Apropos of nothing:
One place I boarded a guy had what I thought was a gray - very grayed out, near white - gelding in his late 20s (horse - not owner).
He showed me a pic of both of them, much younger, & horse was a solid dark bay!
Lipizzans, are born darkâusually bay or blackâand become lighter each year as the graying process takes place, with the process being complete at between 6 and 10 years of age
The JC is stuck in the Medieval times when it comes to colors. âGray/roanâ is an old term used to describe whatâs seen in the young foals/horses. As said, for all intents and purposes there is no Roan in the TB. It DOES exist, but in so few lines and horses it really isnât in play. Catch A Bird is the example. All those âgray/roanâ TBs are gray.
Whatâs seen in the OP is either from Sabino or possibly Rabicano. Itâs very common, and with Sabino, more likely to be see this time of year with the coat shed. Rabicano would have more white in the flank area, maybe into the barrel, where Sabino could be other places as well.
Nearly all true Roans do have a dark head, but itâs not a requirement. There are several out there with Roan heads, through still a bit darker than the body.
Color testing wonât help here. TBs donât have the only Sabino thatâs testable (SB1) and thereâs no test for Rabicano. And, heâs not Roan, so that would be a waste of $$.
People tend to attribute dark hairs on chestnut or palomino horses to good nutrition or feeding alfalfa, donât know if thatâs true, but there is a link between nutrition and coat condition and pigment.
Itâs known there is a sooty factor in play with the red-based colors (chestnut, pali) which can make far darker areas, especially withers and forearms, but sometimes also the entire topline giving a ombre effect. Sooty can be in the mane as well. There IS a link between nutrition and pigment, and thatâs copper and zinc. Other nutrients too, but copper is needed to produce melanin, so the darker the coat genetics, the more melanin/copper is needed for health pigment (ie help prevent some or a lot of fading)
Her chestnut parents also had two grey colts
Not possible, as gray is dominant - no gray horse, no gray gene; no gray gene, no gray horse.
ASBs do carry Roan, though itâs rare. And not all Roans are very loud, so itâs not always very easy to see. But it could become much more visible in a given offspring. They also have Sabino, and that can present as a very âgrayâ looking horse.
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I have a chestnut TB mare that does this. Sheâs a sabino, with both a big Bend Or spot on her left hind (which drives me nuts because it always looks like I didnât bathe my horse at shows!), and Birdcatcher spots that come and go with the seasons/shedding. The occasional âroanyâ white bits tend to come and go seasonally as well. Some years she has nothing, and some years quite a bit. This year sheâs got a good bit of it going on her left side sort of under where the saddle flap and my leg goes. I think this should let you see it via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BToxMtSDâŠ-by=jemartin03
Not at all unusual with TBs. I would assume the greying/roany bit is there for the season, or might stay a while and disappear again. I know so many TBs with a spot like that, doesnât seem odd at all to me, and would definitely not think that the whole horse was going to grey out. If you look at enough TBs, youâll notice a good percentage of them have something like this going onâBend Or spots, roany patches, Birdcatcher spots, etc.
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How strange that some seasons there is no grey! I wouldnât have guessed it would come and go like that. My last TB was grey and my pony before that was a paint so I wasnât sure if this was common in bays. This is the first year the grey hairs have stayed. Iâm not a huge fan of lots of grey so hopefully it stays minimal but if not at least weâll stand out in the hunter ring!
This is actually true for all grey horses. Itâs usually impossible to tell their original color coat by the time they are 8 or 10, whether itâs bay, black, chestnut or pinto.
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I have a chestnut TB with all sorts of weird patches that persist through seasonal sheddingâhe has a dinner plate sized roany patch plus smaller ones, multiple bend or spot and even a couple palomino looking areas. Heâs a horse of a different color for sure :lol:
They are all now registered as âgrey/roan.â Here are the coat colors as as described by the Jockey Club. When they used to register âroan,â those horses were just red horses going grey. âGreyâ horses were bay or black horses going grey. âRoanâ meant something different to the Jockey Club then than it does to us now.
@Scribbler I do also have a grey TB mare whoâs seven this year and sheâs JUST starting to really look like a grey horseâeven last year, people still mistook her for black or dark bay with some frequency. Sheâs just greying veeeeeery slowly! I wonder if I have any recent pics of herâŠshe is all dark and dapply this year. This is from the winter and not a great shot, but you can definitely see how sheâs still a long way from being all grey.
Except if they become flea bitten, the spots are the color of the original coat. Always wondered whether my gray was bay or chestnut, since he had both red and black hairs in his tail.
[QUOTE=Simkie;n9784350
They are all now registered as âgrey/roan.â Here are the coat colors as as described by the Jockey Club. When they used to register âroan,â those horses were just red horses going grey. âGreyâ horses were bay or black horses going grey. âRoanâ meant something different to the Jockey Club then than it does to us now. [/QUOTE] And if this is true, my boy was chestnut. I had thought JC registered all grays as roans.
There was a well known local stakes class horse racing at Hastings Park decades ago called âHappy Trapâ. He was registered as dark bay, clearly stated on the racing program. But as a 3 or 4 yr old, the grey started to become apparent. Registration had to be changed (I presume). Of course, he had a grey parent. He was slow to grey out. He stood at stud for years afterwards, and did not ever really turn white, stayed grey longer and darker than any other horse Iâve ever seen.
The Comico line of PREs has whatâs being described as a mutation of gray, which causes an extreme delay in the graying process. As in, into their old age, they are still only as âgrayâ as most 2-3yos who are just starting to present with gray.
I love the colour of an early stage grey, so that would be wonderful if a horse stuck at dark dapples!
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I agree!
My JC TB mare is registered as roan. Sheâs grey, born dark, lighter each year, went from dapples at 9 when I bought her to almost white at 17. Sire, grand sire, great grandsire (Mahmoud) and on back from him greysâŠbut no idea what they are registered as, roan or grey. Think some old timer once told me some breeders shy away from using grey, preferring roan? Didnât really understand what he was talking aboutâŠmaybe thereâs something there.
Had a horse colored like OPs, it was a black based varnish Appy, Looked different with each coat shed. I thought it was pretty, still do.
On the why more roan Ponies then horses at HJ shows? Roan runs in the Western breeds and some Pony lines. It does not run in WB or any other 16h+ with 14â stride breed/type with the jumping style preferred by Hunter judges or scope for the 1.4m big sticks. There may be a few random individuals but itâs rareâŠmight hint something other then whatâs claimed as a relative got loose one night too. Happens.
Mahmoud was registered grey. The JC keeps track of this stuffâjust pull up your mareâs pedigree on Equineline to trace the color back. Hereâs Runaway Groom, who has Mahmoud on the page.
Whatâs interesting there is Boodle, who was registered âdark grey.â Didnât know that was EVER an option!
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