Horses are noble, beautiful and sensitive animals that have accompanied man for centuries helping him move. Currently horses enjoy a more relaxed and comfortable life without having to work, at least as if they were cars.
In addition to their breed, horses are classified by the color of their coat, mane and tail, as well as by the shape and location of the spots of another color. There is also a classification of horses based on their height at the withers.
In this article on our site we will help you identify the different kinds of horses so you know how to classify them.
Classification of horses according to their size
The carriage of a horse is the height from the ground to the withers, which in turn is the area where the neck ends and trunk begins. The cross would be equivalent to the area between the shoulder blades in humans. According to their size, horses are divided into:
- Heavy or draft horses
- Light or saddle horses
- Ponies and Miniature Breeds
Ponies differ from other classes of horses in their appearance beyond size and in their temperament, which is usually calmer in the case of the pony. The body of a pony is, compared to that of a standard horse, more robust, with short legs (although there are also horse breeds such as the Asturcón with a similar morphology and they are not ponies) and have very bushy manes and tails.
Classification of horses according to their coat
The different coat colors of horses are determined by their genetics, by how certain pairs of genes (recessive genes) are expressed or dominant genes). Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a classification of horses based on their coat. As a curiosity, we will add that not all white-coated horses are born with a white coat.
The basic layers are chestnut, chestnut and black, and the rest of the possible layers are usually generated from them. So we can talk about the following kinds of horses:
- Sorrel: reddish brown.
- Albino: Consequence of the absence of dominant genes for coat coloration.
- Bay: Of an intermediate shade between white and gold, reminiscent of blond.
- White: These are rare cases, as they must not present any colored area and must not be albino.
- Chestnut, chestnut or mulatto: Horse with a deep brown coat, which may have black areas on the legs, tail and mane.
- Isabelo: Similar to bay, more cream than white. Mane and tail slightly darker than the body.
- Black: Horse with a black coat although it may have some white area on the forehead or on the part of the legs closest to the hooves.
- Palomino: Unusual class of horses characterized by a very light brown coat.
- Pío: Bicolor or tricolor, several subclasses are established within this class of horses.
- Ruano: With different tonalities intermingled.
- Tordo: A horse that is born with dark fur and becomes lighter over time, alternating white areas with other gray ones or even with small black areas. The gray horse's skin is black.
Classes of horses according to their spots
The spots and variations in the distribution of shades in a horse's coat, mottled or marbled, are the result of the expression of several alleles. Depending on the shape and location of the spots, we speak of the following classes of horses:
- Bar: White patch from eyes to snout.
- Lucero: Small spot on the forehead.
- Careto: White spot that widens from the forehead to the snout.
- Cut: When only the snout is white.
- Cabeza de moro: If the color of the head is darker than the rest of the body.
- White face: When the front view of the head shows a white layer, without areas of other shades.
When a horse shows white markings on the legs it is called white, and we speak of high shoes, medium shoes, low shoes or sock depending on where they start, from the knee to just above the hoof, respectively. When the spots on the legs are black, then we refer to the horse as slaty.
A horse's shoes can be on one, two, three or all four legs. There are also indications for these characteristics (unialbo horse, bialbo, etc).
There are several classes of horses depending on one aspect or another, and these classifications are not exclusive.
