Why do some horses, like percherons, change color over time?
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Horses’ coat colors can change over time for a variety of reasons. For example, some horses’ coat colors will lighten or darken as they age. Other horses may develop white markings (like socks or a blaze) as they get older. Still other horses may change color due to certain health conditions or medications.
The gene that gives them the grey colour, aka the grey gene, causes a progressive loss of pigment in the hair. They start out bay, black, or chestnut, and quickly lose pigment. They usually have a stage where they are dappled (with apple sized whiter spots on a darker background) and eventually end up entirely white. To be clear, they do have normal genes for the colour that gives them the coat they are born with, but the grey gene is a separate gene that interferes with that and makes them turn grey and white regardless of the genes they carry for the base colour
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