I love all the crazy combinations of colors that horses come in, though my favorite changes with the weather. For a long time it was a silver grulla (black with a dun gene)...
and then my preference faded to a different kind of dun- a dunskin (dun with a creme gene or buttermilk dun)...
But then I went on this dunalino, (red horse with dun and the creme gene) kick for a while....
Right now I just appreciate a pretty horse in any color. Though lately I've been on a bit of a gray kick. The problem is that gray seems to come in every shade imaginable and to top it off, a gray horse never seems to stay the same color season by season or year by year. They can start off looking like your average bay foal.....
But turn in to a dark steel gray yearling....
And at two you may see the gray starting to take over...
But by four or five your thinking maybe he'll stay dark after all....
But then maybe at 6 his head starts to turn white... giving you a neat looking horse with a dark body light gray face...
And that gray creeps down his neck ...
and lightens his body...
Until finally you end up with a stunning "white" horse....
Or not...
Thats just it, with grays you never really know. Most get increasingly gray as they get older but some start the graying process later in life....just like people. I know a mare that at 10 still looked like this...
But by 15 she was nearly solid white...
When I was about 13 I knew this gray Arabian mare named Jazz. She looked just like this mare...
Only minus the sash. I LOVED her. Her mane fell past her shoulder and her forelock nearly touched her nostrils. I used to dream about that mare... about the silver dapples on her legs and belly and the white rippling lines over her body that reminded me of the way a pool of water throws patterns of light against the underside of a boat....
When I was a little girl I used to dream I owned a horse that was white with black socks and a black mane and tail. I thought that it was a magically color because it didn't exists in real life....
But clearly I was wrong.Gray is a truly magical color (or shade I should say). Gray is the most dominant of all color genes. It trumps all others.... meaning you can have any color of horse under the sun but if there is a gray gene in there they will inevitably turn gray. Though with some grays you can see what color they are underneath ...
My old mare Ellie was a sorrel, with a champagne gene, with a gray gene.... which turned her the color of oatmeal. In some light this mare looked pink. Really. I guess because her skin was all pink with gray freckles (the effect of the champagne gene)....
This dark rose gray probably would have been a deep chestnut or liver color....
While this gelding might have been a light sorrel...
And he might have been a buckskin or light bay.....
I really like this gelding (he is for sale). And I love his color too...he is actually a dun (still showing his dun factor in other pictures) that is turning gray.... I knew another mare like this and she was the same pretty misty color...her name was Cloudy.
I believe that black horses make the kind of gray that turn a steely blue ...
Even a flea bitten gray still shows his true color with either dark flecks.....
Or red....
The easiest way to know what color a horse would have been is to catch them when they are young and the gray hasnt had time to cast its silver hue.... 15 years from now these horses will all most likely be white...
My personal favorite shade of gray right now is a blue steel dapple reminiscent of my first gray horse love, Jazz....
Though a hint of rose adds a nice touch....
But then as a horse gets grayer the dapples can loose their charm....
Really, grays come in every shade...
Steel.....
Tarnished steel....
Appy Steel :)
Silver...
Nearly black....
Nearly white....
Or somewhere right in between....
Some are light with black mane and tail....
While others are dark with white mane and tail...
No matter the shade...
No matter the age...
I do love a gray.
Which is your favorite?
I grew up riding grey Arabians, so grey has lost it's fascination with me (pee stains - need I say more?). When I was a kid I really wanted a black stallion (Who didn't?). I've been fortunate to have owned buckskins, blacks, palominos and duns in the meantime - so ironically enough my favorite color is a deep brown or liver chestnut. Also think the chestnut with the flaxen mane is very attractive too. Good post.
ReplyDeleteMy Arab Brandy was born bay and white pinto, she started turning grey around 3, her bay is now fleabitten! I do wish she would have stayed bay in color but unfortunately she got the greying gene!
ReplyDeleteMy absolute fav colors are bay, black, sorrel with flaxen mane and tail and I do love the dark dapple greys, even though they will turn white someday!
Thanks for stopping by my blog the other day and commenting on my fear issue with Fritzy! I really appreciate it, and always like to see how everyone deals with their fears!
Thanks for throwing in the Appy! ;) I love the dapple grays, but the dunskin was my favorite, wow! Gorgeous. I wish I could have one in every color!
ReplyDeleteThe one after the Appy... But they are all gorgeous...
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Thanks.
Helen
I'm a sucker for spots, and I found out I have a penchant for flashy copper red roans when I went to the Appy World Show 2 years ago. Sadly, the judges seemed to turn up their noses at them.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Jaz's baby pix and he was black as can be. He's getting chestnut flea specks every summer now, but someday I have no doubt he'll be completely white.
Recently, Heather has said Poco might roan out whiter as he ages. That's hard for me to picture. But I swear, with Apps and roans you never know quite what exactly they will do.
Oh, I love greys too. I was determined that when I bought my first horse as an adult, it would be a dappled grey arab. I actually looked at two, but they were both untrained 3 yr olds and common sense took over.
ReplyDeleteI like the grey for sale and the two grey QHs down near the bottom the best - course I like any unique colour...
I would be interested to see pictures of Rusty when he was young to see if he was a more solid chestnut with a blanket or something and then has roaned out over the years...
Oh - by the way, the RCMP musical ride is touring all over BC this summer, so you may get your chance to see it! Here's the schedule in case you are interested - http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/mr-ce/tour-eng.htm
Black and grey are my personal favorites.
ReplyDeleteI am also fond of roans.
Like you, my likings have changed over the years too. That gray is a funny thing. Appy gelding we had for two years was really really dark in the summer. I mean dark bay with a couple large white spots on my hind. The second summer we had him, almost pure light silver colored and dark spots. NO ONE believed it was the same horse. It was just so amazing.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am partial to paints. Mostly bay and white paint. My pretty spotted girl is all I need right now. I like the unusual. I don't like the horse that looks like everyone else has. Those that you have posted that are light body and black hair, I really do like those too.
(and as a side note, I see one of your photographs is by Mark Pedersen. He's the photographer that I talk about helping out on my blog. He calls when he has shows near me, waves the moolah in my face and I always seen to have nothing to do but go help him out, lol!)
I meant winter. The Appy was really really dark in the winter and completely grayed out in the summer. lol I need to reread more often. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteCasey is black with a mousey tone when he's body clipped. Maybe he's more of a gruella underneath? He was more of a dark bay with his winter coat but is shedding out to a lovely jet black.
ReplyDeleteI love greys, I love blacks, I love palominos, I love a nice bay with lots of chrome. It's the whole package for me. The conformation, the look in the horse's eye, the coat coloring and the personality.
And really, right now I love being able to say, "I ride a Dark Horse".
What a great post! There are so many shades of grey and you found them ALL! Good job! I am partial to bays and their dilutes, including buckskins. Gold horses are nice too, but fairly few have the nice head and neck I crave.
ReplyDeleteThere is a great article on the Creme and PEARL gene in this months issue of the Paint Horse Mag. Excellently done with lots of pictures of the gene in place. Fascinating reading!
I saw my neighbor's mare color in their, that flea bitten grey with the rose color, as if she was once a sorrel.
ReplyDeleteHer mare is due to have a foal next month. I'm so excited!
She is hoping for a bay, since that is the color of the sire. But if what you say is correct, it sounds like even if the foal is bay, it will turn to grey as it matures. sigh....
My favorite was the steely blue. Wow!
Great post on horse colors. That buttermilk dun was gorgeous! I really like that color, too.
~Lisa
i have to say your post is great. i enjoyed looking at alll these different greys... though you havnt seem to have found a grey like my boy yet. and i have a link to a picture of him! hes a running quarter horses, TB, arab cross. and hes got a black mane and legs and black and grey tail, with blood colour flea bites taking over his dapples. hes also got blood marks taking over his shoulder.. (hoping he might get that bloody shoulder) hes only 10. so we will see!
ReplyDeletehttp://tinypic.com/r/30sx4es/7
ReplyDeleteheres a picture :)