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Grey
Written by Equine Color
Grey is an ongoing process of depigmentation of the colored hairs.
It is sometimes referred to as a pattern, which is incorrect. Grey is a
modifier, which would be more accurate. Grey slowly removes the pigment
from the base color, other modifiers (such as
Mealy & Sooty)
and dilution genes (such as Cream &
Dun) that make up the original color of the horse.
Grey has the unique ability to mask everything including any
Pinto or Appaloosa
patterns. No color is safe when Grey is present, as all horses that
carry the Greying gene will end up a shade of grey or
white. For this reason some breeders do not like
to have mares or
stallions in their breeding
herd.
Grey is dominant, meaning, the horse must have at least one Grey parent
to be Grey and if a horse has Grey it will be shown physically.
Homozygous Greys do occur, the offspring of such horses will always go
Grey.
Many think that Grey is the most dominant color or it is the strongest
dominant gene. This is incorrect, Grey is not more dominant than any
other dominant color or pattern gene - all dominant genes are equally
dominant. Grey seems to be a "very strong" gene, only because it removes
all physical affects of other color factors. This does not however mean
that it removes the genes that causes colors and patterns. It also
doesn't mean that a horse is going to be more likely to pass along the
Grey gene than the dominant gene for Bay,
Silver or Cream,
ect.
At times, Grey is also incorrectly referred to as a color. While
somewhat correct, it can be confusing because all Grey horses have a
base pigment of either red or black and depending on what other genes
are present all Grey horses were another color at birth. Figuring out
the base color of a Grey horse can be very time consuming and some very
surprising foal colors can be seen
from Grey parents. Some think that all Grey horses start out being
Black. This is a myth. Any colored or patterned
horse can go Grey, from Black to
Cremello.
Some Grey horses also undergo a progressive depigmentation of the skin.
When in the early stages of depigmentation this causes a mottling that
is similar to the mottling associated with the
Appaloosa patterns.
There are several different stages to the greying process and each
individual horse is different when it comes to the speed of this
process. Some Arabians
tend to go grey very quickly, while some
Percherons usually grey
at a more leisurely pace. The greying can even start in the womb so a
horse can be born "Grey".
Foals that will grey out are
usually born the "adult" version of the color or a very deep, rich
color. For example: Bay
foals that will not grey usually
have light legs that shed out black with the
first foal coat shedding. But a Bay
foal that will grey usually has
black legs at birth.
In most cases the first signs of greying are usually "goggles" around
the eyes and on the face but sometimes the greying starts at the other
end of the foal. White hairs may start showing up very early in the
foals life, even a few days or
weeks after birth.
Grey occurs in almost every breed, those that it does not occur in are
those that have been selectively bred to a narrow or specific color
range, such as the Friesian,
Cleveland Bay,
Suffolk Punch and
Haflinger. In other
breeds such as the
Andalusian, Grey is very common. In some breeds Grey occurs, but is
very rare, with only a few individuals existing in the world, such as
the Morgan.
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Steel or Iron Grey
This term is used to describe horses that are just starting
the greying process. The mare to the left was born in 2000, the
photo shows her as a yearling. As you can see her face is what's
showing the most lightening from the greying gene.
Some Steel Grey horses have almost a bluish tint to their
body and are sometimes called Grullo. The light head and lack of
primitive markings are just a couple of factors that prove that
this is not a case of a horse with the Dunning gene.
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Irish Draft
Early Dappling Stage
©Encyclopedia of the Horse
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Dapple Grey
This the second stage in the greying process and probably the
most common term used when describing Grey.
The ages of the horses in the photos are unknown but usually
a horse starts to dapple early on, in the late Steel Grey stage
and progressively gets lighter and the dapples get more
pronounced as the horse ages. |
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Lusitano
Mid Dappling Stage
©Encyclopedia of the Horse
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Dappling usually occurs very heavily from the ages of four to
12, but of course the ages would depend on the speed at which a
particular horse is greying.
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Boulonnais
Late Dappling Stage
©Encyclopedia of the Horse
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©Equine Color
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Fleabitten Grey
This term describes horses that have small red or black (or
both) dots on their body. Sometimes these dots occur only in
certain areas and other times they cover the entire horse.
On some horses fleabites occur as the horse progressively
fades and on others they begin to show up after the horse has
faded to the point of loosing all pigment.
Some believe that these spots are a sign of what the base
color is, while others disagree with this. Sufficient evidence
has not been documented to determine whether this is a reliable
way to determine base color or not. |
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Lipizzan
©Encyclopedia of the Horse
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White Grey
This term describes horses who have completed the greying
process. All pigment in the hair, including that in his mane,
tail and legs has been removed. The darkness of the muzzle is
just the skin. |
Rose Grey
Also called "Arabian Grey", Rose Grey is a term used for
horses that have a Bay or
Chestnut base coat. This shade is not
limited to the Arabian breed, any breed that has the Greying
gene has the ability to have Rose Grey horses. The genetic
control is also the same as a "regular" Grey horse, it's just
the base color that differs, causing a "Rose" colored tint to
the body.
The filly to the left was born in April 2001 and is a
weanling in the photo. She was born Chestnut. |
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| Unusual Markings and Spots |
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The Tetrarch
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Tetrarch Spots
There is no formal name for these unusual spots that appear
on Grey horses. Most people associate them with the
Thoroughbred
stallion, The Tetrarch. It's unknown exactly what causes this
spotting, whether it is a separate genetic factor or if it's
something that is unique to Greying horses. As of this date this
unique spotting has been seen in
Thoroughbreds and
Akhal-Tekes.
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Desert Victory
Crabbet Bred
Arabian
Courtesy of
WBockman |
Blood Marks or Bloody Shoulder
This is a rare effect that usually happens in the
Arabian
breed, but can occur in any breed that has the greying gene in
it's gene pool.
Blood marks are basically a very large concentration of
fleabites in a particular area of the horse, that can enlarge as
the horse ages. These horses are sometimes referred to as a
"Bloody Shouldered Grey".
The painting on the bottom left is John Wootton's picture of
Lord Oxford's Bloody-Shouldered
Arabian, a Grey with a dark
"Roan" stain. It was suggested that these markings were caused prenatally by an accident to the horse's dam. We know now that
this is just a concentration of fleabites. |
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