50 Fun Facts About Horse Breeds

In the United States, miniature horses are trained for which job more usually done by a dog?

Guiding the blind has been a job for miniature horses since 1999, when a US foundation began providing them. Part of the appeal is lifespan: horses live thirty to forty years.

Which draft breed, named after a river valley, pulls the Budweiser beer wagon in teams of eight?

Clydesdale teams were first formed by the brewery at the end of Prohibition. Its strict standards for matching horses have led many Americans to believe the breed comes in only one colour.

After an 1842 law took young children out of the work, thousands of Shetland ponies were sent where?

Coal mines used the small, strong ponies to haul loads underground, and many spent their whole lives there. The last American mine to work Shetland ponies closed in 1971.

The Marwari, a rare breed whose ears curve inward until the tips meet, comes from which country?

India's Marwar region, in Rajasthan, gave the breed its name. It is thought to descend from the war horses of Rajput warriors, and it can rotate those curved ears through 180 degrees.

Each July, riders move the wild ponies of Assateague Island to Chincoteague by making them do what?

The ponies swim a channel between the islands in five to ten minutes. The foal auction that follows began in 1924 to buy equipment for Chincoteague's volunteer fire company.

Which breed has stayed pure since 982 AD, when a Viking-age parliament banned imports to an island?

The Icelandic horse is still the only breed in its homeland, and the rule cuts both ways: an animal that leaves the country, even for a competition, is never allowed to return.

Spotted coats in breeds such as the Danish Knabstrupper come from a gene named after which big cat?

Leopard complex is the name for an ancient mutation found in breeds from Asia to western Europe. Along with spots, it gives a horse striped hooves, mottled skin and a white ring around the eye.

Which breed performs the 'airs above the ground' at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna?

Lipizzaner foals are born dark and slowly whiten over six to ten years. The breed is named after Lipica, a stud farm founded in 1580 in what is now Slovenia.

The Yakutian horse lives unsheltered through winters of minus 70 Celsius in which region?

Siberia has been home to the breed for about 800 years. It finds grass under deep snow, and it is thought to cut the volume of blood it circulates in extreme cold to avoid frostbite.

Przewalski's horse was returned to the wild in the 1990s at Hustai National Park in which country?

Mongolia knows the animal as the takhi. Genetic studies show it is no ancestor of the domestic horse: the two lines differ significantly, and neither descends from the other.

Which desert breed, prized by the Bedouin, is recognised by a dished face and a high-carried tail?

Arabian war mares were so valued that owners sometimes kept them inside the family tent, close to the children and safe from thieves. It is one of the oldest of all modern breeds.

Which racing breed traces every pedigree to three stallions imported into England around 1700?

Thoroughbred foals can only be registered if they were conceived by natural mating. Artificial insemination, routine in other breeds, is banned, which also keeps prices for the best bloodlines high.

Which free-roaming horse of the American West descends from stock brought by Spanish conquistadors?

Mustang probably comes from Spanish words for stray, ownerless livestock. Because their ancestors were tame, the herds are formally classed as feral rather than wild.

Which breed, the most popular in the United States, is named for outsprinting rivals over 440 yards?

The American Quarter Horse has the largest breed registry in the world. Colonists bred it as a sprinter for courses that were far shorter than the classic racetracks of England.

Which draft breed produced Sampson, an 1846 gelding thought to be the tallest horse ever recorded?

Shire horses were the staple breed for pulling brewers' drays, and they towed barges when canals were Britain's main freight route. Sampson stood over 21 hands and was later renamed Mammoth.

Which breed from the northern Netherlands is nearly always black and is often cast in films?

Friesian horses suit film-makers because they stay calm amid the bustle of a set and look elegant on camera, which is why they turn up so often in historical and fantasy dramas.

Which spotted breed was developed by the Nez Perce and probably named after the Palouse River?

Appaloosa numbers collapsed after the Nez Perce War of 1877, when the tribe lost most of its horses. The breed recovered to become the state horse of Idaho in 1975.

Which American breed traces to a single stallion called Figure and bears his owner's surname?

Morgan horses all descend from Figure, who was handed to a man named Justin Morgan in 1792 to settle a debt. The breed later served as cavalry mounts on both sides of the Civil War.

Which harness-racing breed is named for a rule that breeding stock trot a mile within 2 minutes 30?

Standardbred horses race at either a trot or a pace. Breeders now mate trotters with trotters and pacers with pacers so strictly that the breed is splitting into two distinct populations.

Which Iberian breed, officially the Pura Raza Española, was known as the 'royal horse of Europe'?

Andalusian exports from Spain were restricted until the 1960s. Since then the breed's arched neck and energetic gaits have made it a film favourite, from Gladiator to The Lord of the Rings.

The Akhal-Teke, a lean desert breed from Turkmenistan, is famous for a coat that often has what quality?

A metallic sheen earned the breed its nickname, the Golden Horses. Tribesmen first used it for raiding, and Turkmenistan's government still hands the horses out as diplomatic gifts.

The Lusitano, still ridden in mounted bullfighting, is named after the Roman name for which country?

Portugal adopted the Lusitano name only in 1966, when it split its studbook from Spain's. Before that, Iberian horses on both sides of the border went by a single shared name.

The Percheron, which made up 70% of American draft horses in the 1930s, comes from which country?

France shipped thousands of Percherons to the United States before the First World War. Once the fighting began, some American horses were sent back across the Atlantic to help the war effort.

The Connemara pony, a hardy breed shaped by a harsh Atlantic landscape, is native to which country?

Ireland's County Galway is its home. A well-known myth says horses set loose from wrecked Spanish Armada galleons in 1588 bred with the local ponies.

Which country is home to the brumby, a feral horse descended from animals lost by early settlers?

Australia had at least 400,000 brumbies in a 2011 survey. Plans to cull them to protect native ecosystems meet resistance from people who see the horses as part of the national heritage.

The Caspian, a tiny ancient breed rediscovered by a breeder in 1965, comes from which country?

Iran's Elburz Mountains sheltered the handful of small horses from which Louise Firouz and her husband revived the breed. Remains of a similar horse found in the north of the country in 2011 date to about 3400 BCE.

The Orlov Trotter, a harness breed created by a count in the late 1700s, comes from which country?

Russia's most famous horse was developed by Count Alexei Orlov and driven by the nobility and the Romanovs. Heavy crossbreeding with faster foreign trotters later brought it close to extinction.

The Mangalarga Marchador, a breed that never trots, is the national horse of which country?

Brazil has more than half a million of them, which makes it one of the most numerous riding breeds in the world. It began when a baron crossed an imported Lusitano stallion with his farm mares.

The Barb, whose ancestors carried eighth-century invaders into Europe, comes from which region?

North Africa's Berber peoples are so closely linked to the Barb that one writer calls their histories inseparable. The breed is known for great hardiness and stamina.

Feral horses probably descended from German cavalry mounts survive near Garub in which desert?

Namib horses gather on the Garub Plains because of a man-made watering point there. Their origin has never been fully proven, though most were probably released around the First World War.

Which rare English draft horse is always chestnut, which breeders spell without the first 't'?

Suffolk Punch horses all trace to a single stallion foaled in 1768. He was never given a name and is known only as Crisp's horse, after his owner Thomas Crisp.

Which small Alpine breed is always chestnut with a flaxen mane and traces to one stallion, Folie?

Haflinger breeders can claim a scientific first: in 2003 one of the breed became the first horse ever cloned, producing a filly named Prometea. The breed began among mountain ponies of the Tyrol.

Which Nordic breed is always dun, with a two-toned mane clipped short to stand up in a crescent?

Fjord horse manes have a dark centre flanked by pale hair, and clipping them shows off that stripe and the strong neck. It is one of the world's oldest breeds.

Which Argentine breed, among the smallest in the world, stands no taller than 34 inches?

Falabella horses take their name from the family that developed them. Foals can be just 12 inches tall at birth and reach full height by the age of three.

Which smooth-gaited breed of the American South nods in rhythm with a fast, gliding stride?

The Tennessee Walking Horse can cover 10 to 20 miles in an hour at its running walk. 'Soring', the cruel practice of hurting show horses' legs to exaggerate the action, was outlawed by Congress in 1970.

Which breed, prized for an exaggerated high-stepping trot, became the classic show carriage horse?

Hackney history owes something to Henry VIII, who in 1542 ordered his wealthy subjects to keep trotting stallions for breeding. The breed took shape in Norfolk.

Which Eurasian steppe horse vanished from the wild by 1890, prompting attempts to breed it back?

Tarpan lookalikes such as the Heck horse came out of three such attempts, though an extinct animal cannot truly be recreated. The last known one had a mouse-coloured coat and a thick, half-upright mane.

Which British pony has a pale 'mealy' muzzle and a fleshy 'toad eye' that sheds rain?

Exmoor ponies all carry the mealy markings, which breeders have selected for since the late 1800s. Roman carvings found in Somerset show chariots pulled by very similar ponies.

Which term covers breeds such as the Hanoverian and Holsteiner, bred for show jumping and dressage?

Warmbloods take their name from a mixing of 'hot' and 'cold' types, not from body temperature. 'Cold' refers to the northern climate of the heavy draft breeds, and 'hot' to a high-spirited temperament.

Which name was given to the finest medieval war horse, ridden by knights in battles and jousts?

Destrier comes from the Latin for 'right-sided horse', perhaps because a squire led it at the knight's right hand to keep it fresh. It was a type and not a breed, and most knights rode lesser mounts.

Which golden coat colour with a white mane and tail was worn by Trigger, the horse of Roy Rogers?

Palomino is produced by a single copy of the cream gene acting on a chestnut coat. A horse that inherits two copies is paler still, with rosy-pink skin and blue eyes.

In British usage, which word for a horse with black and white patches comes partly from the magpie?

Piebald joins 'pie', from the magpie and its two-tone plumage, to 'bald', an old word for a white patch. A horse patched with white and any other colour is called skewbald.

Which common coat colour pairs a reddish-brown body with a black mane, tail and lower legs?

Bay depends on those black 'points': without them a horse is not classed as this colour at all. The darkest examples look almost black, with red-brown hairs only around the eyes and muzzle.

Most horses that look pure white have dark skin under the coat and are classed as which colour?

Grey horses can be born any colour and whiten with age as pale hairs spread through the coat. A true white horse is rare: it is born white and has mostly pink skin.

Which coat colour, a gold body with black mane, tail and lower legs, is often confused with dun?

Buckskin takes its name from tanned deerskin and comes from the cream gene. Dun is caused by a different gene altogether, though one horse can carry both and is then nicknamed a 'dunskin'.

Which coat pattern mixes white hairs evenly through the body, in 'strawberry' and 'blue' varieties?

Roan horses carry a record of their knocks: where the skin is scraped, cut or branded, the hair grows back solid-coloured with no white in it. The dark patches are called corn marks.

Which Spanish word meaning 'painted' do Americans use for a horse with large white patches?

Pinto coats appear on some of the earliest domesticated horses: ancient DNA shows that one with the tobiano pattern lived about 5,600 years ago. The look was especially common in the Iron Age.

Which term describes a wide white stripe running down the middle of a horse's face?

Blaze markings have close neighbours: a narrower line is called a strip, and one wide enough to reach the eyes is a bald face. A star is a white mark between or above the eyes.

What name is given to the long hair on the lower legs of draft horses such as the Ardennes?

Feather also marks many British mountain and moorland ponies. Nearly every horse grows a little extra leg hair in winter, but the word is kept for breeds with an especially long growth.

The Trakehner, a sport horse from old East Prussia, carries a brand in the shape of what?

Moose antlers mark the pure-bred Trakehner. In early 1945 East Prussian breeders fled west with their horses across a frozen lagoon in bitter cold, and only a small fraction of the breed reached safety.