varnish roans

[TheHoglet]

dose anyone own a varnish roan??
i've heard that when they get old they go all grey, is this true? and do bay roans keep their bay points when they go grey??
can i see some pics aswell if you have any?

ps. sorry for asking sooooooooooo many questions:rolleyes:

[chev]

Varnish roans lighten up to near white when they are adult. Some retain darker areas of pigment on the bony parts like hips, legs, nasal bones, while others lose nearly all pigment. It's not the same as going grey; they retain pigment in places throughout their lives. It's basically a progressive roaning effect.

Roans don't keep their points when they go grey. They'll usually retain pigment in the points longer than on the body, which will grey out fairly quickly; much like any other colour going grey does (especially bays and other colours with black points) but the whole horse will end up white whatever the base colour.

Varnish roan and grey are different genes, with different effects. :)

[TheHoglet]

so can you estimate the age of a varnish roan by looking at their coulering (sorry cant spell :D) because skittles is browny chestnut on his neak belly legs and bum and he's supposed to be 10 ish (some people think he could be older though)

[aBreeze]

Ginny is a chestnut varnish roan...

I have a very bad, black and white picture of her when she was about 4 and she was very dark with some roan patches...

this is her at 22 years
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/aBreeze005/HorsesHome/Gingy/gingar.jpg

and 29 years...
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/aBreeze00511/beasts/gin/6mar4.jpg

shes lightened up considerably... and just continues to get lighter and lighter!

Varnish roan's will only stay dark on their prominent body parts -> hips, hocks, withers, cheek bones, etc. If the horse is a bay their legs should stay black, and the mane/tail will stay black.

[chev]

The black bits don't stay completely black though - the legs get what's called 'varnish marks', where the front of the canon bone retains colour but colour is lost over the rest of the leg.

It's almost impossible to tell age by how pale the horse is; just like some greys are white by five or six while others are still quite dark dapple grey well into their teens, so varnish roans tend to vary a fair bit too.

[TheHoglet]

oh so do the mane and tail stay black too?

[Kat8Tootsie]

Hello I was just wondering if you were still looking for pictures of varnish roans. If you are I have several on account of my first horse(the horse i have now) is a varnish roan so yea msg me if u would like some pics or email me at jubjub81@hotmail.com and put the subject as Tootsie:)