The Grey Color in Horses

My stallion, Patrick is white. His mane and tail are white and his body is white, but his skin is dark and techinically he is a grey horse. His registration papers say he is grey born chestnut and the books about the geneitics of color say that grey is not a color but an over color that eventually masks all other colors. Many breed registries require that the color of a foal at birth must be recorded on all greys and if there is any doubt about the color of a foal with a grey parent then something like "bay or grey" can be recorded. Grey is a dominant gene and if a horse has the grey gene he will be grey. A horse will not be grey unless he has a grey parent.

Many foals of a grey parent will be born with grey rings around their eyes and the rest of their body will be another color. The head usually shows the grey first with the tips of the ears following the eyes and then coming down the nose. Chestnut foals frequently turn a beautiful rosey grey while some turn a dark liver chestnut before greying out. The mane and tails frequently show grey hairs early and may turn white before the rest of the body. Frequently the darker colored foals turn a dark grey and then slowly over many years get lighter and lighter, but I have seen some turn white quickly. Patrick was already white when I bought him at age 4 and one of his fillies is almost white at 2 years of age while another born the same year is still mostly bay with white hairs sprinkled throughout her head and body.

All my foals are turning grey and some look wonderful with each change and others look like they are molting. The pictures above show the greying of Polaris, Patrick's 2004 colt. Eventually they are all beautiful!