color question

[uwharrie]

One of the mare's I just purchased is listed as grey. however the breeder said she had begun to develop spots so she was actually an appaloosa. She was not born dark. is she really grey? I did see her dam and she looked grey to me ( white with dark blue/black skin)

I assume the sire was dilute but not sure (Zephyr Woods Russians ghostly Image)

any ideas on what color this fillie is? will DNA testing tell me? I know grey is not really a color as they should start out as some "other" color and turn grey.

If she is grey at least 50% of her foals will be grey as well correct?

edited to add from breeders website " She has changed from a silver buckskin to palomino to a mixed roan and now appears to be changing back to silver buckskin again"

the dam is listed as blue roan app.

sire is creamello

here is a photo of her

 

[chandab]

She sure looks grey, but looks can be deceiving.

If sire is a cremello, then your filly is a single cream dilute of some sort (palomino, buckskin, smokey black and any variation based on other modifiers involved, grey, silver, roan, etc).

Cremello can very easily hide silver; do you know colors on the sire's parents? Were either silver?

Dam could be silver white (grey plus silver, they turn white quickly); do you know her parents colors?

It is hard if not impossible to determine color on clipped coat, so you'll probably have to wait for it to grow out to determine her color. If she inherited appy from her dam, that throws another twist in determining her color.

DNA color testing can help, but not all colors/modifiers can be tested for. You can determine her base color: red/black with the red factor test. You can determine if she has silver with the silver test. She doesn't appear to have agouti (bay), but with the clipped coat and if she has silver it would be hard to tell for certain. Do you know if the sire is indeed a cremello (DNA tested vs assumed because he looks white, max sabinos can be mistaken for cremellos)? If he is indeed a cremello, then she definitely inherited cream from him.

Are you confused yet? Like I said it can be difficult to tell.

 

[Jill]

She looks grey to me

I had a filly who was born light palomino and turned grey. Any color, light or dark at birth, can go true grey

It's one of my favorite colors and I think your new filly is very pretty

 

[shelia]

You have quite a combination there. She look like a silver buckskin. I can see dappling. The blue roan appy mare could be carrying a lot of things. If she was all white I suspect gray is one thing. Does your have spotted skin around her anus? I don't see white sclera. I do see a little mottling on her face but I would look for more clues for appy. The cremello could have been carrying the silver gene. Appies can change color quite a bit from year to year. She looks like she might carry gray. One of her parents would have to be gray.

You could have her tested for red factor, creme, and agouti. That would at least tell you if she is buckskin. If she is gray it wouldn't matter anyway because you will end up with a white horse as she gets older.

Most of the things you are questioning have no test available at this time.