So, I have a gray horse, and I know that she was born black (or black-ish anyway). I don’t know what color her tail was at birth, though.
She’s dapple gray now (at age 9), with a black mane and a blond tail. The tail has some short black hairs at the base, but the tail is otherwise virtually all blonde.
Why? I’m sure there’s a simple answer but I don’t know enough about coat colors to know the answer.
Blonde? Do you mean flaxen? My grey mare was a dark steel colour when I bought her 8 years ago, dark mane and tail. Now she is flea bit with almost white mane and tail- when they are clean anyway! I would call her tail blonde (ie yellow) by the end of the winter but that is because she is not great at lifting her tail out of the way. I am an expert on tail bagging these days!
My experience is that it’s usually staining of white hair, honestly. The tail is a lot more prone to contact with feces (and urine in mares), and also mud and such when they lay down. Each individual tail hair is around a lot longer than a coat hair (which is replaced at least twice a year) so it’s got more time to be exposed to things with the potential to stain. I think the physical character of the hair is also more susceptible to staining than body hair.
Thanks for your responses. I’m not sure I know the difference between blonde and flaxen, but the tail is a very light color with yellow-gold tones.
The name of the color (or of the possible urine stains!) wasn’t really my question though.
I understand that horses who become gray are born a particular coat color and then gray out. But I’m curious about the combination of the black mane with the blonde (or flaxen, or white-ish) tail.
I am assuming (since I don’t know for sure) that her tail was also dark or black when she was younger. Is the lightening of the tail also a function of the graying out process?
Not a vet or colour expert, but just as the pigment producing cells change and the coat colour lightens as the horse ages, so do the pigment producing cells for the tail hairs. This is highly variable in each horse, some stay much darker all their lives but most do get lighter. Mane and tail can lighten at different rates form coat colour.
Her tail has greyed faster than her mane. And is stained. There is a thread in Horse Care with a recipe to whiten stained tails if you want. But yes, the grey gene affects all hair, not just the body.
The dreaded yellow tail
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I will say that I have the same thing with a pony I bought for my daughter. He was a dark dappled grey when I got him, but his tail was already yellow. It gets stained, but the yellow is not because of staining. If you look closely at his tail he has a ton of blonde and brown hairs mixed in with white and black. The trainer who started him told me that he was born a palomino and that’s why and I nodded along and thought, “that makes sense!” Until I started thinking about the fact that palominos have flaxen manes and tails, not yellow, lol!
It doesn’t matter how much we work to whiten the tail, there is no way (short of bleaching) to make my guy’s tail “white.”
Vanity? the same as some people dye their hair?
So you’re thinking my mare was going for highlights and just left the hair-color in too long? Totally possible! (And that explains all the Miss Clairol cartons in the trash.):winkgrin:
My arab was dark chocolate mottled coat with black points, black mane and black n white tail at 3 when we got him. At 21 he was snow white with light freckles in the summer.
I think… (also not being a color expert!) the other thing to consider is what the base coat color is of the horse. My horse was born a chesnut, grayed out, has a very flea bitten coat now at age 12. His mane is black, white, and brown. His tail was a two tone black and white and is now slowly graying out to white. I could see how the tail could be blonde (flaxen) if the base coat with chesnut with a flax mane and tail.
Also, palominos often have colored hair mixed in with the white. That’s why the registry has limits for how much color can be found in the mane and tail. I had a palomino once upon a time too, apparently I’m a glutton for punishment on the white tail front :eek:
My grey horse was multicolored when I first got him at 4, then turned very dark/steel grey, mane was same color, tail had grey/silver, white and chestnut hairs in it - sounds gross but his tail was/is very pretty. His mane stayed pretty dark until recently but is still grey, his tail is pretty white- when clean, but still has some grey/silver hairs mixed in at the top. So the bottom line is - the greys change color
Your horse will likely totally grey out in time. What you’re describing is sometimes described as a ‘skunk tail’ - from the color not the urine (hah!). Greys can be a true grey to a snow white. The yellow is likely more from sun than urine stains.
You can use “Show Sheen” to get rid of the yellow - unless it’s truly a flaxen. You didn’t mention your breed or what the colors of dam and sire. Course, I have a chestnut out of two greys. I have one snow-white grey that was totally black at birth and stayed that way for a long time. His body went grey long before his mane and tail.
She’s Irish Draught. Sire is black, dam is gray. Foal pictures of my horse show her as a dark, dark, coal gray-black.
If it’s the horse in your profile pic, I would lean toward a stained tail. Not saying she is dirty, the stained tail on a grey horse is the bane of many a horse owner’s existence.
Human hair also does the same thing. Blondes and people with white/gray hair can experience yellowing or brassy colored hair as well. Hair with light or no pigment tends to be more porous than hair with darker pigments, and porous hair tends to absorb things found in the environment. For blonde and gray/white-haired humans that usually tends to be dirt, scalp oils, minerals from water (think showers, pools, etc) air pollutants, and smoke.
Horses tails are probably picking up more stains from natural water, urine, dirt, maybe oils the skin on their tails produce, and also air pollutants to some degree. Their hair is also usually washed significantly less frequently than human hair and I imagine the coarseness of the hair probably also helps it hold onto stains better.
Blue or purple shampoo usually helps get rid of the yellowing, although if you’re not showing most people will simply deal with having a yellow tail on a regular basis as too much washing can turn hair brittle and dry.
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