> down very nicely. I try to avoid greys for several reasons, even though I
> really like dapples. First of all, I can't keep them clean. Secondly,
> white legs tend to get scratches worse (of course, socks on a dark horse
> are just as vulnerable. Third, sunburn, no explanation needed. Finally,
> in the neoplasia course I had last year, every other signalment was grey
> horses. They seem to get every cancer known to horsedom. My prof said
> there is no such thing as an older cancer-free grey horse.
>
It is my understanding that sunburn is a function of the pink skin
underneath white markings (and greys--rather than white horses--have
black skin under their grey hair), so I am not sure that the sunburn
issue is an issue with greys. I believe this would also be true of the
scratches question (as it is skin color rather than hair color that is
more prone to scratches--although I have heard this is an old wives tale
and that scratches is more a function of soil content than anything
else). I certainly haven't found that my horses gets scratches any worse
on his front feet, the white ones, than he does on his back feet, the red
ones--I have found it more the opposite, but I believe that is because
they are the back feet. Anybody else found that scratches occur more on
the back than the front?
With regard to cooling an coat color, I don't know if this is meaningful,
BUT, when I was trail/endurance training my paint horse (who was about
half sorrel and half white--very flashy) that he always worked up
noticeably more sweat on the white part of his body than on the sorrel
part, and there was a noticeable wet/dry line that coincided exactly with
the change of color in his coat pattern. I thought it rather odd,
because it seems to me that it ought to be the other way around (white
reflecting the heat, dark absorbing the heat. Go figure. I never really
considered it a particularly relevant question as the endurance horse I
ride is chestnut, and I am not going to trade him in because of his
color. (Besides which, I have always been partial to chestnuts for the
totally stupid reason that Man o' War was a chestnut and I had a love
affair with Man o' War as a child--I carry that partiality with me into
adulthood recognizing that it is rather a stupid reason--but the nice
thing is...chestnuts breed true.)
On the question of grey horses and their health problems. There is
significant evidence to support the assertion that the cancers associated
with grey horses are in fact caused by the same thing that causes
greying, so it is most definitely a color linked trait.
Therefore, I am of the opinion that grey (a dominant gene) is a genetic
defect and would never breed a grey horse. There are plenty of extremely
nice non-greys out there that I don't need to be breeding ones with (what
I consider to be) an obvious genetic defect, and that because it is dominant
(just like HYPP) if I don't breed a grey horse, I won't get a grey horse.
Which isn't to say that there aren't some VERY nice grey horses out
there, that are doing extremely well in endurance (and many other
disciplines), so I can't say I would never own one (I have) just that I
would never pass it on to later generations.
I am aware that other people feel differently about the greying gene.
kat