Grey horse disease?

Question

ive heard that grey horses can get a really bad disease. is this true? if so is it common? or is it like with any other horse that theres risks to buying it? the reason im asking is because i want to get a horse and i really like grey horses, but i dont want to look at them if they have a good chance of getting this disease.

Answer 1

really its not true grey horses you should be worried about. they have black skin. Its white horses with pink skin that can get cancer. Really, even they can be kept in during sunny parts of the day and you can put sunscreen on them.

Answer 2

Grey horses are more prone to cancerous tumors than other colored horses for some reason, but as far as I know other than that their immune systems are fairly normal in comparison with other horses. I have encountered two greys that have had to be euthanized due to cancer.

Answer 3

I belive you are talking about melanoma. It is a type of skin cancer that is very malignant in humans, but is really not so bad for horses. They can and do get tumors, but the tumors are very slow growing, and rarely cause any other problems unless they are located in an area where they are irritated by movement, such as the shoulder or hip. Usually the tumors are in the tail area. The tumors are usually so slow growing that the only treatment is 'watchful waiting.' Since it usually occurs in older horses and is slow growing, usually something else will kill the horse before the cancer does.

There are probably cases of fast growing melanomas in horses that required real treatment, but those are not common.

Horses of any color can get melanoma, but it is most common in gray horses. In fact, I read that some 80% of older gray horses develop melanoma.

Some people will not breed or buy gray horses because of the melanoma risks, but in my experience it is usually quite manageable.

Answer 4

Color has nothing to do with the diseases. Your location, your horses genetics and background along with regular inoculations(shots) are the factors for disease. However there are cases were genetics link disease to color. I only know of one such disease....   Overo Lethal White Syndrome (OLWS) is a condition that occurs in newborn foals. The condition is genetic, and both parents carry the defective gene. Horses that carry this gene are most commonly overo white patterned horses (frame overos), but there are exceptions. The defective gene has been found in American Paint Horses, American Miniature Horses, Half-Arabians, Thoroughbreds, and cropout Quarter Horses (foals born to registered Quarter Horse parents that have too much white to qualify for registration with the American Quarter Horse Association).

Answer 5

The only disease I have ever heard of which gray horses carry a slightly higher risk for is melanoma, which is a kind of skin cancer that can invade the horse's body through the rectal or genital area. But the risk of any horse getting this disease varies widely from breed to breed, and most gray horses never develop it at all. I have known at least 3 gray horses in my long life with them, and only one of them ever got this disease- which incidentally is slow growing and easily treated when it's in the early stages.

I would not use the infinitely small chance of a horse's contracting this disease as an excuse to avoid looking at or buying a gray horse, if you like that color. I myself love grays, especially ones whose coats turn a brilliant silver in the summer. They are lovely to look at, and they are really flashy in the show ring.

Answer 6

I've known several gray horses (older ones) who had melanomas, in fact my own gray mare had them.  I have never known any grays who had problems with them, though.  I adore gray horses and wouldn't dream of ruling them out as potential purchases just because of a slightly higher risk than other horses.  Honestly, I don't think it's that big of a factor.