How do you know if a weanling will color up gray?

[CJMM6]

Dam at 5 years old

Kolors at 1 month old

I have someone interested in buying this little fello but she wants to know if he will remain black/white.

When he shed around his eyes & muzzle the hair came in black. I want to represent my foals as

honest as possible. I thought about clipping a small area on his neck. Do you think that would show

me his true color. Thanks so much. cjmm

 

[HGFarm]

I have seen some that were white by the time they were 6 months old, and have seen others that were slow to turn and took five years or so.... I am not sure what controls the speed with which they gray out.

My friends colt is out of a gray mare and stayed black til he was almost a year old, then started to get white hairs all over. He is still turning, but it is VERY slow with him. My other friend's foal had a black and white pinto and I did not see any white hairs in the black at birth. Wow, by the time she was weaned, she was WHITE!!

Hopefully someone here that has more experience with grays can give you other things to look for. We used to look for the 'white ring' around the eyes, but that is not something you can always count on.

 

[mmmorgans]

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[busyb]

One way to look for greying is to check the eyelashes. If you see just one white hair, you have a grey. I use to have an Andalusian cross, and knew many Andy babies, all born black, bay or chestnut. All of the ones from my horses sire greyed. My boy was born a bright chestnut and by the age of two was a roan. Now at the age of 9 he is white. A pasture mate, also an Andy cross was born black. Until 3 he stayed dark, then went steel grey. Today at 9 he is also a white grey with barely there grey points.

I do not know how long it takes before the eyelashes show up, on my boy there was one by the time he was six months old. And I do mean only one. Clipping will not tell you the eventual color is he is going to grey. I clipped mine to show in halter as a foal and he was chestnut underneath.

 

[BlueStar]

We have a grey stallion and have noticed that the more vibrant colored foals (REALLY red and DARK black) have gone grey, but ones born more of a regular foal color ie.-the mousy grey color of your foal, have NOT turned grey. I would say due to our experience that he will be black and white not grey.

Only my opinion however.

 

[Gizzmoe]

I looked at his pics on your site and do not think he is going to grey out. The pics of him show no signs of him carrying the grey gene. But of course thats just my opinion

 

[Jill]

I think with that one, you'll almost just have to wait and see. How old is he now? My hunch would be he won't grey based on what you say about around his eyes, but it would not hurt to clip an area around his neck. Here's a picture that may help of one of my greys at just 4mos. He was born black / dark bay. His neck and head are clipped but you can see his body is the same color. He was not body clipped ever.

 

[CJMM6]

Thanks every one for your answers.

I guess I will have to play the wait & see game. When his hair around his eyes & muzzle came in dark I thought he would stay bl/white. His black is the dark mousey gray like most black based foals are. I did notice some white hairs in his black part of his mane.

Keep your experiences comming. Thank you, cjmm

 

[Meavey]

Not sure - but I would almost expect him to gray out. And some of them take a while - that is for sure. We have a black stallion with white socks - that throws a lot of pintos. One of our mares is a flea bitten gray - and the results of breeding those two together are as follows:

This is the dam:

First foal:

Second foal:

Third foal:

All three of these foals are gray - even though the "second foal" looked like a sorrel pinto - he is now a very dark gray pinto. The other two were more obvious as young foals.

The second foal is a silver, are you sure he went grey?

And not dappled by silver?

Right now I don´t think the topic starters foal will grey out.

 

[mizbeth]

I have a gray mare and gorgeous one at that! She has produced 8 foals for me. All have turned gray except for three of them. Her foals show gray within a week or so and start by turning the eyebrows gray. On her white faced babies where you cannot see the gray eyebrows the neck starts showing gray hairs within a month or so. (Could be sooner, but that is when I start clipping them)

One of her foals was born a light silvery color. When he was clipped at two months old his skin was PINK and color white. Within one year his skin darkened to black and his color grayed where you could actually see gray hairs mixed with the white. I had some color experts look at his color/pedigree and they told me he was a silver white sabino. He was a very nice colt even at white-gray.

The mare was four, turning five when I bought her. She was then a gray but very silver dappled looking with silver dapples on her butt. She is now white and flea bitten with big soft brown eyes.

 

[wantminimore]

Here's my filly and a little over a year old. Her sire is a black & white pinto and her dam is a gray & white pinto. I wonder the same thing about my girl (if she'll turn gray).

Leslie

 

[HGFarm]

My neighbor's colt born last year was born solid black- NO white hairs. His sire AND dam are gray..... At a year old he had a few white hairs. He is a long yearling now and is sort of roany, but is very slow to gray out. If you plan to breed for pinto or anything with color that you want to keep, avoid the gray.

My neighbors also had a stunning loud black and white colt born this year- really wild tovero color with 2 blue eyes - out of a pinto stud and a gray mare. At less than two months old he showed signs of turning gray (darn it) and he is going fast.

I am not sure what determines the factor of how fast they gray? Anyone know- come on some of you color experts!!!

 

[Ashley]

The yearling filly above will not gray.

The foal, I dont think is going to either. He isnt a dark rich color like alot of gray foals will be, unless he is actually a silver dapple foal. I dont see any of the obvious signs on him either. I would look on the head for signs of graying, thats normally where it starts.

 

[targetsmom]

I am no expert, but I did learn this ON THIS FORUM- foals with the silver gene will gray more rapidly. Our gray mare was already gray - almost white really - as a weanling. We had her tested and confirmed that she carries the silver gene. Genetically she is a homozygous black, silver bay frame overo, LWO+, but she looks just plain gray as a 4 year old.

 

[MBhorses]

our 2007 sorrel and white pinto filly Celina shows not signs of greying out(do you this this filly will grey out?).

Celina dam is grey sire is sorrel and white pinto

2007 black filly who will mostly grey out. velvet

her dam is black/white pinto sire is grey

our 2006 bay filly, who is greying out.raven

photo at birth

she the white hairs around her eyes.

raven today as a yearling raven sire is grey and dam is bay.

raven

moose was born sorrel she is now grey at 4 yrs old.Moose sire is grey dam is bay

moose

she is the dam of the above filly celina the sorrel and white pinto.

We are learning about the greys. You have a 50% of your foals turning grey if one of the parents are grey.

 

[CJMM6]

I'm with ya guys, I always thought gray horses would show graying around the eyes & around the muzzle.

I hope he stays black/white but I know I can't gurantee it

Thanks everyone for your ideas

cjmm

 

[mmmorgans]

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[Meavey]

Yes that last pic is a silver not grey.