Pintos: There are two different Pinto Color Patterns:

1. The Tobiano appears to be white with large spots of color

2. The overo appears to be a colored horse with jagged white markings on the body.
     Many overos have bald (all-white) faces.

Palominos: is a yellowish color, light or dark, with a white mane and tail. The color is caused by a dilution gene on a red (chestnut) base coat.

Appaloosas: These are not considered a colored breed such as pinto, Palomino, Buckskin, etc. but are instead regarded as a definite breed with a color preference.
3 types: blanket pattern, leopard pattern or a snowflake pattern

Horse base colors are black and chestnut. Most other colors including bay and brown are created when of the thse base color pigments has a diluting gene or modifying gene. A color of a horse is ultimately decided the by color of the points: the muzzle, tips of the ears, mane and tail and lower part of the legs.

Buckskin: has a color resembling tanned deer hide, with black legs and black mane & tail.

Duns: are a duller colored horse version of the buckskin, carrying the dun factor gene that often results in a dorsal stripe, shoulder striping, and zebra markings on the upper legs

Horses start shedding their coasts as the days get longer. the long hairs can be brushed out over a period of amout a month, leaving a short, smooth shiny coat. Show horses can be tricked into keeping a year round short and shiny coat, by having them wear an insulated blanket and staying inside a warm box stall with lights.

There are four categories of horse breeds:
1. Ponies: a pony is defined as being under 14.2 hands under 58 inches.
2. Coldbloods: usually refers to the large, bulky, draft horse breeds, such as the Shire, Clydesdale, Percheron and Belgian. These horses are known to be docile and are often called gentle giants.
3. Hotbloods: usually refers to Arabians, Thoroughbres and other horses of oreintal origin. These horses are known to be energetic and senstive or hot.
4. Warmbloods: Originally a cross between a hotblood and a coldblood, resulting in a trainabe, athletic horse, often used as a sport horse for dressage, jumping, eventing, etc. European breeds have warmblood registries such as Hanovarian, Holsteiner, Oldenburg, Trakehner, Dutch Warmblood and Swedish Warmblood. These European horses are highly sought after in other countries resulting in a large export market.

Light horses are generally referred to those that are not draft horses, such as Arabian, Morgan, Andalusians, Saddlebreds and Thoroughbreds

Extreme breed sizes: The horse breeds that have unusually small sizes often trace to the Falabella breeding program of Argentina. The Shire breed of England is known to produce some of the world's tallest horses.

Miniature horses are not called ponies, even though they are extremely small, usually under 34 inches.

The gestation prenancy period of a mare is normally 11 months approximately 340 days. Foals born after 320 days gestation are considered premature, and often have life-threatening respiratory problems. Some mares have reported gestation periods exceeding one year. Claims of up to 417 days exist.

Most horses have four natural gaits:

• Walk: a four-beat gait, with each foot stepping separately
• Trot: a two-beat gait, with diagonal pairs of legs forming one beat
• Canter: A three-beat gait, beat one is either of the hindlegs; beat two is the remaining hindleg and diagonal foreleg together; beat three is the remaining foreleg.
• Gallop: a four-beat run, with each foot stepping separately

There are a number of benefits to horse ownership:

• Many parents will attest that the horse helps keep a child occupied and out of trouble especially during the teen years
• Riding & Caring for a horse forms relationships built on mutual respect and trust
• Character buiding is a natural part of horse ownership, teaching responsibility, punctuality, sporsmanship, frugality, patience, commitment, confidence and self-esteem.
• Horse are a great sense of mental rejuvenation and stress relief for the owner. A chance to go to a place very different from typical daily activities.

Horses are instinctually reactive, and they are known to mirror human emotions. If a handler is angry, the horse usually becomes angered and defensive. If a handler is calm and relaxed, or quick and tense, the horse tends to react likewise

A horse may lie down for a variety of reasons other than sleep:

• A horse with colic (stomach ache) will tend to lay down and peridically look or thrash at its stomach
• Horses may lay flat out, basking in the sun and soaking up the rays
• Some untrained horses have been known to go down on the ground to get a rider off their back
• If sweaty or wet, most horses will roll in the dirt to get dry, as if using a towel.

Note: After bathing your horse, it is likely he will roll immediately.

Throughout history, horses have been used for battle, transporation, farming, ranching and pleasure. Today, horses are primarily used for mounted police work, rescue efforts, transporation (riding and driving), ranch work, recreation, enterinment, racing, competition, and equine assisted therapy.

Some miniature horses are now being used as seeing-eye horses for the blind

Horses are defined with various terms based on their age as follows:
Foal: baby of either gender
Filly: baby female, up to four years of age
Colt: baby male, up to four years of age
Mare: female, four years or older
Broodmare: female used for breeding
Dam: mother of a foal
Stallion: male, four years or older
Stud: another name for a stallion or the name for a breeding establishment
Sire: father of a foal
Gelding: castrated male
Cryptorchid: Stallion with testicles not descended
Monorchid: stallion with one testicle not descended

Horses do not need as much sleep as humans. The tend to need only about 2-4 hours of sleep a day,often in 15-30 minute increments. Some horses lay down to nap more than others. Feeling safe seems to be a factor. In the wild, horses often stand watch over a horse that is sleeping on the ground. Most horses will lie flat out, or in a crouched position with their noses propped on the ground. Some horses lay down in a box stall but can get cast where their legs get stuck against the wal and they have trouble getting up.

Horses do not have self-adjusting eye lenses, horses must move their heads to adjust their lenses. To see far away, a horse will raise its head. To see close in front, a horse will lower itshead and bring in its nose.

Most horses have about 205 bones in their body. Most horses have 18 ribs, 6 lumbar ertebrae and 18 tail vertebrae. However, one of the oldest breeds of horses, the Arabian, can have just 17 ribs, 5 lumbar vertebrae and 16 tail vertebrae.

Colic is a stomach ache and it is a major cause of death in horses followed by founder. The horses small somach requires that a horse graze and eat small, frequent meals. If a horse overeats, or eats bad feed, high levels of digestive gases can paralyze the muscle that allows food to continue through the digesitve tract. This blockage can casue the stomach to rupture. If a horses starts rolling on the ground in pain, the intestines can become twisted, also causing ruptures. If a veterinarian cannot handle the problem with treatments, espensive surgeries are sometimes successful. Interesting fact: Horses cannot vomit...they have a muscular valve that leads to the stomach preventing food from going back into the esophagus making it almost impossible for them to vomit.

Until recent years, the life expectancy of a horse was 20-25 years. With advances in health care, it is now common for a horse to live to an average of 25-30 years.

Horses should be routinely vaccinated for the prevention of the following diseases:

1. Rabies - affects the central nervous system
2. Tetanus - disease by bacteria from the soil or feces entering wounds
3. Equine Viral Encephalomyelitis - transmitted by mosquitoes; brain & spinal inflammation
4. Influenza - contagious viral disease affecting upper respiratory tract
5. Strangles - contagious bacterial disease causing abscesses in lymph nodes
6. West Nile Virus - Mosquitioes transmits disease causing swelling brain & paralysis
7. Potomac Horse Fever - summer disease causing high fever, diarrhea & founder
8. rhinopneumonitis - viral disease affecting respiratory and circulatory systems

• Horses have small brains compared to their size
• Horses are prey animals & behave differently accordingly to their flight or fight response
• Horses are trainable, even though many rider's commands contradict their natural instincts
• Horses learn thru positive & negative reinforement with lots of repitition in small increments
• They have great memories often putting elephants to shame. They seldom forget and forgive poor training experiences
• They recognize sounds pertaining to certain people, feed buckets, vehicles and so on.

Safety is the primary concern when near a horse. Be Careful! Be Pro-active!

• Dont walk behind a horse unless you know it sees you and talk as you approach
• Walking around a tied horse, put your hand on the rump and walk close to the back
• Dont walk under a horse's neck when tied, it may startle and put you in a vulnerable spot
• Lead a horse with it's neck at your side. Don't walk in front of the horse or near their hip
• Dont stand in front of a horse in case it jumps and spooks forward or behind the horse
• When shutting trailer door, stand to the side since horse could unexpectedly back out
• Trail ride with a buddy in case of an emergency. Carry a cell phone if you ride alone
• Never tie a horse to furniture, vehicles or a weak fence these objects are unstable
• Safety helmets are a good idea especially for newer riders, jumping or young riders
• Never tie the horse's lead rope around your arm or waist in case the horse spooks
• Always wear boots working around horses

Traditional gaits are: walk, trot or jog, canter or lope and gallop.
 The below breeds are unique

American Saddlebred: this beautiful horse can slow gait and rack
Tennessee Walker: the walker can do a flat or running walk.
Missouri Fox Trotter: they can fox trot where front legs walk & hindlegs trot with overstride
Peruvian Paso: they do a paso llano which is a lateral four-beat gait
Paso Fino: has three speeds: classic fino, paso corto & paso largo
Standardbred: they pace with lateral feet stepping down in unison
Icelandic Horse: the tolt has the same foot fall as a four-beat walk with high knee action

Most horses love carrots, aples, sugar cubes, raisins, peppermints, grains (barley, oats, corn) molasses, apple sauce and maple syrup

Some horse love to drink sugary soda pop from a can

Never feed someone else's horse without their permission

Don't overfeed treats causing imbalances in nutrition

Feeding by hand can create potential nibbling and biting problems unless taught properly

Always cut up treats into small bits to avoid risk of choking

Aside from classifying a horse as a draft, light horse or pony, horses can be classified
into body types related to functionality or purpose:

1. Stock Horse Type: usually a strong, muscular western-type horses used for ranching, reining, cutting and working classes. They are often Quarterhorses, Mustangs, appaloosas and Paints

2. Sport Horse Type: usually an athletic horse with the substance, conformation, movement and temperament for dressage, jumping and eventing. Commonly they are:
Warmbloods, Arabians, Andalusians, Friesians, Thoroughbreds and Crossbreds

3. Saddle Horse Type: often described as a refined horse, built with an elevated front ent that can be conducive to high animated action. Breeds such as: Morgans, Arabians, Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walkers and Hackneys

Horses are prey animals with the flight or fight instinct

Herds have dominant leader (usually and older, experienced alpha mare) who makes
critical choices for the herd's safety.

Stallions have been observed to "own" a herd and run behind it to make sure that the slower horses catch up and to separate the herd from predators

Horses behave with effective management dynamics: they have an experienced leader
who cares about the welfare of the entire group, a group that sticks together through thick and thin, and members watching over the needs of each other, such as standing over a sleeping horse.

Horses tend to colic more in the winter, when they drink less water and there is often less moisture in the aged, stored winter hay.

Some horsemen break their young horses in lakes or oceans to limit potential bucking and rearing

Domesticated horses can drink out of automatic water fountains, which they push on with their nose.

A horse can secrete up to 10 gallons of saliva per day.

Horses generally need 1 gallon of water per 100 pounds of body weight per day.

Buying a new horse is a big decision and a large financial investment. It is prudent to ask the seller relevant questions about the new horse. These types of questions are critical as to whether or not you choose to proceed with the purchase:
  

1. Has the horse ever coliced or foundered - this is good information to have
2. Has it ever been lame
3. Has it ever had surgery
4. Does the horse crib or windsuck
5. Does the horse need special shoeing in order to remain sound or to be ridden
6. Does the horse buck or rear under saddle
7. Does the horse have trail riding experience and is the horse traffic safe
8. Does the horse have any noticeable or obvious vices or bad habits
9. Has the horse been regularly vaccinated and wormed.

There is a difference between the experienced horseperson and a person that is new to horses so some questions are understandable, however, a buyer would not need to ask the following questions if they take some time to familiarize themselves with horses first, prior to making a purchase:

Does the horse ever spook? Some horses may spook more than others but common sense tells us that if a horse is exposed to something new that they have never experienced before, they need to be patiently introduced to the item and work through it. Every horse will spook under the right circumstances and it's unfair to expect that they would not when they are surprised, caught off guard or experience something they have never experienced before. Understand that you will be introducing your horse to new things and that when you ride, you will encounter things or circumstances that your horse may find puzzling.

Why are you selling the horse? This is a very interesting but people sell horses for a variety of reasons. Just because the horse is for sale, does NOT automatically imply that the horse is not broke, ill mannered, dangerous, lame, sick or not worth keeping. It is our strong belief that asking the question is irrelevant because if the horse is lame, sick, dangerous or unrideable, the seller is not going to give you that reason. The reason the horse is for sale is entirely irrelevant if you find the horse to be exactly what you are looking for and suits your needs. If you are suspicious as to the horses soundness, have a prepurchase vet exam done.

How long have you owned the horse? When I find a horse that I like & that meets my needs, I don't care if the seller has owned the horse 10 years or 5 minutes. If the horse meets your needs and the horse is what you are looking for, the question is irrelevant. When you ride a horse, you like it, you enjoy it & it's what you are looking for - the length of time the seller has owned that horse, does not change or impact how the horse performed for you. It is what it is!