Why Are White Horses Called Gray?

Any equestrian has experienced the average pedestrian commenting on the pretty white horse out in the pasture or in the arena. Here it comes: the eyeroll, the sigh. "It's called gray, not white." Every equestrian knows that. Duh! However, the embarrassing question of "why" comes and you realize that the question is completely legit. And you don't know the answer.

OK, so most equestrians know that most white horses are called gray, even if they don't know why. Some people like to get technical and specify what kind of gray the horse is: dapple gray, iron gray, rose gray, flea-bitten gray. Whatever. None of those are helpful or relevant, and don't answer the question. Here is the logic behind the fact:

Gray horses are born with the gene called- well, gray - and is abbreviated with a G. What the gene does is it slowly adds more and more white hairs to the horse until it turns completely white....or mostly white. This is called de-pigmentation. Every horse that turns gray does so at a different pace. There are many stages of gray, and each stage looks a little different. The technical terms mentioned earlier are not relevant because gray is a progressive color. Each stage might be permanent, or not.

When gray horses are born, they look like any ordinary foal. Cute, and not white. The gray gene (G) is inherited seperately from other color genes, and gray is not a color by itself. Instead, it modifies and changes an existing color that is already there.

Photo contributed by Katy Heck Anderson

Photo contributed by Giorgia Guzman Lucatti

The next stage: as the horse gets older, more and more white hairs cover the body. Some horses go through a bit of a hyper-pigmentation process, turning their original foal color to something darker, usually a weird shade of dark gray, or appear a bit like a roan because of all the white sprinkled throughout their body. The horse below is the same as the foal in the above picture, at 8 months.

Photo contributed by Giorgia Guzman Lucatti

The dapple gray stage is kind of dicey; some horses remain dapple gray for the rest of their lives, and for some it is very fleeting. A dapple gray is when the horse is mostly covered in white hairs, with some dark shades showing through. Some horses that were originally a red color (chestnut, bay, palomino, etc.) might be reddish in color. Some people like to call those "rose grays", although I prefer to avoid being over-technical as it really doesn't matter. The horse is still gray.

Photo contributed by Kari Topjian-Cohen of Dipity Dew

Photo contributed by Jenna Chasnov

The "finished" gray stage is when the horse has turned completely white. Some horses take a long time to turn completely white, and some don't turn all the way white at all and stay in the dapple stage. This is the most commonly mistaken phase that a horse will be called white because, well, he is.

Photo contributed by Ashley Gerrard

Photo contributed by Johna Racquel Pink

Another very common stage of graying that many horses go through is called flea-bitten gray. Genetically, no one knows why it happens. It usually happens after the horse has turned completely white, although some horses begin developing flea-bites while they are still in the dapple gray phase.

Photo contributed by Heather Kaplan

Some individual breed peculiarities:

-Percherons tend to have an incredibly slow de-pigmentation rate, and typically stay in the dapple gray stage most of their lives. Percherons also do not usually develop flea-bites.

Photo contributed by Lauren Zimmer

-Arabians have the highest tendency to be flea-bitten, and also are known for having the most dramatic dense flea bites than any other breed, although any horse regardless of breed can develop flea-bites. Sometimes they can be so dense the horse almost looks like it is re-pigmenting.

Photo contributed by Melissa Rose Obermann

-Color breeds such as Paints and Appaloosas can also be gray, but because the gray covers up the coveted unique color the individuals are less desireable in breeding programs. The horse below is a grayed-out paint.

Photo contributed by Cassidy Allison

Now, not all white horses are gray, but it is by far the most common white horse color. Other white horse colors include double cream (always have blue eyes), maximum sabino (white with pink skin and dark eyes), and dominant white (same as maximum sabino).

To Breed or Not to Breed, Part 2

In my last post, I talked about whether or not you actually have good reason to breed. In this post, I want to discuss several things to consider about your mare and what you want to produce.

There are a lot of people who try to breed their mare in hopes of getting something different, or new. Such as breeding a really hot Arabian mare to a laid back Quarter horse stud in hopes of getting something exactly in the middle. But that is a terrible way to achieve exactly what you are looking for, and here is why.

Whenever you breed two opposite spectrum horses together, the wider the range of things that could go wrong. Here is an interesting way to look at it: if I grade a horses temperament with a 1 being bombproof and a 10 being a crazy hot horse, what happens if I breed them together? The chance of me getting a horse that is a 5 on the scale is not unlikely, but absolutely any other number on the scale is also possible. The chance of getting a 7 or a 2 are definitely there, or even extreme enough to potentially get a 1 or a 10.

It has been said that stallions help balance out faults, but nothing is ever guaranteed. What if your mare's terrible bowed legs get inherited? Yes, your stallion's conformation was flawless, but you failed to recognize that getting a horse perfectly balanced, or in the middle of the scale, doesn't happen as often as you think. So when I say that you need to want a horse that is exactly like your mare, I truly mean it! If you want to breed your mare to produce something you don't have, chances are it won't turn out the way you expect.

All this interesting stuff to say, that the chances of producing a horse that is athletic in the way you want it to be is greatly improved if both horses are suited to the task. If I want a horse that is a 2 on the temperament scale, breeding horses that are both 2's gives me a huge chance of having a horse that is the same. The next best option would be to breed horses with a 1 and a 3; you would have to be content with the offspring being a 1, 2, or 3, but still all three options are very close to what you were hoping to create.

 If I breed my champion western roping horse to an English dressage horse in hopes of creating a horse that is "more versatile", chances are I will create a horse that isn't very suitable for either. Remember: a horse that is trained is worth more than a horse that isn't, but a horse that is trained in a specific area is worth far more than a horse with general training. The more concentrated your horses athletic area is, the more they are worth, and the more likely they are to pass those traits on because it is already part of their DNA.

Breeding two horses that are good at endurance trails will probably result at least in the same, and in lots of ways it can produce a horse that is even better than it's parents because of the combined talent in the genes. Thoroughbred racing horse breeders are always doing this: combining the most talented horses in their breeding farm in hopes of creating something even faster.

Now, some horses in different disciplines combine well. For example: an endurance Arabian usually crosses well with a Thoroughbred; both are bred for racing, so the result could be an even faster endurance Anglo-Arab. Another example could be that a western roping horse could be bred to a western cutting horse; because both require horses that can be slightly independent, trustworthy, and "cowy"(or with a lot of sense when it comes to working cattle), that is what you can expect to produce. The horse might be better at one or the other, but they are not so far away that the horse couldn't be exceptional at both and at the least you have produced a very sensible working cattle horse. Actually, in my area of the country working cow horses that can do general ranch work are worth far more than horses than can jump 4' in an arena.

You also may need to take into consideration what qualities your mare has that aren't her fault. If she limps, is it through an injury, or conformational fault? I'm always surprised at how many people breed their cranky mares and have the best foals. She might not have always been crabby; has she been abused in the past? My point is, what sort of traits does your mare have that are because of the environment around her and not her fault? My own mare has a bit of a belly but that isn't conformation; that was the result of having two foals. I know that because I have pictures of her before she was a broodmare. If she gave birth to a filly and that filly was used as a broodmare, then I might expect the same thing to happen.

The areas that you need to be completely comfortable with that no amount of 'balancing' can guarantee are:

-Talent
-Height
-Conformation
-Temperament

If you aren't satisfied with your mare in these four areas and don't want something exactly like you've got, then don't breed!

Next up: Is showing my mare important before I breed?

To Breed, or Not to Breed: Part 1

Have you ever been interested in the idea of breeding your horse? If you're like me and you like to dream, then you've probably been all over Craigslist and different breeding websites finding just the right stallion; you might even have the name picked out and are imagining competing on a foal that doesn't even exist!

However: circumstances change. You can't guarentee that you will own this foal forever, no matter how much you love him. Let's go extreme and just ask the question, what happens if you die? Or he comes up so lame he can never be ridden again? Or hay prices sky-rocket and you can't afford him anymore? Your horse will probably be sold, hopefully you will make even a little money from the sale. But in order to be given money to take the horse off your hands, someone needs to want your horse.What makes a horse wantable?

Lots of people breed their mares for sentimental reasons. Some just want a baby with "color", whatever that means. Some think that as long as the horse is trained really really well, it doesn't matter what kind of horse they produce. Some breed for the experience, some want to raise a baby, some want to have a project that they can start as a blank slate. A horse with lots of general training is worth more than a horse with none, and a horse with very specific training is worth even more than a horse with general training. 

You may or may have not noticed, but I have an equine genetics blog. I am really tuned into the color genetics aspect of breeding. I'm just going to say it: I live in Idaho. Colored horses are a really big deal around here. In fact, so much so that there are just as many paints as there are plain chestnuts. Right now, people are practically giving away their grade paint horses. They wanted a horse with color and they got it. Now they don't want it, and it turns out that their "colored" horse wasn't as unique as they thought.

There are all kinds of reasons some horses are more desirable than others. But the one factor that never changes or goes out of style is that horses with papers are worth twice as much money as a horse without. Why? 

A horse with papers can be shown or competed; showing in itself can actually make money and is a huge hobby and sport. Anyone who shows is willing to pay more money for a horse that they can show on than a horse who can't be shown on. Also: a horse with papers, no matter if they can be ridden or not, can produce more horses with papers. If your papered mare comes up lame and physically can't do more than sit in a pasture, she can still have worth as a breeding mare. If the same thing happens to your grade mare, you might not be able to find a home for her. I was hoping to avoid it, but the unavoidable topic to bring up is horse slaughter. Not that you would intentionally send a horse to slaughter, but there are people who pick up unwanted horses for a free and sell them for a profit to be killed for canine (or even human) consumption.

There are a lot of people who think that if you don't breed horses professionally, you shouldn't be breeding at all because your horse has a chance of ending up at the slaughterhouse, or you're being selfish by not saving a horse from the slaughterhouse and breeding yourself. I don't agree with this mentality; if you have very good reasons for breeding, specifically with the mindset of making sure your horse is valuable to someone else, then they hopefully will not end up at the slaughterhouse. 

I also don't think it is selfish to not rescue, rehabilitate, or buy a slaughterhouse horse. Yes, I know there are many horses who are perfectly good who are ending up being slaughtered, however you do have to consider that there might be a very good reason they weren't wanted. What if you go in with the intention of saving a horse and want a life-long partner, but you realize a week after bringing him home that he isn't mentally stable, or has a genetic disease like HYPP that can't be cured? You may have just made a huge mistake and may need to put him down. A huge heartache, waste of time and money.

Here is a good checklist for your mare; these are not definite deciding factors, but is the best guideline for first time breeders particularly to have all 8 as a yes.

1. Is she in good health?
2. Has she foaled before?
3. Is she registered?
4. If so, are you even interested in producing another foal with the same registry?
5. Has she had a 5-panel genetic test done?
6. Does she have good conformation?
7. Has your mare been shown? Successfully, unsuccessfully, or not at all?
8. Lastly, are you willing to produce a horse than you know someone else will want?

In the next part, I'm going to talk a little more about some other factors in determining whether your mare is actually suitable for breeding; this was more of a do you actually have good, substantial reasons for breeding.

All the pictures in this post are free stock photos found on pixabay.com or publicdomainpictures.net.