easy to understand, but its not.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

Imagine it this way.

Grey is a horse of any colour, that slowly puts on a white coat that covers the underlying colour. It's like the horse then wears a white coat, but genetically it's original colour is the same. For example, a bay horse that goes grey has the genes for bay, AND the gene for grey.

White is like a big white spot on a pinto horse. Instead of covering a small amount of the horse, it covers the whole horse.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Informative thread! All white markings are caused by the various 'paint/pinto/whathaveyou' genes, right?

Chiila, that is such a beautiful horsie o.o I bet he sunburns terribly, though Dx


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Another white horse (excuse the filter).










Genetically, she's a bay. She carries either 2 or 3 different splash mutations (I cannot remember and can't find it anymore).


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## horseNpony (Sep 27, 2013)

None of the pictures are showing up for me, something's up with my internet 
I think i got this now, grey horses are other coloured horses with a grey gene that cause a grey coat over the top of their other coat. White horses are basically just the white bit of a pinto. 
I know i just keep asking questions but i have one more: why arnt white horses called pintos?


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Pinto technically means spotted. A white horse like the ones Chiilaa and I posted are one big spot. I saw a gelding for sale that the APHA registered as solid despite him being genetically bay but was completely white. Dumb. You _could_ call them pintos, but you'd get looked at like you grew two heads.

As for not seeing the pictures, google "Can't Hear Guns AQHA" and scroll down on the first link (KD Performance Horses).


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

stevenson said:


> it is confusing.. think of it like this.. white is not a color more of a lack of color or pigment.
> a white horse with pink skin and pink eyes is an Albino .. no pigment.
> but there are white horses pink skin with blue or brown eyes.
> Look at the blaze or socks on your horse and you will see the diff in the skin color.



Albino doesn't exist in horses. Albinism is a lack of pigment everywhere so for a horse to be an albino it would also have to have pink/red eyes.

The white horse pictured is a dominant white horse. It's one of the same genes that make white spots in paints/pintos except in this case it's expressing itself over the entire body of the horse.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## horseNpony (Sep 27, 2013)

I do remember reading somewhere that albino horses dont exist. I think i got this now, thanks everyone for your help


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