# Greying out question...



## Rowzy (Mar 1, 2010)

My mare, Gypsy, is a grey arab (no papers but she appears to be small pure arab) with a bay base. However she is 10 years old, and in the 5 years that I've had her coat color has barely changed at all. Her legs have gotten lighter, the left front used to have a kind of salt and pepper look, while now its almost completely grey up to the knee. Also her other legs have spots of grey in them as well now. She does tend to get lighter in the winter and shed out to be darker in the summer. I was told once that most horses, if they were going to grey out would be almost completely grey by the time they are 10, or atleast much more grey then Gypsy is now... Is she slow at greying out or is there something I'm missing? Also what would you call her coat color? If I just say 'grey' most people think something more like the color of my gelding. I sometimes say a rose grey, but I thought that was just greying chestnuts.

Here is the first picture I can find of her taken spring or summer 5 years ago. Its bad quality, but atleast you can sort of see the coat color...:









And then a picture taken last winter:










And a picture taken this summer (couldnt find any pictures of her standing still, sorry):


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

Every horse greys out at a different rate. I went to go see some Quarter Horse stallions near where I live, and one of them was a 10 year old Grey, but he was still very dark. Some go "white" some become flea bitten, and some never completely grey out, and instead retain some darker varnish looking sections. Here's a picture of the stallion I'm talking about. Grey is grey, now as she sheds out and goes through shades of lightening, people call the different stages different names, like dapple grey, rose grey, steel grey. Typically you would only get a rose grey stage with a horse that has a chestnut base, steel would be black ect. She is very cute though.
http://www.horseforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=46604&stc=1&d=1290052833


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Very cute horse! She does look to be most if not all Arabian...

The greying issue is unique to each animal, just like people. Most of the horses that grey early seem to be QH types & other cold-blooded breeds. Arabs & Arab crosses often can turn later. Lippizons tend to grey late too...one of the riders from the Spanish Riding School told me all the white stallions are in their twenties. 

Enjoy the color while it lasts!


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## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

She's really pretty, I've been into Arabians all my life, they're the best!

She's a rose grey..... looks as if she may have been born a bay, then greyed out, seeing as she has the black points. One of my favorite shades of grey! They first horse I ever showed was a rose grey Arabian that looked a lot like your mare.

Some horses seem to grey out very quickly, while others are still rather dark even at 8 to 10 years of age. I have a friend who has an Arabian mare that is 8 years old now and a very dark black-grey yet.


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## Haley (Aug 18, 2009)

Not gonna lie, she is the slowest horse to grey out that I've EVER heard of. How very, very unusual!


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