What Makes a Black, Brown, or Gray Horse Turn White?
You've probably seen the gorgeous white Lippizans ridden at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Or the brilliant white horses ridden by Cavallia. Or maybe you just remember that Shadowfax, Gandalf's horse in The Lord of the Rings, was a luminously white mount. What makes these horses so brilliantly white?
In the horse world, white horses are called "grey" or "gray". A "grey horse is born black, brown, or chestnut, but the greying process starts very early in life -- during its first year. These horses are normally completely white by six to eight years of age but the skin remains pigmented.
This process resembles greying in humans, but it is ultrafast in horses.
What makes this happen?
It turns out that white horses carry a dominant gene mutation that results in rapid greying with age.
(This is not to be confused with Overo Lethal White Syndrome. a rare fatal condition that occurs in newborn Overo Paint foals.) --Science Daily, 7/23/08
Happy riding!
Copyright Denise Cummins March 2016
In the horse world, white horses are called "grey" or "gray". A "grey horse is born black, brown, or chestnut, but the greying process starts very early in life -- during its first year. These horses are normally completely white by six to eight years of age but the skin remains pigmented.
This process resembles greying in humans, but it is ultrafast in horses.
What makes this happen?
It turns out that white horses carry a dominant gene mutation that results in rapid greying with age.
(This is not to be confused with Overo Lethal White Syndrome. a rare fatal condition that occurs in newborn Overo Paint foals.) --Science Daily, 7/23/08
Happy riding!
Copyright Denise Cummins March 2016
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