That pesky "gray" gene.

[Jill]

I don't care if a horse is purple, chartruce, or lime green as long as it has good conformation. Color is the LAST thing I consider...if I consider it at all.

I agree, and in fact, I might actually like a purple horse

There are colors I prefer (cream and silver dilutes), though. However, since really getting better at knowing what I like to see in a horse, I haven't seen any built, typy horses that I thought were "bad" colors

 

[MyBarakah]

Hi Sue!!!! And thank you for the very NICE compliment, especially coming from you! I've had some nice compliments from some pretty respected people about this filly. She deffinately will be shown this year at the A shows if not sold before. I have 2 more possibilities of grey foals coming this year that are out of my grey stallion I sold this fall. I'm sure I will end up keeping one of his foals since they are so nice. I think grey's a GORGEOUS color, but just didn't want to get "too much" of it in my program! I deffinately would keep a grey filly over a colt. This filly has allot of gas/fire to her like my bay filly, Dancer, and she did REALLY well at the shows last year......

But anyways....... thanks for the nice compliment Sue!!

I am usually not color blind as the conformation of the horse is most important to me. But, saying that, I do avoid a gray or pinto gray as they are so strong in producing that color and it seems to be very hard to sell.

It seems that the pet public love that color, but not the showing public.

I am a bit of a genetic freek and have studied genetics not only in college so many years ago, but also it is ongoing. I have bred Tibetan Terriers for over 30 years and can tell you everything about their colors. In horses, I am trying to get as good. I do know that the horse has to be a gray color in order to produce gray, as it is a dominant gene. I am not sure if two grays can only produce gray, that is one I would have to study.

Hello

I am afraid that I will be on this computer even more than before, but I do think this forum will be fun!!

Love your filly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can understand why you do not care what color she is!!

Hi!

Since we are talking about Grey's! I had to show off my grey weanling filly, Miss Maggie! I have a full sibling coming in '08 that I think will be the same since the mare produces' what ever the sire is. This filly will be small (30" at maturity) and she is just WOW! Who CARES what color she is!

 

[Firefall]

The mare I am wondering about lost her red hairs after her first foal shedding and has been an "icey white"

ever since, thats what the breeder told me.

 

[Tony]

I love our grey mares and grey stallion and they are some of the most beautiful conformation wise of any of our herd. Would I avoid them, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I don't use them in our app program for obvious reasons though.

 

[wwminis]

We don't avoid the grey gene at all, we breed for it!

Our main herd sire is a ture grey!

Top 5 World Halter Champion, Top 10 National Senior Stallion, 1st Place Honor Roll with many Grands and Reserves 27" NFC's Quicksilver!

We have kept several of his fillies and 2 of his sons and 1 grandson!

Look for WWC Miniatures Quicksilvers Peppy in the show ring this year! He's a Quicksilver son and a Bond Peppy Power grandson

Here's a pic of 27" NFCs Quicksilver

Here's a pic of 26" WWC Miniatures Quicksilvers Peppy at 1 week old!

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

personally I try to avoid it in the minis as we are, in addition to breeding for correct conformation, movement and disposition, also breeding for specific color (silver) and pattern (Appy) - so, if you look at our herd, you'll see we're pretty equally divided between silvers and blacks.

However, we love the color in Arabians, and one of our National-producing mares is grey.

 

[seahorse]

Do grays really end up getting tumors? Why would the gray color make them more likely to get cancer and tumors? I love the color but would not want one if it would end up getting cancer/tumors!

 

[Sue_C.]

I have read that as many as 80% of grey horses will develope melanoma. My vet says in his experience, pretty much all of them do...if they live long enough.

My grey mare did...they were quite nasty under her tail area...and she also developed another form of cancer on her face. She was black-skinned all over...no white skin, so it wasn't sun-damage that can be related to white-faced horses. She had to be euthanized at 21 because of complications from the melanomas.

I will not have a grey horse again...unless it is one fantastic "one in a million" that I just had to have. But I cannot see that happeneing. Besides...I don't like to see my nice appy patterns disappear, appy varnish roan is "bad" enough for that.

 

[Lewella]

Why would the gray color make them more likely to get cancer and tumors?

When a horse grays out not just the color in the hair is altered - so is the pigment in the skin. Since the pigment that the skin produces that would have gone to color the hair can no longer go into the hair the pigment accumulates in the skin and creates melanomas.

Some studies indicate that 80% of gray horses will have at least one melanoma by the time they are 15 years old.

 

[Jill]

Grey horses are not the only color to get these. My light palomino, Derby, had one on his eyelid when he was 3yo. He was treated and has had no further issues.

 

[shelia]

I was told many years ago that slaughter houses didn't want to take grey horses because they were always full of tumors so there meat was no good. (i have never taken a horse to a slaughter house, it is just a reference on how bad cancer is in grey horses)

Shelia B.

 

[Fred]

Yes grey horses can get melanoma but not all greys do. As I shoe a lot of horses and do most of them over the years I have done many many greys and they have not had melanoma. Yes a few have but not as many as has been stated and most of the horses I do I have done for 10 plus years. The reference on slaughter houses refusing grey horses does not ring true. I personally don't avoid grey, I have several of them and I really like them. A LOT of your Michgan horses are grey and they have good conformation and are doing well in the show ring. A good horse will never be a bad color.

 

[Alex]

If I were breeding solid horses,sure, Id LOVE to have gray breedings. But, breeding pintos, gray isnt exactally what I want.

Ive heard of grays getting melanoma, but never them being rejected from slaughter houses because of it.

 

[wpsellwood]

This is kinda of the topic but not stopping me. When you go permanent with a gray horse do they call it gray or do they call it the base color. I personally think it should be the base color as gray is not a color but a gene. I think it would be more infomative to have the base color and then besided it graying?? What is anyone elses thoughts on this.

 

[Mona]

This is kinda of the topic but not stopping me. When you go permanent with a gray horse do they call it gray or do they call it the base color. I personally think it should be the base color as gray is not a color but a gene. I think it would be more infomative to have the base color and then besided it graying?? What is anyone elses thoughts on this.

When I have reg'd a grey foal in the past, I note the color at birth, then also make a note that foal is turning tru grey, and they would post it on the papers. I never kept any, so never kept up on what they did when the horse went permanent.

 

[seahorse]

What about a foal that is born gray? (real gray, not "white") Would it be just as likely to get tumors as one that grays out?

 

[shelia]

Seahorse,

I think what you are talking about are horses that are a grey color when they are born. In that case they do not have the greying gene. Some blacks are born grey, and some silver blacks are too. If they do not have a grey parent they will not turn grey.

As for how many grey horses (horses with the grey gene) get tumors, I don't really know. It could be all, it could be a lot, or it could be very few. Even my last post was based on something I heard. Not something I actually observed. keep that in mind when you are deciding on whether to get one or not. This topic is very helpfull because it sounds like there are the same amount of people for greys as against them. Checking for all the information we can find is the best we can do.(Then sharing it with everybody here of course!)

Shelia B.

 

[LeosPocoDan]

After reading alot of these post it started making me think of my filly.

She is a really red sorrel right now, but it looks like she has a gray undercoat.

And her mother is gray.

So do you think she is probably going to shed out gray this spring?

 

[shelia]

A lot of babies have a grey looking undercoat in winter. The grey gene acts like a person going grey. White hairs start popping out usually around the eyes and face first. The grey gene is not the color grey. It is white hair replacing the natural color hair.

Shelia B.

 

[Jill]

This is kinda of the topic but not stopping me. When you go permanent with a gray horse do they call it gray or do they call it the base color. I personally think it should be the base color as gray is not a color but a gene. I think it would be more infomative to have the base color and then besided it graying?? What is anyone elses thoughts on this.

I have corrected a palomino-grey horse to show she is grey not palomino on her papers but I had wished she could be listed as greyed palomino. I know she carries cream dilute, but if I sell her and as she passes through hands, people may not know what color she was to begin with. Also, I am pretty sure my greying Big City / Buckeroo black colt is already registered as grey.