My mom bought a 4 year old purebred arabian mare many years ago, the sellers had raised her since she was a bottle fed orphan and insisted that she was a black, refused to call her a grey because to them, she was black, not grey. Just a black with white hairs ALL over... *facepalm* She was dark grey 4 year old out of a grey mare and sired by a black stallion. By the time she was 12 years old when my mom sold her, she was a nice light dapple grey.
Agree, the horse is greying
Grey is not a color , per say, as a horse can be born any color, but if they inherent the dominant greying gene from either parent,that greying gene will work on that base coat color, as a modifying gene, replacing over time, pigmented hair with non pigmented, as it prevents the up take of melanin into the hair shaft
Hense, the association of high rate of melanoma , in grey horses, as that pigment becomes concentrated on the skin, although that theory is being challenged by some
tobiano pinto for sure, but is there any chance you could find pics of him when he was younger? I would have guessed grey too at first but looking at him closer I would not rule out heavy sabino roaning, which, unlike true roan with also affect the face.
I know of a mare in my area (and if I can find pics I will post them) whom everyone calls a roan and to others she looks like a heavily fleebitten grey but is in fact neither. Neither of her parents carry the roan gene or the grey gene but her mother does have sabino markings and when the gene was passed onto the foal, it sort of went wild and completely "roaned" her out and greyed the mane and tail with much the same affect as I see in your horse here.. in the end to be 100% certain you could always get him tested
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