Gray? or not? Got the DNA results.

[Twisting]

Everything I’ve read has stressed that roans do not have white around their eyes, even if they have white on their faces. My true roan girl has the cutest white “eyeshadow” around her eyes and everyone swears she is going to go gray on me. I decided to go ahead and have her tested for the gene by UC Davis and should have the results any day now. I figured I would give COTH a chance to guess before I know for sure. She is a 2 1/2 year old mustang, no idea what color her parents were.

Do I just have that one in a million roan who has white around the eyes? Or do you think I’m going to have a white pony to keep clean.

Picture of her eye

The whole face

[Simkie]

I’d say grey. Those grey goggles are pretty typical.

[JB]

The vast majority of Roans don’t have white on their head (roaning white, not talking about markings), you are right. But that’s not a hard and fast rule - I have personally seen pictures of a tested Roan, zero Appy lines ,whose head looks like a varnish roan Appy.

The filly pictured looks very much like a gray - it’s that very defined line under her eye that gives it away.

[Sonesta]

In 20 years of breeding that has included lots of Arabians, warmbloods, Appaloosas and Knabstruppers, I have never seen a horse with distinct white hairs around the eyes on a dark face that did NOT eventually gray out.

[MuskokaLakesConnemaras]

My weanling smoky brown roan filly (neither parent is grey, so no chance of it) has more white around her eyes than your baby Her whole head is kinda flecked through with her ears being the only solid colour on her head. So, yes, roans can certainly have more white on them and not go grey.
No idea about yours though if you don’t know mum and dads colours…
Edited to say, mine also has white rings around the bases of her ears

[darkmoonlady]

The fact that her head is dark (not including the white hairs around her eyes says classic bay roan. You could always have her tested to be sure but I say roan. Some roans have more white on places they aren’t “supposed” to have but then again there could be other roaning factors like Sabino or Rabicano at work. Just like the Trakehner that was in another thread, that horse had white hairs evenly distributed over his whole body including his head. Again other factors were at play like Sabino.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=darkmoonlady;6669642]
The fact that her head is dark (not including the white hairs around her eyes says classic bay roan. You could always have her tested to be sure but I say roan. Some roans have more white on places they aren’t “supposed” to have but then again there could be other roaning factors like Sabino or Rabicano at work. Just like the Trakehner that was in another thread, that horse had white hairs evenly distributed over his whole body including his head. Again other factors were at play like Sabino.[/QUOTE]

The horse is only 2 1/2. She has plenty of time to grey out. I have a filly who is the same age who is quite dark–I keep mistaking her for the black horse in the field in her winter woolies. Here she is last spring…see how dark her head is? She is nearly black now–FAR fewer white hairs in her winter coat.

That white eyeliner is SO typical of grey.

[Twisting]

I woke up to my DNA results waiting in my inbox. (I did send them a “hey, it’s been 14 working days and I don’t have my results yet” email last night.) It was like opening a Christmas present. The results are. . .

Red-Factor Result:
E/e - Both black and red factors detected. Either E or e transmitted to
offspring. Basic color is black, bay or brown in the absence of other modifying
genes.

Agouti Result:
A/A - Black pigment distributed in points pattern. Basic color is bay or brown
in the absence of other modifying genes.

Gray Result:
N/N - No copies of the gray gene. Horse will not turn gray.

I’m pretty surprised by that. Just about the first thing people tell me when they see her is. “She’s such a pretty color, what a shame she’s going to go gray.” Guess she’s got folks fooled.

[Sonesta]

Well, that is GREAT news!

[rodawn]

I’m actually not so surprised that she will not be a grey. I have seen plenty of roans around here in Alberta cowboy country and some of those horses have eye rings or pale eyeliner with their ages well past the time they should have greyed out (teenagers).