At what age does a horse turn grey?

[saultgirl]

Horses that are born very dark and turn grey as they mature -- at what age would you start to see evidence that this is going to happen?

[JB]

MOST of the time, at birth you see white hairs around the eyes, and things progress from their first foal shed.

Sometimes that doesn't happen. I've heard of horses not starting the visible process for several years, but while that might be "normal" for that particular line, that's not normal in the grand scheme of things, not at all.

[Guilherme]

Agree that you'll see some hairs around the eyes or muzzle very early on. Ours are clearly turning anywhere from 6 months to about three years of age. Just HOW gray they'll turn is dependant on the horse.

G.

[JB]

Well, HOW gray they turn is white ;) Now, whether the individual horse gets there depends on how long he lives ;)

[findeight]

Varies wildly.

My TB at 9 was almost white with just some dapples around the legs and butt. Lost all of those by about 17.

Kid in the barn bought an 8y/o WB that is still almost a solid gun metal color with just a few big dapples on the body but the face is noticeably greying.

I recall when I was involved with Arabs, they were white sometime between 5 and 15.

[Guilherme]

Well, HOW gray they turn is white ;) Now, whether the individual horse gets there depends on how long he lives ;)

Only if you don't count the "flea bites." ;)

Our oldest mare (25) is a very "dirty" gray with heavy "flea bites."

My mare (15) is almost snow white with modest flea bites. Her half brother (12) is dirty gray with no flea bites at all.

There seems to be a variety of "end color" shades and some other marks.

G.

[deltawave]

Gosh, I've seen sucklings that are going decidedly gray, and I've seen very dark gray 8 year olds. I have to guess it's variable, and maybe depends on whether the gray gene is present as a single dose or a double dose. :) I've never seen a teenaged horse that's very dark gray, though--most of them are going white by then, IME.

[Sakura]

It just depends... some horses grey out a lot faster than others... most start the greying process as foals. I have a nine year old mare that has pretty much completely greyed out... She (http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g278/Copperleaf/SabrinaMorningTrotBrightSmall.jpg) still has some black hair in her mane and tail and some subtle shading here and there on her legs... for the record this mare is heterozygous grey (only one grey gene).

[dalpal]

My mare was blood bay as a baby.....she has the roaning hairs as a yearling, but still blood bay...Hanoverian inspection even registered her as a bay roan.

Come second winter, she turned CHOCOLATE with roaning...and I mean dark, dark, dark chocolate.

She is now 7 and is still dirty gray with a bit of rose and chocolate...legs and mane still black. Tail is mostly gray now...you can see many fleabites....each season, her coat gets a little more whiter, especially on the neck and head.

[deltawave]

Dalpal, do you know what color her parents and grandparents are/were? That sounds really interesting. Have any pictures? :)

[greysandbays]

Generally, I can tell within three weeks of birth that a foal is going grey. But one filly fooled me. She waited until she was five before there was any hint she was going grey, and several more years before that hint became an obvious conclusion. Now, at 20, she still has some black shading on her knees and hocks. (She started going grey, not with a few sprinkles of white hairs on her eyelids, but with an egg-sized greyish splotch on her hindquarter.)

Looking back though, there was a clue I overlooked at the time -- foals who will stay their birth color generally have buff-colored legs, with socks/stockings somewhat lacking definition. It's those who'll go grey that have sharp, very defined leg coloration. My girl had three sharp socks and blaze on a fresh-liver-colored body. I had dearly wished she would stay that color, but she didn't...

[JB]

Yep, even if there isn't a single white hair on the body at birth, if they are born an adult color (ie not pink if they're chestnut, not mousy if they're black, no tan legs if they're bay), that's an even more reliable indicator (but not foolproof!).

[KatieD]

There was an andalusian gelding at one of the barns I worked at that was 15 years old; he was very nearly 'white'. His owner said that he has slowly turned that color over the 12 years she has owned him. I think it depends on the breed, and the individual animal. If you are in love with only the color of the horse you buy, hope you find somethine else to love about him, because you might have a differently colored horse in a few years!:D

[jaimebaker]

It all depends. Some slowly gray out. My last one started graying out at 2 months. Though the norm is that they are born a different color and gray out that's not always the case. I've had two foals that were born gray (both Arabs).

[veebug22]

My mare was blood bay as a baby.....she has the roaning hairs as a yearling, but still blood bay...Hanoverian inspection even registered her as a bay roan.

Come second winter, she turned CHOCOLATE with roaning...and I mean dark, dark, dark chocolate.

She is now 7 and is still dirty gray with a bit of rose and chocolate...legs and mane still black. Tail is mostly gray now...you can see many fleabites....each season, her coat gets a little more whiter, especially on the neck and head.

My gelding was similar to this. Bright bay when born, then gradually became steel grey through this almost dark roan color, which at one point looked dark chocolate-y. At about 3 the steel grey started to dapple. Every year he turned more white. I would say at about 13 he was officially quite white. Now he's getting more flea-bitten every spring -- I swear he's going back to roan!!

[Bluey]

We had some foals born rose gray and be mostly white by the time they were weaned.
One gelding was registered as bay and at four started getting gray hairs and was white by ten.

Most gray foals we had that were born dark got graying rings around their eyes at first shedding about four or five months old.

[Dazednconfused]

I recall when I was involved with Arabs, they were white sometime between 5 and 15.

:lol: That describes pretty much any breed with grey!

[Ambrey]

Mine at 3: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x182/estarianne/youngsmokey2.jpg
Mine at 6: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x182/estarianne/smokeyside.jpg
Mine at 7: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x182/estarianne/IMG_0218.jpg

I figure he'll be white by 11 or 12. I'll miss his dapples!

[RodeoQueen]

My 7 yrd old appendix quarter horse was born and registered black and was still black as a coming 3. He showed a little grey around his eyes and muzzle at Christmas when I bought him 5 years ago. Today his face is white with a black blaze :cool: and he has some large dapples on his back. He is still primarily dark in color. As a 3 and 4 he had weird splotches of white in very random places - looked like a bird dumped on him, and my vet told me the racehorse people called this coloration Bird $hit Grey! Nice, huh?

He's always changing a little but has never lost his pretty. Mane and tail are mix of black, white and silver - but primarily black.

Elliot's mom is a grey TB Mill Reef X Buckpasser breeding. I found a picture of her and she was mostly white by the time Elliot was born. The grey come from Mill Reef and goes back to Mumtaz Mahal - The Tetrarch. Elliot's dad is a bay.

[Bluey]

My 7 yrd old appendix quarter horse was born and registered black and was still black as a coming 3. He showed a little grey around his eyes and muzzle at Christmas when I bought him 5 years ago. Today his face is white with a black blaze :cool: and he has some large dapples on his back. He is still primarily dark in color. As a 3 and 4 he had weird splotches of white in very random places - looked like a bird dumped on him, and my vet told me the racehorse people called this coloration Bird $hit Grey! Nice, huh?

He's always changing a little but has never lost his pretty. Mane and tail are mix of black, white and silver - but primarily black.

Elliot's mom is a grey TB Mill Reef X Buckpasser breeding. I found a picture of her and she was mostly white by the time Elliot was born. The grey come from Mill Reef and goes back to Mumtaz Mahal - The Tetrarch. Elliot's dad is a bay.

Could that have been The Tetrarch gray spotting?

http://www.equinecolor.com/grey.html

Our last racing bred stallion had them.:)

[dalpal]

Dalpal, do you know what color her parents and grandparents are/were? That sounds really interesting. Have any pictures? :)

Mom was a blood bay OTTB and Dad was Graf Genius (gray Hanoverian Stallion)

I do have pictures, will post later.

[RodeoQueen]

Yes, those are Tetrarch Spots!

http://www.pedigreequery.com/mumtaz+mahal

He gave them to his daughter and on down the gene pool they went. My boy had them for sure!

Is funny how the gene pools work. My horse looks nothing like his dad or his mom. He moves like dad. I found an old b/w photo of Buckpasser standing in front of one of his grooms and I showed my trainer - she said "Where did you get that picture of Elliot and who's that man?" I said, no. It's not Elliot. It's his great great grandfather. My boy even makes the exact same face tht was in that picture - expressions through the generations. How fascinating.

People say the gene pools don't count after 4 years. I think it's one of the most curious mysteries of breeding - we really don't know what will pass down and from whom. The Tetrarch was a 1911 horse. Four years isn't the whole story or any kind of recipe.

l.

[galwaybay]

We had a gorgeous bay pony foal - lovely markings - star, couple of white feet, then at about 6 mos he started molting and became grey; we had another foal born jet black was black for almost a year, then dark grey. He's 11 now and was pretty dark up until about last year and a half. My horse I got as a 4 y/o an was dark grey - like steel wool. He's nine and his face is now much lighter almost white (which is sad because he had a blaze, now gone) but his rump and legs are still pretty dark. His mane is about same as his body color, tail has every color none to man :lol:. The other greys which are nearly white - one is 8 or 9, the other is just 5. We had a TB that at 6 was nearly white.

Bottom line is you never know -

[cllane1]

This is timely for us b/c we have a 16 month old gelding that we're wondering if he will grey out. His sire is a grey, and we have another horse by the same sire who was born chestnut but has greyed out (he's now 5). Our little guy is currently quite chestnut, with a white star, sort of mealy colored muzzle (which has lightened from grey), and light legs but no defined socks or stockings.

[dalpal]

Here is Diva when she was 2 months old....she was actually a brighter bay than the camera shows...it was a cheapo digital...notice the "rogue" silver leg. :lol:

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=b7fa.jpg

When she was weaned off mom (okay, it wasn't my bright idea to wean her beside her mother....at this point she was still owned by someone else)..once again, camera isn't great.

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=138a.jpg

Then she turned to this color as a yearling

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=c63f.jpg

Here she is right when she turned 2

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=1cab.jpg

Now at age three, you could start to see the beginning of her molting color

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=397b.jpg

Springtime at age 3

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=6091.jpg

At age 4

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=c980.jpg

At age 5

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=36ad.jpg

At age 6...winter

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/Pets/?action=view&current=e830.jpg

Spring at age 6

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/dals%20and%20horses/?action=view&current=divajuly4079.jpg

And she is now 7, this was taken a couple of months ago

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/grayboomerang/dals%20and%20horses/?action=view&current=Divaj.jpg


Not only did she turn gray, but she also decided to change disciplines. :lol:

[foursocks]

According to his records mine was born dark bay. When I got him at the end of his 4th year he was nearly white, with a sort of pewter-colored mane and tail and some flea bites. He's seven and despite all of my wishing has *not* turned into a pretty, dark dapple grey. Just more flea bites. Sigh. ;)