Grey colours?

Question

i have a grey pony, and he has shedded out to white apart from in a few places ie around his hindquarters but only around his hamstring and around his knees and hocks.

but the strange thing is he has a few fleabiteen spots on him, but you can only see them when he is getting a bath( otherwise i havent noticed them hehe lol) but he seems to get more and more whenever i give him a bath. i only bath him whenhe is ABSOLUTELY filthy though. so what i want to know is there any way to stop fleabittenness and getting more fleabites? do fleabitten horses do well on the show circuit? also what would i call him? would i call him grey, dapple grey or fleabitten grey?

Answer 1

Well in the hunter/jumper world they actually are popular, especially in ponies. In horses, they are very flashy and most judges like them. But also, does he have dapples? If so, I would say he is a dappled grey, if he doesn't and you can see the fleatbitten spots when hes dry, then hes fleabitten. If hes just grey, you would call him grey.

Also I'm not quite sure, but if he really is getting more and more fleatbitten spots, my best guess would be that they are from the sun!

Answer 2

Hi there.

You're right in some points - they have never identified a true albinio horse.  But there certainly are true white solid horses, there are also ones that look almost white such as pale cremellos, older grey horses that have turned white, and sabinos with almost no other color.

But I want to point out that many white horses have light skin, perhaps not truely white, but it is pink.

I show Paints.  One of my horses is 90% white and 10% black.  The skin under his white hair is pink.  The skin under his black hair is dark.  Therefore he easily sunburns on his face where the skin is pink.  When he's wet you can see some spots of dark skin under the white hair, and vice versa, it gives his dark spots a "halo" effect.

I've read that grey horses are considered one of the most popular colors.  This is true in both Western and English events.  Grey is not so terribly popular in the Paint breed, where I show, since most horses whiten as they age, and the obvious white patches then disappear, so the horses doesn't look like a Paint anymore!

Many trainers feel that you need to be better than average if you ride a grey or horse of a unique color since you will stand out to the judge.

By the way - are you joking about the fleabitten color thing?  It's always hard to tell if people are serious or not when you read their notes and don't see their expressions.  Obviously, the term fleabitten doesn't mean that fleas actually are bitting them, causing the dark spots!!!  It means it appears that way, but it is simply a color gene effecting the way they grey but still retain dark hairs in their coat.  Just like some people go totally grey, but others get salt and pepper type hair.

Answer 3

Your pony is most likely a Flea Bitten Grey. Although they typically have more flea bitten spots on them, some horses have very few. Most Flea Bitten Greys are born the color of their spots, but then their coat gradually changes to a greyish color. In some cases, such as your horse's case, the change is very suttle, but in others, such as the Flea Bitten Grey Arabian I ride, the change is dramatic. The Arabian I ride was born a chessnut color, but as she got older her coat turned grey and developed brown spots.

Answer 4

He'll be called fleabitten gray (sorry).  I know of nothing to mask or get rid of it...but there's a lot I don't know!

Answer 5

First off, a white horse is an albino horse, which is more of a pink color. A white horse has white skin. The grey, commonly mistaken for a white horse, has black skin and white fur.

Those spots are just on his skin and not on his fur. You can see through to his skin when he is wet. The show circuits won't take off points because of a horse's color. And as for what to call him, probably a fleabitten grey.