Are all white horses black when born?

Question

Are all white/grey horses born black? and then turn grey/white? thanks :)

Answer 1

They can be born any color (chestnut, bay, black, roan etc,) but they have the graying gene. Which causes them to turn white. Think of it like mixing white paint with any other color. You just keep adding white and eventually ANY color will turn white. It's kind of like that.

Gray horses are called gray because they have the graying gene. So any horse that is called white or flea-bitten or dapple gray are all incorrect to an extent. They are gray.

Gray horses go through the following phases: the color they were born - steel gray - dapple gray - white - (and some horses will become flea bitten and some just stay solid white).

------
Also, there are no albino horses. All horses that are born albino have an intestinal disease (that is caused by the albino gene in horses). I don't know the full extent of the disease but I think their intestines aren't fully developed or something and they will eventually die, if not put down.

------
I thought I might add that since gray horses are born a color such as chestnut their skin is not pink (unless they have/had a sock/white marking on their face when they were born, in which case the skin under the white area would be pink) their skin is black.

Answer 2

True white horses are born white...they have light pink to non pigmented skin and white hairs and are that way from birth and will remain that way until their death. This can happen in one of two ways: a horse can either inherit one copy of the dominant "W" gene, or the horse is born a "fully expressed" sabino.

Then there are white/grey horses which can appear to be pure white, but in actuality are not considered true white horses. These horses are only variations of the color grey. They can be born any color...from chesnut to black to buckskin, etc...then, if they have the grey gene, they will lighten with age. Each year they get older, their coat color will become lighter until some may resemble a white horse.

Answer 3

Sorry, no albinos. There is an association for Albinos formed back in the day, though.
IF there was a true albino horse his eyes would be pink, the bottoms of his hooves, including the frogs would also lack pigment.

I have a perlino. Pink skin, light hooves, blue eyes. Born the same color. His sire is a Buckskin, dam is a Palomino.
Any pink seen is just a reflection...red eye.
http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/43496/...

Many grays are born chestnut too. How nice to have a horse go from one color, shed out it's foal coat and go to another, then to a roan then to gray. So many colors from one horse!

White horse:
SILVER: http://www.tvcrazy.net/tvclassics/wallpa...

Answer 4

Jackz is an expert on color genetics.

All gray horses are born black or dark and they turn lighter each year until they appear white. Most 'white' horses that you see are actually grays.

White horses are born white and stay white. But these are quite rare.

Answer 5

There are no albino horses and most white horses are actually grays that turn white over time. Grays aren't always black and the foal will have its base color when born. There have been some solid white horses born that survived, but most white horses born have lethal white syndrome and don't survive more than a day. There are horses that appear white but aren't true white horses.They are Cremellos and Perlinos.

Answer 6

Thanks to each and every one of you for the replies.

Answer 7

Not totally sure about this

Answer 8

Well actually it might be lippazans, or if they are from Spain, they are Andalusians, or if they are from Portugal they are Lustitanos--which are pretty much Andalusians that crossed the border from Spain. They tend to be a bit more lightweight though

Answer 9

There are no truely "white" horses, they are all gray. Many are black when born but a lot of them are other colors. My friend has a gray horse but when he was born he looked almost like a sorrel color. I have a gray horse but she was more like a blue roan when she born. Another friend has a gray horse and she was a dark gray color when she was born.

Answer 10

Mkay, well... A lot of people have given you inaccurate answers. I would look it up on a real knowledgeable site. Greg and Jackz are correct, almost everyone else is inaccurate. Seriously, get a book on genetics or something and look it up yourself. :)