How to Recognize Horse Cloaks: 3 Steps

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Have you ever wondered what color horses' cloaks are or what they are called, perhaps seeing one on television that struck you for its beauty or uniqueness? Some colors are familiar and easy, but there are others that are more difficult. Here is an easy way to recognize and define a horse's coat.

Steps

Step 1. Learn some basic terms:

• Ears, the lower part of the legs, the mane and the tail.

  

• Mane: These are the long hairs that grow along the horse's neck, from the space between the ears to the withers (the base of the neck before the rump).

  

• Tail: the long hair that grows from the sacrum.

  

• White spots on the lower part of the legs, called balzane. They include, for example, the trace of a balzana (very close to the hoof), the small balzana (extended up to the fetlock), a fitted balzana (up to the shin), a high-fitted balzana (over the middle of the shin).

  

• White spots on the head (markings). They are located on the head and forehead and include:

  

  • Stella (forehead spot)
  • Flower on the forehead (a barely hinted star)
  • Drinking in white (one or both lips stained with white)
  • Prolonged star (when the star extends down to the nose)
  • List (a more or less wide strip on the bridge of the nose for the length)
  • Mask (when star and list extend to occupy the whole face or half of it including the eyes)

• Eyes colour. Horses can have blue, brown, green, hazel, golden and red eyes.

  

  • Other important characteristics of a horse's color: spots, predominant and base coat, zebra stripes.

    

  Step 2. Within each category there are variations and mixes

  Here are some of the main cloaks:

  • Bay: a compound coat, reddish hair on the body and black at the ends, black hair. There are various types of bay: clear (faded color), golden (with golden reflections), brown (almost black), chestnut (chestnut color), dark (brownish red).

    

  • Sauro: yellow to red coat, with mane and tail of the same color as the body. It can be light (red tending to yellow), golden (gold color), dark (full color), burnt (roasted coffee color), cherry or firm (ripe cherry color).
  • Morello: the hairs are only black. Black extremities (apart from any white spots such as stars or flounces), black mane and tail. It can be strong (uniform), malty (tending to reddish), jet black (intense and shiny).

  • Gray - looks white but is not. The skin is dark and has dark pigmentation around the eyes, ears and nose. These horses are born of another color and change their coat as they grow up.

    

  • Pomellato: gray coat with round and precise patches of white hair. It can be gray with lighter or darker patches.

    

  • Iron Gray: Dark gray with darker tips, no mottling.

    

  • Trotino: a gray sprinkled with reddish specks. It appears to have black, brown or red dots. Mane and tail usually gray or white.

    

  • Palomino: Must not have more than 20% black hair. It usually has a mane and tail of a lighter color than the body, but it can also be the same color, ranging from cream to almost chocolate brown.

    

  • Albino: the true white coat is in horses with pink skin and white hair due to the absence of pigment in the skin and hair; the eyes are blue or brown.

    

  • Roan: white, red and black hairs. Clear (white predominates), intense (black predominates), vinous (red predominates). Mane and tail are black.

    

  • Pinto: it has irregular sizes with many variations, but the basic types are tobiano (white background with different colored pieces) and l'overo (white pieces on a different colored background).

    

  • Appaloosa: The coats are different, based on the type of spots, and no two horses are alike. Snowflake, leopard, spotted blanket, marbled, frost. They have a very evident sclera (the white of the eye) and the hooves have vertical black and white streaks.

    

  

  Step 3. Learn this list

  The next time you see a horse, take note of the markings and characteristics that can help you define its coat, and compare your notes with this list.

  Advice

  • A horse may have a different shade or color when it sheds its coat or when the coat grows back; as the horse ages, the coat may become lighter.
  • The sun lightens the coat, so a horse may look lighter in the summer, although some coats wear off and become darker.
  • The thicker winter coat sometimes tends to become grayish.

  Warnings

  • People can be very bizarre about horses' coats …
  • A horse's coat can turn gray due to age, diet, injury, and how it has been cared for.
  • Sometimes it's best to choose a horse for character, not coat color. Nobody wants a good looking but undisciplined horse!