Hints for detecting a gray at birth

Jorge · Postby **Jorge** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 3:58 am

Hints for detecting a gray at birth, or at least at a very early stage:

01. Having at least one gray parent

)
02. White around eye lids.

Please post your "tricks-of-the-trade" hints.

All the Best,

Nerd · Postby **Nerd** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:30 am

if at least one gray parent and the foal is black-based (ie not chestnut), dark legs often suggest gray while light/tan legs suggest non-gray

Regal Pleasure · Postby **Regal Pleasure** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:33 am

Same as the above post, chestnut foals usually have legs lighter than the rest of the body, but if born chestnut but they are going to gray out, they have darker legs.

Also if a foal is born BLACK, chances are it is going to be gray. Foals that are going to stay black are usually a mousy gray color at birth. (Both above examples are of course assuming the foal has at least one gray parent.)

WarHorse · Postby **WarHorse** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:22 pm

Here on the standardbred farm, a dark bay is normal.

We have a lighter bay that came out of a red roan. We believe she will be roan or gray, because of the highlights on her muzzle and tail:

http://groups.msn.com/warshorses/thefar ... otoID=3042

Click the "next" button to see the tail.

TBLADY · Postby **TBLADY** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:20 am

my now 2 yr old Wheelaway colt is showing hints of dusty colored hair as well as a color change on his muzzle. He was a dark bay...dusty coloring around his eyes, between his front legs and over his rump.

Have you guys ever seen this happen with horses that may turn Grey?

Jorge · Postby **Jorge** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:59 pm

Dear All,

I am really enjoying and learning reading about your posted hints.

Let me add another hint. On many occasions, the very end of the tail is smokish. That's also a giveaway.

I am sure many of you are well experienced horsemen/horsewomen and know many other hints. Hope the hints may be increased.

All the Best,

Tiz · Postby **Tiz** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:08 pm

Look for white hairs around the eyes. That's the first place the baby's real hair is evident.

amanda1 · Postby **amanda1** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:15 pm

WarHorse

That is one darn cute baby!!!!!

Vindicated · Postby **Vindicated** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:13 am

Well......

I have had 5 grey broodmares and have seen just about everyway a horse can turn grey-
The most recent foal is out of a mare that has thrown 2 steel grey colts of 2 foals-When I got to the farm to see our "Dark Bay Filly" it took about 45 seconds to discover that we actually had another "steel grey colt"-he was about 20% grey when he dried....Pertty easy to tell...
My 2 year old filly was born black bay and had a very evident star and sock-no grey hair in her coat, but the outer layer of hair on her lower leg was silver. This filly is the first foal out of this grey mare-the maternal (grey) granddam of this filly had 5 foals 2 grey, two chestnuts with identical markings and one plain bay, the bay and one of the chestnuts were by the same stud...
I had a colt that was born the most beautiful blood bay-with a nice star and socks-No grey in his coat-At 8 months he shedded out dark bay-the following year he shedded out with about 10% of grey in his coat-now at 9 he is dappled, with varying shades of grey, brown and black in his coat.-every year he's just gotten lighter, not dramtically but steadily....I would never had guessed that he would turn grey-except that his mom was pretty "white" by the time she was two-and her other foal was truely grey when she was born.
I also had a bay filly that was born with alot of grey hair in her coat, as well as a ton of splashy markings, she never got any lighter-just had about 10% of grey in her entire hair coat.

Evenheaven · Postby **Evenheaven** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:03 am

I'm so happy to read the details about how to detect a grey. Have a question that I hope you guys can help me with. I had a colt who is now a 3 year old born brown (no real dark leg points but a black mane and tail) to two dark bay tb's. Sire is Unreal Zeal and dam is August Sunset. This now gelding appears to be getting more and more very large dirty white spots in his coat along with thousands of white hairs... is he going grey????? The mare was out of two dark bay/brown horses hersels (not sure about Unreal Zeal) and when I registered the horse (named Lucky Adex) he had one white spot on his rump, but he is gaining them... any answers would be appreciated! Thanks!

WarHorse · Postby **WarHorse** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:16 pm

amanda1 wrote:WarHorse

That is one darn cute baby!!!!!

Thank you Amada! We are fond of her, though her mother is batty.

Ramona · Postby **Ramona** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:53 pm

Look at the base of the ears.

Nerd · Postby **Nerd** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 5:08 pm

Evenheaven wrote:I'm so happy to read the details about how to detect a grey. Have a question that I hope you guys can help me with. I had a colt who is now a 3 year old born brown (no real dark leg points but a black mane and tail) to two dark bay tb's. Sire is Unreal Zeal and dam is August Sunset. This now gelding appears to be getting more and more very large dirty white spots in his coat along with thousands of white hairs... is he going grey????? The mare was out of two dark bay/brown horses hersels (not sure about Unreal Zeal) and when I registered the horse (named Lucky Adex) he had one white spot on his rump, but he is gaining them... any answers would be appreciated! Thanks!

If neither parent is gray, there is no way the offspring can be gray (neither parent carries the gene for it so the offspring can't inherit it), so you can eliminate that possibility outright.

The name often given to the coat pattern your colt seems to be developing is rabicano, which means there are white hairs scattered throughout the body, often concentrated at the flank and the base of the tail. Its mechanism of inheritance is not known.

White spots are commonly known as birdcatcher spots. It's not clear what they are or how they are inherited.

If you post a picture of your colt I can take a look and give you my opinion as to what's going on....