Horses are well known by mostly all people. But most people don't know how many different breeds of horses there are. So many they can't officially be counted.
Though there are so many breeds not very many of them are well known. The most well known horse breeds are:
Quarter Horse
Thoroughbred
Arabian
American Saddlebred
American Paint
Appaloosa
Hanoverian
Draft
Morgan
Palomino
Lippizaner
Miniature Horse
Mustang
Paso Fino
........and many more
--> To see pictures of different horse breeds clck here <--
Coat Colors
Horses also have many combinations of colors. There are also a lot of different colors but the most usual are:
Bay - Dark Brown - With black on legs and usually a black mane and tail.
Palomino - Light tan or Golden (Color and Breed)
Dapple - A combination of a lighter color with darker spots (such as dapple grey)
Chestnut - Light Brown
White
Black
Gray
Buckskin - Light Bron (Usually with black legs mane, tail, and brown markings)
Roan - a mixture of a couple different colors such as Strawberry Roan (mixture of shades of Brown and White haris) or Blue Roan (mixture of grey,black, and white hairs)
Appaloosa - A certain color with spots of another color on top or fading color, such as frosted, dapple, spotted. (Appaloosa is a color and breed)
Horse Characteristics
All horses are meant to do different things although almost all of them can do a lot of different styles of riding, competition, and games. But most horses have the body structure made or perfect for a certain activity. Here are Some of the most Popular breeds and what they are meant to do:
Quarter Horse - Originally for ranch work ( cattle roping, barrel racing) The Quarter horse got its name from being used for races of quarter miles. The Qarter horse has a short head and neck with a very muscular body build.
Arabian - Endurance Riding. Usualy very spirited
Thoroughbred - Racing , Jumping. known for their long comfortabe strides and for being very tall
Morgan - English, Endurance .Very good body structure for work in english saddle
Hanoverian - Jumping, Hunter/jumping show (Very similar to thoroughbred structure with long confortable strides)
Draft - Heavy pulling and farming ( such as plowing) Most draft horses are not meant to be ridden just driving plows, carriages and etc. It depends on what breed of draft horse! ( GypsyVanner, Clydesdale, Belgian, etc.....)
Miniature Horses - Not used for riding but are usually used for showing and cart driving.
and Many others......
Measuring Your Horse
Horses are also measured in different measurements rather then feet or inches! They are measured in Hands (H)! 4 inches go into a Hand (H) They make special tape measure that you can measure your horse with in hands but you can also use a regular tape measure and convert it into hands! To measure your horse you place the measuring tape from the ground to the horses withers. The horses withers are just below the end of the mane and neck on a horse. The wither is where the horses neck and back connect.
Marking
All different kinds of horses have all kinds of different markings, No matter what breed or color they are. Here are some of the markings seen most often:
Sock - Small colored spot located at the bottom of the leg near the hoof, resembling a sock (A different color than their main coat color).
Stocking - Similar to asock only the spot goes higher resembling the position of a stocking ( also a diferent color than the main coat) Stockng extends longer than a sock does.
Star - A cirle or diamond like shaped marking on the Face of a horse ( A different color than the main coat)
Stripe- A thin line which extends down the face of a horse to about the beginning of the nose. (A different color than the main coat)
Snip - A little spot or section of a different coat than the horses main coat. Is usually located on the nose.
Many other markings........
And Many more!....
Horse Fun - Fact
Horses in Prehistoric times origgionally had 3 toes. As they evolved one of their toes grew and froming only tow toes and the other toe receded and eventually was gone! Horses now only have 2 toes called the frog! The frog is protected by the hoof, which acts like a nail.
