Glossary - Definitions - Abbreviations


Here are a few of the terms you might find around our website, along with a brief description and a link to a more complete reference (where it is available). We hope that you find this information useful and informative.

If you find any errors or omissions, or would like to suggest a new term to add to our glossary please let us know.



Term Description / Meaning Link

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AI

Artificial insemination is used in animals to propagate desirable characteristics of one male to many females or overcome breeding problems.

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Appaloosa

Best known for a distinctive leopard spotted coat color, but has other distinctive physical characteristics. Most Appaloosas are recognized by their colorful spotted coat patterns, striped hooves, mottled skin (most visible around their eyes and on their muzzle) and white sclera around the eye.

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Appiano

Spotted and coloured markings as a coat pattern.

N/a

Arab

The Arabian horse is a breed of horse with a reputation for intelligence, high spirit, and outstanding stamina. With a distinctively chiseled head and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world.

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Bay

Characterized by a reddish brown body color with a black mane, tail and lower legs.

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Black

A Black based horse with no "bay" gene, and no dilution gene, ranging from "true" black to brown in appearance.

N/a

Buckskin

A tan or gold colored coat with black points (mane, tail, and lower legs). Buckskin occurs as a result of the cream dilution gene acting on a bay horse.

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Cob

Cob is a term used to describe a type of horse that is small, usually of a stout build, with strong bones, large joints, and steady disposition. Historically, in the United Kingdom and eastern United States, it was the word used to describe a common horse used for everyday riding.

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Conformation

Horse conformation refers to the correctness of a horse's bone structure, musculature, and its body proportions in relation to each other. Undesirable conformation in a horse can limit its ability to perform a specific task.

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Cremello

A cream colored body with a cream or white mane and tail. It occurs when a horse is homozygous for a dilution gene sometimes called the cream gene acting on a red (chestnut) base coat. Such horses have pink skin, blue eyes, and are a light cream or gold color when born, but sometimes fade to almost white as an adult.

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Curly

A Curly is a breed of horse. Curlies, also called Bashkir Curlies, American Bashkir Curlies, and North American Curly Horses, come in all sizes, colors, and body types but all carry a gene for a unique curly coat of hair.

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Dressage

Dressage (a French term meaning "training") is a path and destination of competitive horse training, with competitions held at all levels from amateur to the Olympics. Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a riding horse.

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Eventing

Eventing is an equestrian event which comprises dressage, cross-country and show-jumping. This event has its roots as a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding.

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Gelding

A gelding is a castrated animal - in English, the term specifically refers to a castrated male horse or other equine. The word comes from the Old Norse geldr ("barren").

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Hanoverian

A warmblooded horse originating in Germany, which is often seen in the Olympic Games and other difficult English style competitions, and have won gold medals in all three equestrian Olympic competitions. It is one of the oldest, most numerous, and most successful of the warmbloods.

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Highland Pony

The Highland Pony is a native British pony, and is the largest of Britain’s 9 native breeds. Its pedigree dates back to the 1880s. It was once a workhorse in the Scottish mainland and islands, but today is used for trekking and general riding.

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Holstein

A breed of horse originating in the Schleswig-Holstein region of northern Germany. It is thought to be the oldest of warmblood breeds, tracing back to the 13th century. There are relatively few Holsteins, however, they still excel in a variety of disciplines.

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Homozygous

Basically meaning of the same alleles. It carries two identical copies of the gene affecting a given trait on the two corresponding homologous chromosomes.

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Irish Draught

The Irish Draught horse, sometimes spelled Irish Draft, is the national breed of Ireland which developed primarily for farm use. Today, they are especially popular for crossing with Thoroughbreds, producing the popular Irish Sport Horses (or Irish Horses) that excel at the highest levels of eventing and show jumping.

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Knabstrup / Knabstrupper

The Knabstrup or Knabstrupper is a European horse breed with an unusual range of coat coloration. It shows the same color pattern as the Appaloosa, with coat patterns ranging from solid, through many variants to the full leopard spotted. Leopard Spotting is the most prized color pattern.

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NFFR

No foal free return.

N/a

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Overo

Overo refers to several genetically-unrelated pinto coloration pattern of white over dark body markings in horses. Overo is a Spanish word, originally meaning "like an egg". There are at least three genetically different different spotting patterns which fall under the "overo" classification: frame overo, sabino overo, and splash or splashed white overo.

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Palomino

A gold coat and white mane and tail. Genetically, the palomino color is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called the cream gene working on a red (chestnut) base coat.

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Perlino

A light creme-colored coat and blue eyes. A Perlino horse will have a mane, tail, and "points" (lower legs, sometimes ear tips, etc.) that are a bit darker than their body hair coat, usually no darker than chestnut (rusty orange) colored.

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Piebald

A spotting pattern of large white and black patches. The colour of the horse's skin underneath its coat may vary between black (under the black patches of hair) and pink (under the white patches). The colouring is generally asymmetrical. Many animals also exhibit colouration of the irises of the eye that match the surrounding skin.

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Pinto

 

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Sabino

Sabino is a group of white spotting patterns in horses that affect the skin and hair. A wide variety of irregular color patterns are accepted as sabino.

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Section A

The Welsh Mountain Pony (Section A) may not exceed 12 hands (122 cm or 48 inches) in height. They have a dished face (from the Arabian influence) with small ears and large eyes.

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Section B

The Welsh Pony (Section B), or Welsh Pony of Riding Type, is part of the Welsh Breeds. Section B ponies are taller than the closely related Welsh mountain pony (Section A) with a maximum height of 13.2 hh (1.37 m) in the UK and 14.2 hh (1.47 m) in the U.S. They are known for elegant movement and athletic ability while still retaining the substance and hardiness of the foundation stock, the Section A Welsh pony.

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Section C

The Welsh pony of Cob Type (Section C) should be no taller than 13.2 hands (137 cm). However, unlike the Welsh pony (Section B), it is heavier and more coblike and compact.

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Section D

The Welsh Cob (Section D) is the largest of the Welsh breeds. The Welsh Cob should be no shorter than 13.2 hands. They have a straight profile with large, expressive eyes, clean limbs with silky feathering, and sound feet. Their movement is high-stepping. They have a round barrel, compact back, muscular legs and crested necks.

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Shetland

A breed of pony (a type of small horse) that is very strong for its size. Shetlands range in size from a minimum height of approximately 28 inches to an official maximum height of 42 inches (10.2 hands, 107 cm) at the withers.

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Skewbald

A coat made up of brown (or any color besides black) and white patches, on top of either pink or black skin. It is similar in appearance to the piebald and oddbald horses.

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Smokey Black

A Black horse that recieved one copy of the cream dilution gene from one of its parents, but probably looks no different than any other black or brown horse.

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Smokey Cream

A Black horse that recieved one copy of the cream gene from both of its parents, possessing pink skin, blue eyes, and an orange or red cast to the entire hair coat.

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Sorrel

Sorrel is one of the most common equine coat colors in horses. While it is usually used to refer to a copper-red shade of chestnut horse, in some places it is used generically in place of the term "chestnut" to describe any reddish horse with a same-color or lighter mane and tail, ranging from reddish-gold to a deep burgundy or chocolate shade.

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Sport Horse

A sport horse is term used to describe a type of horse, although not a particular breed. It usually encompases any horse that is used for the English-styled equestrian disciplines or for fox hunting. These disciplines include dressage, eventing, hunter competition, and show jumping.

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Thoroughbred

A horse breed best known as a race horse. While carefully bred racehorses had existed throughout Europe for centuries prior to this time, the breed as it is known today developed during the 17th century in England when English mares began to be bred to imported Arabian stallions.

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Tobiano

A genetic trait among Pinto horses which produce a characteristic spotting pattern in the coat of the horse. The tobiano gene produces areas of white-haired, pink-skinned patches on a base coat color. The coloration is present from birth and does not change throughout the horse's lifetime.

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Trakehner

A horse breed. The Trakehner is generally of a lighter type than most other warmbloods. The Trakehner typically stands between 15.2-17 hands high. Trakehners can be any color, with bay, gray, chestnut and black being the most common, though the breed also includes few roan and tobiano pinto horses.

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Warmblood

Warmbloods are a group of sport horse breeds and the term simply distinguishes this type of horse from the "cold bloods" (draft horses) and the "hot bloods" (Thoroughbreds and Arabians).

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Weanling

The term is usually used to refer to a horse that has just been weaned, or a horse between the ages of 6 months and a year. Once a year old, the horse is referred to as a yearling.

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