Study finds gray horses are prone to skin cancer

Recent studies have revealed something that has mystified the horse world since man first domesticated his equine friends some 5,000 plus years ago.

Occasionally, a new born foal that has normal coloured markings such as black, or bay, or brown, may start to turn grey at an early age and then eventually turn almost white.

This process resembles how peoples’ hair turns grey as they become older, but can happen relatively quickly in the grey horse and usually by the time they are only six to eight years of age.

In history, early societies thought this strange phenomenon was a sign of purity or divine intervention and the animal was worshiped or revered.

White horses became the favourites of royalty and great leaders, as evidenced by the many portraits and paintings down through the ages which depict them under saddle.

Now scientists from Uppsala University have determined that these peculiar horses all share a common gene that is thought to have mutated from a single horse way in the distant past. Read more...