White Horses

Is their some sort of genetic defect in horses that have WHITE COLOUR..........................or its just a colour, no problem in horse..........

If their's problem, what problem is it...........

There really isn't any such thing as a White horses. There is Perlino. And Creamello that are whiteish and then there is a horse that has Greyed or Roaned out. And I don't think there really is any genetic defects that come with any of these colors but i'm not to sure. It's not like an Albino or anything I think it's just a color and doesn't cause defects

From what I have been taught and experienced, the white horse is actually a grey, a true white being an albino, pink skinned and rare. There are genetic charts and likely other posters here that can explain this phenomenon if you are interested as this is pretty much all I know : ).

Typically, white, or grey horses, tend to have black skin and it has been common among black-skinned horses to be susceptable to tumours along the lymph system, not always cancerous. This Black Skin Syndrome, as it is known, seems prevalent among Arabians but is not exclusive to them (I think it is simply because they are predominantly black skinned thru-out the breed!).

Horses with white among other colours such as our paints and pintos can range from literally white skin right on thru mottled, speckled, all shades in between to black.

There is no such thing as a turly white horse, it would have to be an albino and tose are non exhistent in horses, (albinos have no skin or hair pigment and red to pink eyes). Horses are not truly white, they are light gray, or have "white" fur but a black coat and were originally gray but turned whiter with age or they are Cremello with two creme genes giving them pink skin, blue eyes and a soft white gold colored to white fur.


Here is a good link to help you out.
http://http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/white.html

Horses go grey because of a gene; it's not an actual coat color, although we call it that.

As has been stated, there are no truly white horses unless they're albino, and albinism is rare.

Good answers, guys!
But isn't there the Lethal White gene?
And what about Medicine Hat Paints? Is all that white hair over the rest of the body over black skin? Wait..... don't all bay horses have black skin?
Sorry to be a hijacker. I'm just confused. :)
EDIT
And this link confused me
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...26tbs%3Disch:1

Thunder,

Here's an article that explains things better, although I take exception to the statement that lethal whites are never born alive, because many are. They just don't live very long.

The Difference between White and Gray Horses: How Horses? Skin Color and Genetics Distinguish Coat Colors

I have to disagree. They may think they explain better, but when I read a statement like this

I start to boggle just a bit. If the horse is covered with white hair, it's not white, but grey? This makes sense how, exactly?

I think the so-called "albino" horses talked about on that website are most likely just Ww horses that are double dilutes underneath, although I could be wrong about this. Either way, there are no true albino horses, although white horses definitely exist. They just aren't very common.

Because the horse has 'greyed out'. 'Grey' foals aren't born white, they're usually bay chestnut or black. Then gradually they start to get white hairs and turn white. Hence the black skin with white hairs. It's just called grey even if the actually hair is white. Don't ask me why!