Grey

Grey horses are born either red or black based, with any combination of other modifiers, dilution genes or white patterns, but if they have the grey gene, eventually it will cover the original colour of the horse. Grey has the unique ability to mask everything including any Pinto or Appaloosa patterns.

Every horse carrying the Greying gene will end up a shade of grey or white. For this reason many breeders will not use grey horses in their breeding stock - especially in the mini world where colour is prized by many.

Grey is dominant, meaning, the horse must have at least one Grey parent to be Grey and if a horse has Grey it will be shown physically. Homozygous Greys can occur if both parents are grey and the foal receives two grey genes. The offspring of a homozygous grey horse will always go Grey.

Many think that Grey is the most dominant colour or it is the strongest gene. This is incorrect - all dominant genes are equally dominant.
It may SEEM stronger because it covers all other genes when you look at the horse - but it does not remove them, if the grey horse was born a chestnut pinto, then it will still be able to pass on the red and pinto genes.
A grey horse (with one grey gene) has the same chances of passing on the grey gene as a palomino horse has of passing on the cream gene.

There are several different stages to the greying process and each individual horse is different when it comes to the speed of this process. The greying can even start in the womb so a horse can be born "Grey".

In most cases the first signs of greying is usually seen around the eyes - see below - and on the face but sometimes the greying starts at the other end of the foal.

Is this true?
It has been said that : Foals that will grey out are usually born the "adult" version of the colour or a very deep, rich colour. For example: Bay foals that will not grey usually have light legs that shed out black with the first foal coat shedding. But a Bay foal that will grey usually has black legs at birth.

Is this true?
It has also been said that : Chestnut based foals that will grey out are born with dark coloured skin - unlike non-greying chestnut foals that are born with a pink shade to their skin... check out the palomino/grey mare on the example page.

Have you had any experience with either of these? if so, send an email and let us know....

The following are terms used to describe Grey horses, in truth these are just terms used to describe what the stage the greying process is going through, at that particular time.

Steel or Iron Grey describes horses that are just starting the greying process and are still a dark colour. Usually used for a black or dark bay based horse.

Rose Grey is used for horses that have a Bay or Chestnut base coat. The red base colour causes a "Rose" coloured tint to the body.

Dapple Grey This the second stage in the greying process and probably the most common term used when describing Grey.

Fleabitten Grey This term describes horses that have small red or black (or both) dots on their body.
Fleabitten horses tend to keep these dots all their lives.

White Grey This term describes horses who have completed the greying process. All pigment in the hair, including that in the mane, tail and legs has been removed.

Bloody shoulder

Some grey horses do not grey out completely - or do and then later in older age have
areas that develop colour again - it is usually on the shoulder area and is often called
"bloody shoulder".

It was once thought that these areas were a reversing of the grey gene.
Today one thought is that the areas are highly concentrated areas of fleabitten grey
- although these areas can occur on horses that are pure white with no other areas
of fleabitten spots...
Another line of thought is that the grey gene - for whatever reason - does not modify the whole of the horse, leaving areas of colour - a bit like an extreme sabino - except these horses are born a solid colour and grey out, unlike extreme sabinos that are born white with bits of colour.

The example here is on TB horse, born bay he is now greying out.. but you can see his leg and shoulder is not. This horses bloody shoulder is very large, many only have a area on the shoulder itself.
I found another example, however I was not confident that the horse wasn't an extreme sabino as they called it a "grey roan" and did not mention if the horse had actually greyed out over time or was born that colour.

According to legend - the marking means that in their past life, they were wounded in battle. Their reward is to have the bloody shoulder as a mark of their bravery.

Grey horses are treasured by many Arab breeders.