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about gray

I have a couple of gray mares. I am amazed at the comments and ideas people have about gray/grey. so what 'do' we know about gray?? One parent must be gray. Gray turns whiter with age. I have heard that a homozygous gray will whiten faster than a single copy. (However, my single copy girl is turning white quickly and is much whiter than the other gray at the same age) My observation is gray is not as bothered by bugs or nose flies as badly as bays. (No chestnut-no observation) Someone has proposed that you can always tell a gray base color by the leg color. A bay gray will have dark points and dark legs. Personally I am not sure about that, I know one of my grays is a chestnut base, she seems to have dark legs,(dark being a reletive term). The other gray (unknown base) is changing more slowly and does have darker points. Wondering......could lighter bases turn whiter faster than darker bases? please jump in........

rabbitsfizz Fri, 08/20/2010 - 03:01

How about Appies?
I see an awful lot of that "vitiligo nose and eyes" thing in Appies, is it just horrid markings?

CMhorses Fri, 08/20/2010 - 15:47

I thought it was the norm for appaloosa colored horses to have depigmentation of the skin (mottled skin). But are they born with it or does it develop later/throughout life?

colorfan Fri, 08/20/2010 - 19:01

Has anyone seen any connection between the grays that get whiter faster and their mane color?
Three horses do not a study make but out of three, two have a significantly darker mane and tail and both are slower graying and seem to have a larger proportion of dark hair mixed with their white, the other one has little dark hair in her mane, her tail is lighter than the other two and she is overall lighter.
Age wise she is right in the middle of the two darker ones.

accphotography Mon, 08/23/2010 - 21:11

[quote="CMhorses"]I thought it was the norm for appaloosa colored horses to have depigmentation of the skin (mottled skin). But are they born with it or does it develop later/throughout life?[/quote]

It is totally normal for horses with LP. Expected even.

It can develop later in life.

His was clearly there even in the earlier photos, just not as much of it.

rabbitsfizz Tue, 08/24/2010 - 05:56

There is a specific type of appy marking that looks like vitiligo, though. It is hideous pinky on usually dark animals.

NZ Appaloosas Sun, 08/29/2010 - 16:30

[quote="CMhorses"]I thought it was the norm for appaloosa colored horses to have depigmentation of the skin (mottled skin). But are they born with it or does it develop later/throughout life?[/quote]

Yep. :rofl

Seriously, Lp can be born with mottling, develop mottling, and even develop more after being born with it. There are genes (or gene) that appear to suppress Lp, but these appear more frequently in females that are black-based.

Diane

Third Peppermint Mon, 08/30/2010 - 14:47

[quote="NZ Appaloosas"]There are genes (or gene) that appear to suppress Lp, but these appear more frequently in females that are black-based.[/quote]

Reeeeeaaally? Somehow I missed this! Can you elaborate? I remember hearing about black-based, but not the female part.

Threnody Tue, 08/31/2010 - 21:16

I believe its been determined that stallions' testosterone can increase general white expression as opposed to mares (even in pinto patterns, not just apps (Lp)). I don't remember the exact percentages, but something like up to 20%.

The Appaloosa Project also mentioned that the amount of white and Lp expression can vary over the course of the horse's lifetime. Some stallion's amount of white will reduce after gelding or as they age and their testosterone levels naturally reduce over time. They can get "reverse varnish roan", literally areas that varnished out over time will start regaining color, but the white patterned areas themselves often stay fairly unchanged.

Also some mare's lp expression will change during or right after pregnancy. I've seen some mares who were appy bred, but determined to be Non Characteristic (no Lp) and all of a sudden start expressing varnishing and skin mottling.

Jenks Thu, 09/02/2010 - 07:15

[quote="Monsterpony"]It seems to be very rare in non-grays and some have been linked to nutrition problems.[/quote]

What kind of nutrition problems?