Horse Breeds

Today's existing horse breeds are divided into three groups...the hot bloods...the cold bloods...and the warm bloods...Ponies do not come into this classification...

There are more than 200 recognized breeds throughout the world. Many have their own breed societies, which keep registers or stud books listing certain horses or ponies...

Carefully and selectively bred for a specific purpose, these animals show clearly defined characteristics of the breed...including conformation...height...colour and action...

As well as the established breeds...there are a number of horses and ponies known as types...eg: Hunters...cobs...hacks...the appaloosa and riding and polo ponies...

Hot bloods mainly originate from the Orient; the Arabian...the thoroughbred...the Anglo Arab...the Barb...and from Russia originates the Akhal Teke...and the Karabakh...

The Arab horse is considered one of the oldest and purest of the horse breeds, and carvings of them have been discovered in Egypt and the Middle East, dating back more than 1500 BC...The Caspian minature horse, is presumed to be it's ancestor...

The English Thoroughbred was originally established by crossing selected English bred mares, with three Arab stallions...The Darley Arabian...The Godophin Arabian and the Byerley Turk...

Cold bloods are the heavy Draught horses...the horses that usually do all the hard work...eg: The Clysdale...English Shire...and the Schleswig, which was used in the Middle ages, to lug knights around, in full combat armour...

The warm bloods are a mixture of hot and cold...which include many popular competition horses...apart from the race horses...which are all the sleek Thoroughbreds specifically bred for speed...

Amongst the best known warm bloods are:...the Hanoverian... Trakehner... Holstein...Oldenburg and the Westphalian...

The warmblood with the longest recorded history however, is the Einsiedler of Switzerland... bred continuously for over a thousand years at the Abbey of Einsiedeln near Zurich...

 

 

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