Chev, or someone who knows about genetics etc

[ponylover88]

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[LCQH]

That's interesting. Is she a flea-bitten gray? I've never seen eyes like that in a gray.

My pinto pony had eyes like that only more blue than brown. The only other horse I've seen with a blue eye that wasn't pinto colored was a liver chestnut Morgan who may have had Sabino genes.

Sorry I was of no help.

[Jaimee]

Remember grey is just a cover. The horse could be anything underneath and have slowly gone grey. He could have been born black or palomino and white tobiano and unless you see them as youngsters or know someone who has you just dont know. Does he have any white markings? I can almost gaurantee that he has overo genes even if he has little/ no white markings.

There is always a possibility that it has nothing to do with genetics also and that certain metabolic pathways (chemical functions in the body) Were disrupted at some stage and changed the production of pigment. I dont know what your Biology background is like, he he. Hope you understand how that could work.

[chev]

Eyes like that are actually a lot more common than you think, especially in Welsh ponies in the UK. Splash white (the gene most associated with blue eyes in this country) causes not just blue eyes, but also partially blue eyes and flecks of blue in otherwise brown eyes.

Tobiano and sabino don't cause blue eyes.

Or it could, as Jaimee says, just be a random developmental thing. :)

[ponylover88]

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[Jaimee]

Well she is definately pinto. Shes a lovely grey and white, very nice mare I might add. I would say by looking at her she is tovero. And as a very rough guess she might have been chesnut based because she is quite light at 4yrs and her mane and tail dont look darker. But that is a very inaccurate way to guess. So her partial blue eye will be given to her by the parent with overo genes as that is what causes blue eyes. There you go now you know why its got some blue!

I'm sorry your schooling system is very different to ours and I have no idea what sort of level that is in Bio. Its a good subject though, hope you enjoy it, I do:D

[chev]

She's actually quite unlikely to be tovero (tobiano and overo patterns) given how uncommon overo is in the UK generally, and particularly in this type of horse. Obviously there's something more than just tobiano in there to give the white face and blue eye - my guess would still be splash white, which is a whole lot more common than overo here. It's difficult with her having greyed out but the blaze suggests splash, and sabino (which she probably also carries) just isn't really associated with blue eyes.

[ponylover88]

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[cvb]

Chev

The bay on the right of this photo has a half-wall eye
http://groups.msn.com/NRphotos/cvbfifi.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=5836

he also has ticking on the top of his tail but is bay with stockings. he has ermine marks on some of his legs.

Of course you always get the photo with the eye away from you :rolleyes:

[chev]

cvb - that's not absolutely typical of splash but he does have splash characteristics; the bottom heavy blaze that slides off to one side being one that's actually very common. He's an interesting example, but almost certainly another splash.

ponylover - she is definitely greying out. Greys get lighter at different rates; some will hold a fair bit of their colour into their teens, while others are white by six, but she will, as the years go by, gradually lighten. She will have got darker to start with as part of the greying process; grey adds both black and white hair to start with, so in the first couple of years it's not uncommon for them to appear to be darkening. But she will now steadily lighten as the years go by.

[Jaimee]

Opps sorry, my bad. Was trying to work with what i could see. Im over the other side of the world in little old New Zealand :rolleyes: I dont even know half the breeds you have.lol

[ponylover88]

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[chev]

She's never been grey all over because she is tobiano - she'll have been born whatever colour she is genetically and white in patches, (for example, black and white) and gradually the coloured patches have gone grey. There's no change to the white patches because they don't have pigment anyway. Over time, the grey patches will get lighter and lighter, until eventually she'll actually appear white all over (except for her freckles!). So she is actually even now in the process of greying out; greying out is something that starts almost straight away and continues until the horse is completely white (sometimes with freckles or fleabites).

[ponylover88]

So, does that mean she'll keep her fleabites even when her dapples have greyed out?

[chev]

Yes. Some horses don't get fleabites until after they've lost all the rest of the pigment in the coat, lots seem to develop them as they lose the grey and the dapples. But freckles or fleabites don't fade; not all horses get them, but those that do will keep them. :)

[ponylover88]

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[chev]

She'll only get the fleabitten marks on the patches of colour, not on the white ones - so where the skin is dark under her coat, expect freckles; where it's pink, the coat will more than likely stay white. :)