[QUOTE=veetiepony;6025412]
I have a grey that I’ve tried to breed, and would like to try to breed again, whose baby would likely be a grey. [/QUOTE]
Unless your grey mare is homozygous (and she would have to have two grey parents for that to even be a possibility), you have a 50% chance of a grey foal when you have one grey parent.
If wanted to breed a jumper and the sire I thought would be a match for my mare and his name started with a “C”, it might well be a grey.
Grey’s do stand out in the show ring, so if it is likely to be a show horse, it would be an advantage.
I’ll admit my grey does not lvfe out in a muddy field - but is blanketed in a very clean paddock. She’s a piece of cake to keep and just needs a tail wash every few weeks. She’s gorgeous and a standout.
My first horse was grey and the second one too. I have a karma with grey horses 
She is the most beautiful color I have ever seen. She is a pinky grey. So shiny under the sun. She stands out in the show ring that is for sure.
None of the two ever had melanomas.
I am a sucker for big dapples.
We have had 2 grey daughters from a lovely grey St.Pr. Lauries Crusador xx/Gimple mare (actually she is a full sister to Bridlewood’s stallion Liberty). One I sold as a dressage horse very easily/quickly after backing her, the other we retained for breeding. She has produced 4 Harvard foals for us now (all grey) with the 5th one on route this spring. All 4 grey babies sold easily and the client who purchased the 2011 model actually contacted us looking for a “grey Harvard” - who knew?
[QUOTE=horsetales;6025246]
I have bred to greys, but do try to find stallions that are not grey. I hate cleaning them and I have heard too many people say they won’t buy a grey. Now if only I could find a way to shut off the greying at that gorgeous dapple stage ;)[/QUOTE]
Firgure that out and you might get rich :lol:
I would buy it 
I love dark greys, like steel grey. I would be willing to clean a dapple if they would stay that way, but the lighter they are the less I want to put in the work.
As many have said - a GREAT horse is color blind! I had a fabulous NZ bred GREY TB jumper - never crossed my mind to not buy him because he was GREY! And as a lover of many a Holstein bred jumper, they are often GREY. I just bought the most fabulous minded GREY TB. Why? Because he is a fantastic horse!
Honestly, evaluate the HORSE! Bay, chestnut, black etc. Trust me, any color can have issues. Watch the FEI jumper feeds. At least 80 percent grey!
We harm our breeding programs methinks by fashionista orientation
Grey is one of my favourite colours. Grey is generally well liked here in NZ.
A few years back it became very apparent that the US market was way less likely to buy a grey. Many breeders here won’t even try to market a grey to the US now.
I have noticed that there are fewer and fewer greys in the dressage arena of late. All the fashionable bloodlines don’t include grey. I definitely wouldn’t turn down a good grey horse for breeding or competing.
I had two grey ponies growing up which I loved one flea bitten & the other dappled he did keep his dapples well into his life just seem to lighten over time. As far as I knew they were healthy guys. Secretly I always loved grey/white horses very majestic creatures.
I already bred one mare two years ago to a grey stallion & absolutely love the filly (who is turning grey) so much she isn’t for sale.
However this year I yet again found a stallion that I love that is grey for this mare. This foal will actually be for sale & I know I have 50/50 shot of being grey. I don’t want to have another foal that won’t sale (I already have a paint colt that won’t sale).
So should I just go with another colored sire or go with this one? I don’t mind the cleaning aspect but I’m worried about health? Do horses that turn grey slowly less likely to have health issues or does it not matter?
If you are breeding with the intention to sell then you should do everything in your power to improve your chances of a sale. This includes colour.
As you’ve already been stung once (a non-selling paint) it would make sense to reduce your chances of having a grey foal. That said, it is way more important to find a stallion that improves on your mares weaknesses, plus is likely to produce something that the market is looking for (bloodlines, discipline, height, conformation, performance, etc).
A very nice horse will sell whatever its colour but it doesn’t hurt to stack the odds a little in your favour!
Sometimes grey is in your favor. Someone not long ago pointed out that all the best Capitol Is are grey except Indoctro, and while I hadn’t thought of that before it does seem to be about right. A better horse is going to trump color preferences any day.
[QUOTE=Emy;6025788]
All 4 grey babies sold easily and the client who purchased the 2011 model actually contacted us looking for a “grey Harvard” - who knew?[/QUOTE]
I would kill for a grey Harvard or a grey Widmark. :winkgrin:
Rideagoldenpony - my mare has two grey parents and the stallion I like is also grey. Im not really caring about the percent change the baby would be grey, but I think it might be likely…
[QUOTE=veetiepony;6027516]
Rideagoldenpony - my mare has two grey parents and the stallion I like is also grey. Im not really caring about the percent change the baby would be grey, but I think it might be likely…[/QUOTE]
Yes, it’s extremely likely (75-100%). There is a chance your mare is homozygous, which means ALL her offpsring will turn grey. Even if she and the planned sire are both heterozygous (Gg) you will still have a 75% chance of a grey foal.
The great Italian breeder Tesio was the most famous proponent of the “grey is a disease” school.
[QUOTE=Daydream Believer;6024514]
I remember an old comment I heard from someone years ago that “gray is a disease not a color.” I think it was a vet that said it to me. It has colored my preferences a bit. I used to show a gray Arabian though and he was a bugger to keep clean. I swore never again and now I have a perlino filly who is every bit as hard to keep clean. Only as a cream, she’ll always look “off white” so will probably be harder even. She won’t go fleabitten though even and like the poster ahead of me, I hate that look.[/QUOTE]
4 of my past horses have been grey. 3 of those welsh ponies never had a problem with melanomas. My last grey a L line holsteiner never had a melanoma issue either, I owned him for 10 years. I now have my bay stallion (my first bay!!) who I jokingly tell everyone is harder to keep clean then any of my greys.
I love a white horse-like older grey, not truly white with pink skin. When they get porcelain is my favorite color. Not a fan of rose or flea bitten, steel and dappled are ok. My last 2 mares have been by different grey stallions and I have to say I was glad that neither turned grey. I have dealt with alot of greys with melenoma over the years and would prefer not to deal with it anymore. I have seen horses that are PERFECT for propective buyers pass a PPE other than a few malenomas and the buyers walk away.
I have heard that the malenoma thing is much stronger/more likely/higher chance of cancer with 2 grey parents. I don’t know if thats true.
Being that my current horse has a grey parent, I would not breed her to a grey-regardless of the quality of the stallion.
I love a gorgeous dark dapple grey. I remember growing up and there was an Arabian stallion at a place I went to horse camp, he was stunning with these blue/black dapples all over him. Just wish they could stay that color as I really don’t like white, lol, too hard to clean!
I have bred to a grey stallion 3 times many years ago with 3 different mares (a bay, black and a grey). The resulting foals were 2 chestnuts and a bay. I can’t believe I missed the grey gene ALL 3 times, even with a grey mare! I know there was still 25% chance I wouldn’t get one with the grey mare but just hard to believe that I still bred to a grey 3 times and didn’t actually get one, lol.
Now I am not such a huge grey fan so probably wouldn’t breed to one again in the future as I do think they are harder to sell. When we sold my sister’s grey mare people either loved or hated her color, there was really no in between.
[QUOTE=houserabbitz;6027457]
I would kill for a grey Harvard or a grey Widmark. :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
Since there don’t appear to be any scientific studies about whether or not greys sell, just opinions, I’m going to venture a guess and say for every person who vocalizes a hatred of greys, it is possible there are two people who would kill for them, me being one. (Houserabbitz another:winkgrin:) I find it curious for those who hate greys to say they don’t sell. Grey TBs who are sane and sound last about 20 seconds coming off the track before they are snapped up. I love greys, and I have been looking for a horse to ride. The only horses who have sold before I could get to them to try were grey. Harvard’s grey foal sold, in a market where it is difficult to sell any color of foal. So, I venture to say that grey’s aren’t as unpopular as some say they are.
I LOVE grey, especially dark dappled grey. Just stunning in the dressage ring, I think. I have one grey youngster on my website and though she is not for sale I have had quite a few inquiries. So maybe it’s not as undesirable as one might think?
For those of you who really love the dark dappled stage, but don’t really like it as they continue to fade, you just need this horse
http://amazinggracefarm.com/austin%20page.htm
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