Horse Suits, Marks And Omens

Horse Suits, Marks And Omens
Horse Suits, Marks And Omens

Video: Horse Suits, Marks And Omens

Video: Horse Suits, Marks And Omens
Video: What Type Of Horse Suits You? 2024, March
Anonim

Color, markings and marks are the main identifying features that distinguish one horse from another. In horse breeding, a unified system has been developed for describing the individual characteristics of an animal during inventory, zootechnical and veterinary registration of horses. These features facilitate the identification of horses, i.e. allow you to establish the compliance of a particular animal with the documents presented to it.

When breeding horses, color is used as a sign of origin and breed. Horses of some colors, such as golden-red, golden-cinnamon, nightingale, playful and some others, are more highly valued.

It is customary to describe the color of a horse several times during a lifetime. The first time the suit is registered on the third day of the foal's life, then at the annual appraisal (assessment of breeding and productive qualities).

Marks on the horse's head, drawing picture
Marks on the horse's head, drawing picture

Marks on the horse's head: 1 - a flame, 2 - a star with a thin blaze, 3 - a star with a wide blaze, with an approach to the right nostril, 4 - non-standard

flame, 5 - an interrupted blaze, 6 - a bald spot that covers both lips and eyes, 7 - an asterisk, 8 - a star, 9 - a star with a narrow gap, 10 - an irregular star, 11 - whiteness between the nostrils, 12 - whiteness on the lips

The color of the horse is determined by the color of its skin and hair, which consists of short covering and protective hair (mane, tail and brushes). Horse skin can be dark and pink in color. Colored hair and dark hoof horn grow back on dark skin. Hair coloring factors are the distribution of pigment in its cortical layer, the internal structure of the hair and the distribution of air in its voids.

The colors of domestic horses evolved from the adaptive coloration of wild horses. Domestic horses bred in different climatic conditions, with stable or herd keeping, as a result of selection and selection, a wide variety of colors arose.

The wider the range of the breed and the less it has been influenced by humans, the more varied the range of colors of hair and the more common signs of zonal coloration of wild animals.

Among horses of factory breeds, only 5-6 basic colors of uniform color are usually distributed. There are almost no suited breeds, but each breed has its own predominant suit.

The colors of horses can be conventionally divided into five groups: one-color - black, red, brown; two-color - karak, bay, dun, playful; with zonation of color - savra, brown, mousy; mixed white and colored hair - gray, roan and spotted, piebald, chubar, brindle. A more complete description of the suits is presented in the table.

Taking into account the shades of horses, there are more than 50 colors. At the cellular level, the color determines the pigment melanin. The amount of pigment grains deposited in each hair and the distribution of pigment grains in the cortical layer can vary. The type of pigment and its location in the body are genetically determined. Age-related graying of hair in a horse is caused by a weakening of the pigmenting ability of the skin. In addition to the pigment, the peculiarity of the suit is influenced by the age, the physiological state of the animal and some other factors.

The colors characteristic of adult horses are formed in the process of individual development and usually change with age.

At birth, foals have an indeterminate color. At about six months of age, soft, thick hair during molting is replaced by short, forming a permanent coat. After moulting, a muscular foal often turns black. Gray horses are usually born black, bay or red. Only gradually they become dark or light gray, and sometimes in old age they become gray “like buckwheat”.

Marks on horse legs, drawing picture
Marks on horse legs, drawing picture

Marks on the legs: 1 - up to the wrist joint (up to the hock, if the back), 2 - half-pastern (half-metatarsus, if the back), 3 - with a brush, 4 - two-thirds of the put (headstock), 5 - along the rim, 6 - a white spot under the heel with the transition to the hoof.

There are times when the zonal coloration of wild horses is found among the horses of the factory breeds. They have a dark stripe (belt) on their backs, and zebra stripes on their limbs.

According to a number of researchers, the color of horses is not directly related to their performance and temperament, but it is nevertheless noted that horses of dark colors are often more hardy than individuals of light colors. Some experts note the ability of light horses to be more agile than dark horses, but among gray horses, melanosarcoma is more common. Horse's limbs with white markings are often affected by biting midges.

What color is the horse?
What color is the horse?

Related article What color is the horse?

Gray horses are hypersensitive to certain foods such as buckwheat straw, which causes them to develop an allergic rash.

In horse breeding, a specific terminology for naming colors has been adopted. It is not customary to call a horse black, they will definitely say a black one, instead of a red one they will call a bay one, a chestnut one - brown.

Horse marks. Markings in horses are called congenital spots and stripes of various shapes and sizes on the head, trunk and limbs. They help to distinguish between horses of the same color. Marks can be white, dark or colored. White marks are formed as a result of complete depigmentation of skin areas with regrowth of white hair on them. Marks of mixed color with white hair occur with incomplete depigmentation of the skin. Marks of sparse bleached hair, through which pink skin shines through, are called "body spots". Dark markings are formed with increased pigmentation of the opaque hair.

Marks should not include white spots resulting from damage to the skin by a saddle, yoke, girth or spur.

Let's consider the most common marks and the nature of their description. White head markings: gray hair, star, blaze, bald spot, whiteness between the nostrils and on the lips.

White foot markings: white hooves, light stripes on dark hooves, whiteness on the heel of the hoof, along the crown, pastern, metacarpus, up to the wrist or hock, and sometimes even higher.

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