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Real Life Genetics
  • Last week I was at work (I work at a barn) and one of the horses that just came in was a fleabitten quarterhorse. I was just wondering where the fleabites come in genetically. Why do some greys have them and some dont? Is it more common with red-based greys?
  • Here is the Wickipedia article about Gray horses. According to that, flea-bitten grays are probably red-based.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_(horse)


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  • Nope page doesn't say that at all. Most arabs are red or bay so most flea bites are those colors. They come in black as well though. Fleabites are pigment storage cells regrowing after they where destroyed by the gray gene. Horses with only one copy of the gray gene are more likley to have fleabites.

    Black on gray is the also the most likley to get cancer, followed by bay, then red. It's because pigment is a carcinogen and grays may tons of it. (Blacks making the most)
    Post edited by Ammit at 2018-02-26 10:01:21
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    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

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  • I thought we weren't entirely sure where fleabites come from. Learn something new everyday I guess. I always thought it was like liver chestnut where there are theories but no absolute proven answer.
  • The mechanics of gray is actually pretty well understood. It's more complex then I have time to write up but the short version is gray horses make super amounts of pigment. That overloads the cells that store the pigment and kills them turning the hair white. No storage means no pigment to go in the hair. As horses get older some of those cells can regrow. Fleabites are areas where that has happened.
    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

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  • I'm beginning to understand this better, Ammit. Thanks.

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  • I'm assuming this is why so many greys get melanoma tumors? We lost a mare many years ago to a bowel ruptured by a melanoma rupturing.
  • Also, is Lp similar? Or does it use a different method to change the pigment?
  • Lp is the total opposite. It reduces calcium crossing into the cell and prevents pigment from being formed. Varnish stays longest on bony areas because of the additional free calcium floating around. (probably) That same calcium is needed in rod production in the eye. That's why all hom. LP appaloosas are completely blind at night. Het. Lp horses probably have some reduced night vision.
    Post edited by Ammit at 2018-02-28 04:44:36
    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

    she/her


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  • This is fascinating, Ammit. Thank you very much for taking time in your busy days to answer to give us these great additional details.

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  • Thanks so much Ammit! As I currently have one old (20 yo) lpLp and one young LpLp (3yo) I find this very interesting and relevant.
  • I have an Arabian mare that was fleabitten grey-born bay, she only produced a grey offspring. Didn't matter the color she was bred with. But did produce a chestnut when bred with a black. Her pedigree had mostly grey breeding. Was this because she was a homogeneous grey?
    Also how does the "bloody shoulder" come into the genes with the grey horses?
    Also is there anything I can read on the internet about these topics?
    Post edited by BellaPenn at 2018-03-02 13:16:24
  • If she produced even a single non gray foal than she was Gg.

    Bloody shoulder is often an area that never grayed at all but sometimes is an area that recolors.
    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

    she/her


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