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The Horse |
Modern Horse - Equus Caballus |
Virtually Horses |
            
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The modern horse, Equus
Caballus, has become intertwined with human history and development.
As with all domesticated animals man has bred the horse to suit his
requirements and even personal preferences so that the modern horse now
ranges in size from tiny doglike minis right through to massive heavy
horses. This page looks at how the modern horse is described and the
many types of horse that exist. Horses are described in numerous ways; breeds, types, 'bloods' and purposes. When looking at shows or sales descriptions its very easy to be confused by the different descriptions used. For instance: the thoroughbred (breed), is a light horse, may be described as one of the hot blooded breeds and may also be described as a Hack by Type depending upon its purpose. Breeds of horse are distinct genetic entities. Morgan horses will produce further Morgans, however if two cobs are bred together they may not necessarily produce further cob type horses. They may produce horses of a variety of types dependent upon the various breeds that produced the two cobs in the first place. The term 'blood' is rather a confusing one. In one
sense it is an old way of referring to genetics. Before genes were
known of, a horse's (or humans) 'bloodline' was a reference to his
ancestors as it was believed that the blood carried all the
characteristics (and in a way they were right). As an extension of
this idea certain temperament characteristics were referred to as
temperature of the blood, for instance "He's hot blooded" meant a person
who was firey, quick to anger, passionate etc This was also the case with
horses and continues today as a broad classification of horse types and
genetics. |
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| On This Page | ||
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Categories Type Hot or Cold Blood? |
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| Related Pages | ||
| Categories | ||
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Breeds Anatomy Trivia |
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All horses will fall into one of the
following three broad categories;
The heavy horse,
the pony,
the light horse.
These are the broad descriptions of horses with similar characteristics,
structures and ancestors. |
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This group encompasses
the draft breeds like Clydesdales and Shires. The modern heavy horse is
NOT the charger used by knights but a much more recent breed developed
primarily for agriculture and later industry. These horses today are
used in all types of disciplines and are particularly popular for
producing cross-bred sport horses.
The heavy horse breeds usually have deep chests and short thick legs and broad hooves. Their straightish shoulders produce a high knee action which is useful for ploughing through deep muddy furrows but is not efficient for covering large amounts of ground quickly.  A
pony is defined by its proportions rather than it's height.A pony
is usually stocky in build and short legged. The body length exceeds
it's height at it's withers and it's leg length usually equals it's
depth.
The height limit for ponies is 15 hands however if an individual from a pony breed is taller than 15 hands that does not make it a horse. The oldest breeds of horse are generally ponies.
A Fell pony (left)
showing typical pony dimensions. The red line on this photo
is the pony's height and the blue line is the length of the pony's leg.
Horses in this
classification have a sloped shoulder and narrow body. The
sloping shoulder and long legs give the horse an efficient ground
covering stride which makes these animals fast and agile. The horse's
proportions are like those of a foal's, leggy, when compared to a
pony.
Horses should be 15 hands or over but as with the other types listed here there are plenty of exceptions. Arabs and barbs are always horses, wherease Przewalski's wild horse is a pony. |
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| Type | ||
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Type describes the
conformational and working characteristics and is may be to refer to
crossbred or fullbred horses alike e.g. A 'Hack' may be a thoroughbred or
any other breed or crossbred horse as long as it meets the description.
Hunters, Hacks, Polo Ponies and Cobs are all types rather than breeds. If you think that eventer, show jumper or harness horse should also be listed here as a type, those descriptions are 'jobs' rather than types. A big Hunter type may indeed be a show jumper, or eventer based on the desires of its rider. Hacks: Originally the term denoted types of horse commonly in use prior to motorised transport in Britain, the park hack and the covert hack. Today this term is used to describe any horse suitable for riding purposes of a general nature (i.e. not competitive sport or hunting). In the show ring there are also Show Hack classes the aim being to show a horse of elegant appearance, with good manners which gives a smooth comfortable ride. Hack classes may be split into; Small, Large and Lady's. In New Zealand the term is also used either to denote a horse as opposed to a pony or may be used to describe a utility horse. For instance farm hack or station hack are terms used to describe horses of mixed breeding (often part-bred clydesdale and thoroughbred) which are used for various tasks either on farms or high-country stations (expansive farms). These hacks are strong, steady, tough and bred to handle pretty much any terrain or task.  Hunter:
While any horse which is used to carry a rider to hounds can technically
be called a hunter, the term is used specifically to describe a horse
suited to doing 1 or 2 days hunting per week throughout the season.
The qualities looked
for in a hunter are: good conformation, stamina, agility, intelligence,
jumping ability and good temperament. Working hunter types will
also vary with the terrain. Horses required for fast work across
primarily heavy, boggy or ploughed ground will be of a heavier type than
those used on rolling pasture. As with Hacks there are multiple
Show Hunter classes.
 Cobs:
The cob is a sturdily built horse, with shortish legs and a thick neck
whose height puts him somewhere in the tall pony to medium horse range
(up to 15.1 hands or thereabouts). The cob was often used as a
dual purpose horse for harness and saddle work prior to mechanisation.
Polo Ponies:
Although polo ponies are almost always light horses and over the height
restrictions for pony show classes they are always referred to as
ponies. The most important characteristics are speed, agility and
courage. The argentinian polo pony is based on the Criollo with
frequent infusions of Thoroughbred.
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| Cold Blood or Hot Blood? | ||
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What do the terms Cold/Hot/Warmblood refer to?
Although horses may be referred to as warmbloods, there is no difference in the blood temperature between the various types or breeds of horses. This term refers to the breeds region of origin and their co-inciding temperaments.
The Arabians, Barbs
and oriental horses with thin skins, fiery temperaments and fine
features are Hot Bloods.
The thickly haired, sturdy horses of the colder northern regions like Fells, Shetlands or the many native ponies of Northern Europe and the large draft breeds, who also tend to have calmer temperaments are referred to as cold bloods. The cold bloods are generally the oldest breeds. There are very few that of pure blood, as most breeds have been 'refined' or 'improved' with infusions of other breeds over the centuries, especially with arab or thoroughbred blood.
A warmblood is
therefore somewhere in between and the term is used to describe any
horse or more particularly, breed of horse, which is the result of a
crossing of the hot and cold blooded breeds. Generally the original
breed cross was 2/3 cold blood, 1/3 hot blood breeds (or 3/4 & 1/4).
An example would be the Holstein, a breed created by crossing the cold
blooded native horses of northern Germany, Spanish and Neopolitan
horses with hot blooded oriental horses. Further more recent
infusions of thoroughbred blood into the breed has continued the mix.
By these rules, the
thoroughbred is also a result of the mixing of Arab and British horses
and could have been described as a warmblood. However, it tended
more toward the Arab's fiery temperament, and characteristics so that
it does not fit that classification. The thoroughbred type is so
dominant that it has been used to upgrade many other breeds around the
world.
"When God created the horse he said to the magnificent creature: I have made thee as no other. All the treasures of the earth lie between thy eyes. Thou shalt carry my friends upon thy back. Thy saddle shall be the seat of prayers to me. And thou fly without wings, and conquer without any sword. Oh, horse." - Quote of unknown source (often incorrectly attributed to the Koran)
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