# Greying or Roaning?



## kricket (Apr 1, 2015)




----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

I would say grey. One parent would have to be roan for it to be roan.


----------



## EponaLynn (Jul 16, 2013)

Agreed, especially if that grey horse beside her is her momma!


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> I would say grey. One parent would have to be roan for it to be roan.


To add to this...

Horses don't "roan out" unless they have sabino, which does weird things anyway. They are either born roan or they are not born roan.


----------



## kricket (Apr 1, 2015)

That's not her mama that's her half sister
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Was one of the parents grey?


----------



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Does her face/head have white hairs showing up too?


----------



## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

What colors are the parents? To be grey, you need a grey parent, o be roan, you need a roan parent, neither skips generations or pops out of nowhere. If the white hairs are all over the face, you have a grey foal who had to have gotten the gene from a grey parent.

Edit: as an added side note, the first post calls the foal a colt and a female... Personal pet peeve when "colt" is used to describe any gender of foal... Foal is a baby horse, colt is a young male and filly is a young female. Calling a young horse a colt implies that they are male ;-)


----------



## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

Looks to be a grey. Do you have a photo of the horse's face/head? Roans have dark heads, and greys tend to grey out first on their face.


----------



## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> To add to this...
> 
> Horses don't "roan out" unless they have sabino, which does weird things anyway. They are either born roan or they are not born roan.


Some roans aren't born looking roan, and it usually takes a shed or two for it to come in. I personally haven't heard of anyone referring to horses with sabino "roaning out", they just appear roan. Usually that's in reference to varnish roans since that's progressive, while regular roans change seasonally.


OPs horse looks to be grey, but pictures of the head and tail would help answering that too.


----------



## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Bridgertrot said:


> Some roans aren't born looking roan, and it usually takes a shed or two for it to come in. I personally haven't heard of anyone referring to horses with sabino "roaning out", they just appear roan. Usually that's in reference to varnish roans since that's progressive, while regular roans change seasonally.
> 
> 
> OPs horse looks to be grey, but pictures of the head and tail would help answering that too.


Sabinos can "roan out" to some extent. Random white hairs appear scattered around and change in amount from one shed to the next. A breeding stock paint mare I owned had signs of sabino in the behavior of her white socks but also had an increase of random white hairs on her solid body (noticeable enough that I teased my husband about the increase because he liked strawberry/red roans and it looked like my mare was trying hard to become one ). 

Also, not all roans have a solid head and/or legs, there are some very expressive roans out there with roaning on the head and/or legs which is not due to also having grey or varnish roan. Just as there are many greys who don't get a light bottomed tail or grey appearing in their mane/tail until they are 5 years or older. 

The biggest help to knowing what the foal's color is would be to know the parent's colors ;-)


----------



## kricket (Apr 1, 2015)

Her mama is bay her dad is grey but was black. She does have a white star on her face


----------



## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

kricket said:


> Her mama is bay her dad is grey but was black. She does have a white star on her face
> View attachment 703314


So the answer is: she is also a grey ;-)


----------



## kricket (Apr 1, 2015)

Just went threw her mother's pedigree she don't have roan in her. Of that helps any.


----------



## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

kricket said:


> Just went threw her mother's pedigree she don't have roan in her. Of that helps any.


With both gray and roan one of the PARENTS has to BE gray or roan for the foal to exhibit the trait. Going through the pedigree past the parents wont' be of much help as it can't skip generations. Plus, in my experience colors listed in horse registries are frequently wrong. My very obviously bay horse was registered as a chestnut. His dad was a buckskin, and registered as a grulla. It made no functional difference in our lives, but does point out that simply looking through colors on pedigrees can unfortunately be quite misleading. 

So, if the mom is gray then there's a 50% chance that the foal will gray out. Same applies to roan, but (unless I missed it) you didn't mention if either parent is roan.


----------



## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

DuckDodgers said:


> With both gray and roan one of the PARENTS has to BE gray or roan for the foal to exhibit the trait. Going through the pedigree past the parents wont' be of much help as it can't skip generations.


Except in the case where gray may be hiding some other gene. _Theoretically_ the gray sire could also be carrying roan, and the foal could get the roan gene but not the gray gene. I don't think that's the case here, but it's still a possibility! ;-)

ETA- the foal looks buckskin from these photos (though admittedly they're not great photos). If OP's information is correct on the parents colors, sire would have been born smoky black to produce a dilute foal!


----------



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Looks sooty brown that is going gray to me.


----------



## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

verona1016 said:


> Except in the case where gray may be hiding some other gene. _Theoretically_ the gray sire could also be carrying roan, and the foal could get the roan gene but not the gray gene. I don't think that's the case here, but it's still a possibility! ;-)
> 
> ETA- the foal looks buckskin from these photos (though admittedly they're not great photos). If OP's information is correct on the parents colors, sire would have been born smoky black to produce a dilute foal!


Either way, the one of the parents HAS to exhibit the gene for the foal to exhibit it- for both gray and roan. It is definitely possible for a horse to exhibit both gray and roan coloration/patterning and for the gray to mask the roaning's appearance, but that doesn't mean that the trait isn't still present in the horse.


----------



## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

QtrBel said:


> Looks sooty brown that is going gray to me.


Ah you're right, I missed the latest picture somehow last time I looked at the thread  Looks brown to me as well.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------

