Animals

The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world.

It is one of the oldest horse breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses that resemble modern Arabians dating back 4,500 years. Throughout history, Arabian horses spread around the world by both war and trade, used to improve other breeds by adding speed, refinement, endurance, and strong bone. Today, Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.
The Arabian (or Arab) is a horse of exceptional beauty, elegance, grace, intelligence, balance, agility, speed and stamina. This magnificient horse breed has been the inspiration for legends, artists, fantasies and little girls everywhere.
Many historians have been associated with the beauitful Arabian horse including Alexander the Great.

The Arabian is a versatile breed. Arabians dominate the discipline of endurance riding, and compete today in many other fields of equestrian activity. They are one of the top ten most popular horse breeds in the world. Arabian horses are now found worldwide, including the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, continental Europe, South America (especially Brazil), and its land of origin, the Middle East.

Arabians are hot-blooded horses and some people think they are hard to deal with. Despite some common beliefs, Arabs can develop a deep bond with their owners and seem to put heart into pleasing them as long as they are fairly treated and understood. Don’t forget that for many years these horses depended on their owners for survival and have been domesticated longer than any other breed. With proper training Arabians can be very effectionate and become great horses.

The wonderful Appaloosa horse was the result of selective breeding by the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho, Northeast Oregon, and Southeast Washington. They based the breed on Spanish stock. The word “Appaloosa” came from the Palouse River, which runs through the area. These spotted horses were mentioned in Lewis and Clark’s journal from their 1806 expedition.

The breed almost died out after the U.S. calvary slaughtered the Indian’s horses after chasing the tribe into the Bear Paw mountains of Montana. In 1938, a group of concerned horse people in Moscow, Idaho began a registry, the Appaloosa Horse Club, to save the breed. It now has the third largest registry in the world.

Probably the Appaloosa’s most distinguishing feature is its spotted coat, which can be found in various patterns. The more common patterns are a dark body color with light spots (snowflake), and a white body with dark spots (leopard).

Appaloosa horses are known for four identifiable characteristics: coat pattern, mottled skin, white sclera and striped hooves. With coat patterns, countless numbers of color and pattern combinations exist. Base coat colors include bay, brown, black, buckskin, grulla, dun, palomino, cremello/perlino, chestnut, bay roan, blue roan and red roan. Appaloosa coat patterns include leopard, snowflake, blanket, marbleized and frost. Appaloosas range from 14.2 to 16 hands high.

Appaloosas are known for their quiet temperament. They are versatile, able jumpers, and do well in Western events and three day eventing. They make good trail and long distance riders.

A pony is a small type of horse that stands less than 14.2 hands high. This doesn’t mean that a midget horse is automatically a pony. Ponies are members of distinctive breeds, and you get a pony by breeding two ponies.

There are numerous breeds from all around the world. In the show ring, ponies are divided into three height classes: up to 12.2 hands high, up to 13.2 hands high, and up to 14.2 hands.

The Shetland Pony
This is the one that most people seem to think of when they here the word pony. These are really short ponies, usually about 11 hands tall – great for small children. They come in many colors.

Welsh Pony
There are actually 4 kinds of welsh ponies, the Welsh Mountain Pony, the Welsh Pony, the Welsh Pony of Cob Type, and the Welsh Cob. These are listed from the shortest to the tallest.

Pony of the Americas
These originated by crossing the Appaloosa and the Shetland pony, and usually have Appaloosa markings. These are good ponies for kids. They are commonly referred to as a POA.

Connemara Pony
This is a refined looking-pony, one of the taller ones and so is suitable for many adults. The Connemara makes an excellent jumping pony.

Chincoteague Pony
The Chincoteague is a feral pony living on two islands off the Virginia coast. First discovered there in the late 1700′s, the herds are managed by the Chincoteague fire department, who rounds them up the ones on Assateague Island on the fourth of July, and swims them across the little stretch of ocean to Chincoteague Island for auction.
This is a rather stubborn pony, but they are broken for riding. They come in all colors, with pinto being the most common.

Other Ponies
American Walking Pony
Australian Pony
Dales Pony
Dartmoor Pony
Dulmen
Exmoor Pony
Falabella
Fell Pony
Gotland
Highland
Icelandic Horse
Merens
New Forest Pony
Norwegian Fjord
Prezlwalski’s Horse
Rocky Mountain Pony
Tarpan

A Mustang is a free-roaming feral horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but the more correct term is feral horses.

Today, the Mustang population is managed and protected by the Bureau of Land Management. Controversy surrounds the sharing of land and resources by the free ranging Mustangs with the livestock of the ranching industry, and also with the methods with which the federal government manages the wild population numbers.

The Mustang is often called “The Symbol of the American West.” Mustangs are known for their rugged athleticism and qualities of endurance.

Mustangs that have been removed from the wild require experienced handlers, but a gentled Mustang can make a willing partner and a great family horse.

Mustangs are found in all colors and combinations, all sizes and builds. Most common are browns, bays, chestnuts, duns; 14-16 hands; slight in build. One very impressive working Bureau of Land Management Mustang was 18 hands. Mustangs are very tough, strong, agile, sound, quick to learn, and when you gain their loyalty, they follow directions easily.

The Andalusian horse is the direct descendant of an indigenous Iberian wild horse, which in prehistoric times roamed in southern Iberia and even crossed over into Northwest Africa by way of the land bridge that existed where the Strait of Gibraltar is now. It is also quite possible that the Iberians had introduced some of their horses in Northwest Africa when they crossed over by ship — long before the Moorish invasion.

The Andalusian was used in the development of many breeds: Lipizzan, Kladruber, German and Scandinavian Warmblood, Friesian, Nonius, Connemara, Shire and Clydesdale, Cleveland Bay. Also most American breeds descend from Spanish Horses.

The spectacular paces and the agility of the Andalusian met the demands of the mounted bullfighters. In a period of several centuries when the mounted bull fight was prohibited in Spain by a royal decree, the Andalusian was still ridden out in the campus, but found a new role as a spectacular carriage horse. This horse was taken to Italy by the Spaniards in the 15th century for their wars in the kingdom of Naples, where they defeated the heavy French cavalry, and where they helped create the Neapolitano breed, the horse of Naples. It was here, then, where riding academies were founded, and the newly improved horsemanship spread to other parts of Europe. The Neapolitano, along with pure Spanish horses, helped develop the Lipizzan and Kladruber breeds. In all these breeds, the flamboyant paces of the Spanish horse were selected for to suit the demands for the haute ecole. The great riding masters — La Broue, La Noue, Pluvinel, La Gueriniere, Duke of Newcastle, Riedinger — all without exception tell of the unrivalled qualities of the Spanish horse.

Muscular in build, the overall picture of the Andalusian is a horse of great beauty and balance. Typically he stands between 15 and 16.2 hands. Gray and bay coats are dominant and others are admissible in Andalusian Horse Associations. In Spain, only grey, bay and black are accepted by the studbook — no chestnuts or other-colored horses.

Temperament: these are horses with easy response to command and very sensitive mouths, resulting in a mount that is obedient and of extraordinary comfort. They are temperate and hardy; noble and docile. They learn rapidly and participate intimately with their riders.

The black Friesian breed of horse, over 2000 years old, is one of the oldest domesticated breeds in Europe. It is native to the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, but probably earlier, Arabian and Andalusian blood was introduced to lighten the breed. This has given them the high knee action, the small head and the arching neck.

The Friesian horse has been kept free from influence of the English Thoroughbred. During the last two centuries, the breed has been bred pure and is considered to be a warm blood. The Friesian has been used to form the basis of many breeds, such as the Shire, New Forest, Dale, Morgan, Swedish Warmblood, the Orlov Trotter, and was recently used to revive the Kladruber breed.

The Friesian is most often recognized by its black coat color, though color alone is not their only distinguishing characteristic. Friesian horses also have a long, thick mane and tail, often wavy, and “feathers”–long, silky hair on the lower legs, deliberately left untrimmed. The official breed rarely has white markings of any kind; most registries allow only a small star on the forehead for purebred registration. Though extremely rare, and not accepted for registration in most cases, Friesians are occasionally chestnut. The Friesian’s average height is about 15.3 hands (63 inches or 1.60 m), although it may vary from 14.2 to 17 hands (between 58 in./1.5 m and 68 in./1.7 m) tall at the withers, and mares or geldings must be at least 15.2 hands (1.57 m) tall to qualify for a ‘star-designation’ pedigree.  

The breed is known for a brisk, high-stepping trot. The Friesian is considered a willing, active, and energetic horse that is also gentle and docile. A Friesian tends to have great presence and to carry itself with elegance.

The Friesian is a noble animal, possessing a kind and willing character, intelligence and strength. The horses are always black, with a long wavy mane and tail, and feather on the legs. No white markings are permitted, except for a small white star on the forehead. They possess a high neck carriage and powerful hindquarters. Their movement is forward and elevated with a high knee action. The average height is 15- 17 hands with an average weight of 1300-1600 pounds.

The Bardigiano is a mid-sized pony breed, developed from Middle Ages Gaulish war ponies. A good all-purpose breed, these ponies have performed in areas that range from farm work to competitive driving to riding. Development in the Italian mountains produced a robust, hardy breed. They are also used extensively for pony trekking.

The Bardigiano is based on ancient stock and is probably related to the Abellinum breed of Roman times, to which the Haflinger and Avelignese can also be attributed.

The Bardigiano developed over the years in the Northern Appenine region of Italy, and is especially adapted to its rough mountainous habitat. The breed is mostly bay, black or brown and stand up to 13 hands high.

Bardigianos are useful and attractive ponies and, as with all mountain breeds, they are very tough and enduring, as well as extremely sure-footed. The have good, quiet temperaments, making them excellent for trekking and as children’s ponies.

Due to their robust frame and build, they are also suitable for farm work, light draft work and for packing.

In appearance they have fine pony heads of oriental type, with intelligent eyes and alert ears. They are very muscular through the neck, which is thickset and arched, and has an abundance of mane.
The shoulders can be upright, but are immensely powerful. They have short backs, with rounded barrels and muscular hindquarters. Their legs are generally short and strong with broad joints, short cannon bones, and very hard hooves. They are mostly bay in color, but can also be black or brown, with minimal white markings. These ponies can stand up to 13 hh.