All greys have melanomas, so basically don’t get a grey, If you don’t want to deal with them. I don’t like to think that my horse would have 80% chance to have them.
I own a gray horse - actually 2…One is 21; bought him 8+ years ago, knowing he had melanomas; there has been no material change in the ones I can see. He is sassy, strong and fit. My other horse is not yet 10, no signs at this point. Knew a welsh pony years ago who died at about 30, had melanomas for years. I’ve known of numerous gray horse owners over the years, dont remember any that lost a horse due to melanomas. So - I would take the risk again. But that’s me. My horse with the biggest health problems is a chestnut mare… 
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As Scribber said “Most die from something else.” Nowhere near “99.9% chance of death because of them.”
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My gray mare had a few very small melanomas by mid teens. What I have heard is yes, grays will get melanomas but they don’t amount to much.
Colored horses that get melanomas, (not nearly as often but when they do) get really sick.
Had an appendix Grey that got under the tail melanomas in late teens. In his mid 20s it was annoying as he would get bouts of loose manure that required cleaning often but we euthanized at age 25 due to advanced arthritis and mobility issues.
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I have purchased one gray in my life. He was 3 when I bought him and already had melanomas. Like a dumb azz, I bought him mostly because I felt sorry for him in general. Did not know a thing about melanomas in grays at the time and figured you just had them removed and voila! Problem solved!
Well, here’s our journey after I had owned him for a few years:
Buying a gray is a risk. Buying a horse with early onset melanomas is an even bigger risk. BUT the important thing to remember these days is that IF the gray you buy has or gets melanomas, there are treatment options now. Prior to maybe 10-12 years ago, the options were almost nonexistent and had little to no proof of efficacy. There are more options these days and some, like Oncept, really do work in many cases and the science is there to back them up.
It’s amazing to me that, almost 10 years into this journey, that many vets don’t even know about the options, much less the horse person on the street. We aren’t quite there yet, but the risk appears to be lessening so that it’s not a doom and gloom situation if they do develop.
Hope this has been helpful!
Here’s the gray wonder in all his glory. He’s 17 now and living his best retired life with his buddy.
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I have had care and custody of 2 grays.
One was a lease horse. He had a few stable melanomas on his tail dock. He he was euthanized at age 29 due to recurrent laminitis and founder.
The other is my current horse. She is 21 this year. She is getting what I consider a fair burden on her tail dock. Most at present are pea sized. One is about jack ball sized. She has a small one next to her vuvla. Her first one was on her when I bought her…at 2 yo. I had that one removed and it did not recur. She had 2-3 pencil eraser sized ones on the insides of her thighs in her pre-teen years but those disappeared. Had I seen that one during her PPE, I don’t think I would have bought her but no one saw it…you had to crank her tail up over her back and that wasn’t done during the PPE. I found it while working on desensitizing her to having her tail and back end handled.
I probably won’t have another horse after she is gone but if I did, I would not buy another gray. Not so much for the melanoma issue but rather the trying to keep them somewhat clean looking…it is a giant pain 
.
Susan
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My local vets, and I have a few, haven’t seen any really notable response to Oncept or other treatment options. Overall, the description is “disappointing.” That’s certainly been my personal experience as well.
The fact there were treatment options that looked hopeful in making a real, actual gains in addressing melanoma is one of the things that made me feel okay about buying a grey. Unfortunately, it seems they don’t do much in A LOT of horses.
I have no experience with Grey horses and Melanomas. However I have heard/read the same statistics that the original poster has described about grey horses and their potential to get them.
Interestingly enough, I have a dun colored Quarter Horse, he’s really light, people think he’s a buckskin. Anyways, he developed a melanoma just inside his left nostril about 3 years ago. It grew so fast. Local vet removed it at the barn, but got dirty margins. She told me melanomas in horses other than greys are likely aggressive and the outlook for him was guarded. So I took him to Purdue university for a chemotherapy shot at the removal site. It has not returned. While at Purdue, they pointed out two very small bumps on his face, said those are also likely melanomas, and said I could just watch them if I wanted. Neither one has grown or changed. He’s 25 now, and has had other issues in his old age, but nothing related to the melanomas.
The vets at Purdue were a little surprised he had them to begin with, but they didn’t seem totally “shocked”.
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I almost typed this exact thing in my earlier response. Prior to buying my first gray 8 + years ago, I was vocal about not wanting one due to the cleaning challenge. I also did not want to own a stallion (which he is). Several months into a part lease and he completely won me over.
I had two greys. One had a small melanoma on the underside of her tail and vets disagreed on whether it was a melanoma or she had broken her tail at some point. Thai one lived for a very very long time and was ridden through her twenties and put down in her thirties for arthritis. The other had no melanomas and was put down for a completely different kind of cancer in her late teens.
I was told later by my vet that when looking at potential horses to check a grey all over for melanomas. If one or two were found in an older horse not to worry. If several were found in a younger horse, pass.
I have had 3 greys…one passed at age 30, one died at age 23 of colic, and the third one is still with me, at age 20…still in work with lower level dressage.
As far as keeping them clean…all horses get dirty. I also have two bays. The dirt doesn’t show as much but they like roll in the mud and get plastered with the best of them and the hand that wields the curry has to work just as hard
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I’ve had 2 greys- my daughter’s mare developed a small melanoma on her dock around age 12, never grew larger.
My mare is 18, and no sign of any.
I have a grey/white pinto Arab cross who is about 24 to 26 years old. He has one spot under his tail where he has a bump. It has not changed in 5 years. It doesn’t really look like melanoma but it may be.
I know of 2 greys that were euthanized due to melanomas.
Another friend had a grey OTTB that livec to late 20s with no melanomas.
4 grey ponies at barn I work at. One is 32 or 33 this year the other 3 are late teens. No melanomas for any of them
I would not get a grey again due to most liking to wallow in mud.
I’ve got a 28 year old grey with maybe one external melanoma (not entirely sure it is a melanoma) on his inner thigh. Interestingly, also an Arab cross.
I’ve known several greys with melanomas (none mine).
One needed a permanent trach tube to breathe.
One had masses on her rump that would break open and ooze inky black fluid down her legs.
One dropped dead in the pasture, necropsy found a melanoma in his chest bigger than his heart (and attached to it.) He had no external melanomas.
I won’t buy a grey.
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I’ve currently have 2 greys …my Dutch mare will be 12 this year …I’ve owned her since 4yrs old, and my Hanoverian geld will be 16yr and I’ve had him for about 6yrs now …my mare does have a couple very small melanomas and same for my geld …their size hasn’t changed and they don’t cause any issue for either of them …I did also have a grey tb mare who died at the age of 15…(I owned her about 10 yrs)not due to melanoma though …I guess for me the possibility of melanoma doesnt put me off of getting one at all …I have a horse of just about every other color as well and every single one of them has other problems 
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I have had two grey horses. One no longer (I sold him) and one current.
The one I sold I bought as a 6 month old, and had to retire him from barrel racing at age 10. (found out he had a congenital issue with his neck) He never had any melanomas (that I know of). I still keep in touch with the family I sold him to for a leisure trail riding horse and he’s doing great.
The horse that I have now, I bought her at age 5. When I bought her, during the PPE, vet found a superficial skin lesion on her belly which we did remove and it was melanoma. Later that year, another one popped up on her jaw, which we removed. Knock on wood, she hasn’t had any more pop up. She is 7 this year and the thought is always in the back of my mind, that she could someday have internal ones or continue to have external ones. She’s a lovely horse and I wouldn’t trade her for the world, so I guess it’s worth the risk.
I had a friend who had to put down her grey horse about 2 years old. However, I think he was about 18 years old?? He had some internal melanomas that were causing some issues, including one around his rectum.
I’d add, if it isn’t common knowledge, that melanomas on grey horses aren’t exactly cancer that will spread to other organs, like human melanomas from sun damage. They are a factor of how the greying process handles melanin. But melanomas on nongrey horses can be true cancer
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My pony had melanoma with only visible ones under the tail. He lived to be almost 30. Perhaps internal melanoma contributed to him doing poorly towards the end, because he started losing some interest in food and having some trouble eating. But he had a good, long life. I have seen melanoma in more obtrusive areas on other horses with varying outcomes on athletic career. I have not known one personally that had to be put down because of it. Had a friend with an older gray that we thought would eventually have to, but he wound up passing from colic that did not appear to be related to any internal tumors.
