Parts of a Horse:
Some of the following will be in your membership examination test. As with any hobby, understanding the language is important, and this is specifically important so that you can easily communicate any suspected injury. After studying this diagram, e-enabled students can take a cool test at www.zmfarabian.com/pages/quiz.html.

Horse Colours and Markings
The deciding factor in determining the colour of a horse lies in the colour of the points. The points are: the muzzle, tips of the ears, the mane, the tail and the legs from the knees and hocks down. If there is any doubt as to the colour, the muzzle and eyelids should be carefully examined.

Black: the body, head, muzzle, flanks and legs are uniformly covered with black hairs. The mane and tail are also black.

Brown: the body is dark brown or nearly brown with brown points.

Bay: the body is dark brown with black points (mane, tail and legs).

Chestnut: the body is ginger or reddish in colour with a similar mane and tail. Light, dark and liver chestnuts are variations. The mane and tail are never black but may have some black hairs. The animal may have a flaxen (cream coloured) mane and tail.

Sorrel: the body colour is reddish or copper-red with the mane and tail the same colour or flaxen. Considered to be lighter than a chestnut.

Grey: White and black hairs occur throughout the coat. An iron grey horse is one in which the black hairs are pronounced. A light grey is one in which the white hair is predominant. A horse may be referred to as flea-bitten if the dark hairs appear in tufts or dappled if the black hairs appear in regular patches over the body. Horses are not correctly described as white.

Palomino: The body is a golden colour with a flaxen main and tail.

Roan: if the body is a mixture of bay and white colour it is referred to as bay or red roan. Chestnut and white hair mixtures are called strawberry or chestnut roan. A blue roan is a mixture of black and white hair.

Dun: the body colour is yellowish or golden. It may have black or dark points and show zebra stripes on the legs, a list or dorsal stripe which is a dark line down the middle of its back, or transverse stripe over the withers.

Buckskin: this is a variation of the dun colour. The buckskin has no dorsal strip or list.

Grullo: the body colour is smoky or mouse-coloured, not a mixture of black and white hair. The horse has black points and a dorsal stripe or list.

Other colours: Paints/Pintos/Appaloosa: horses with large irregular spots are called Paints or Pintos. There are two colour pattern classifications: tobiano and overo. The tobiano may be predominately dark or white. The head is marked like a solid colour horse. The spots are regular and distinct, often coming in oval or round patterns. The legs are usually white below the hocks and knees. The overo may be predominately dark or white. The white markings are usually from the belly up and do not usually cross the back between the withers and the tail. The legs are often dark. The markings are irregular, rather scattered and splashed on the body. The head has large areas of white, more extensive than a star or blaze.

The appaloosa is also a colour dominant breed. Appaloosas appear with a variety of markings peculiar to the breed. Leopard Appaloosas have an even distribution of fairly regular shaped black spots over the entire body which is white. A blanket shows a white blanket of spots over the hindquarters, loin or croup of a horse with a basic dark body colour. A frost pattern show white frost-type markings spread over all or part of a basic dark body colour. The Paint, Apaloosa and Palomino have their own registries, are recognized as breeds and have their own colour guide.

Star: is a white mark on the forehead.
Stripe: or Strip is a narrow white mark down the face.
Blaze: is a broad white mark down the face which extends over the bones of the nose.
Snip: is a white mark between the nostril, which may extend into the nostrils.
The face may have a combination of these markings.

Wall Eye: is one which shows white or blue-white colouring in place of the normal colouration of the iris and/or cornea.
Stocking: shows white to the knee.
Sock: shows white to the mid point of the cannon.
Ermine Marks: are small black marks which sometimes appear around the coronet band. They are often accompanies by a black stripe on a white hoof which appears to continue from t he black hair near the coronet band.

Horse Colouration and Identifiers www.e-stable.com for pictorial descriptions of the following colours and markings)

Grade Horse
A grade horse refers to a horse of no particular breeding or registerable colour. It can be a combination of all sorts of breeds (akin to a "mutt" in dog language). Most of the horses that you will ride at the ranch are grade horses, because, like cross-bred dogs, they are often tougher and healthier than pure breeds.

Pure breeds that you will find at The Ranch are Quarter Horses, Percherons, Belgians, Fjord Ponies, Appaloosas, Paints, Palominos, and Pintos.

Height
Horses are measured by hands, from the base of the ground to the top of the withers. Once hand equals approximately 4 inches. The animal is considered a horse (and not a pony) if it measures 14 hands and inches or more

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