Horse Breeds From A to Z

What is a Horse Breed?

All horses are members of the Equidae family and belong to the modern genus Equus, within which they are grouped as Equus caballus. The Equus caballus species is subdivided into further breeds. The term breed refers to a group of animals with the same characteristic hereditary traits. Each breed has common ancestors and therefore a similar genetic composition. A distinction is made between natural breeds and artificial breeds.

Natural Breeds

Natural breeds include animals that have developed certain characteristics through natural selection that have enabled them to survive in their respective environments and which they have passed on to subsequent generations. One example is the Basque Pottiock pony, which grows thick whiskers on its upper lip in winter to protect it from the prickly plants it has to feed on when food is scarce. Even though the Tarpan is a descendant breed, it still has the characteristic coat of its ancestors, which turns white in winter. This camouflage originally protected it from predators.

Artificial Breeds

However, many modern breeds were largely created artificially. Humans selected certain characteristics and traits from various individual animals and created horses through crossbreeding that served specific purposes.

The Studbook

Breeding associations set the regulations for breeding procedures and are responsible for maintaining the studbook. The breeding associations set certain requirements about the size, conformation, gait, and, in some cases, the color of the horse, which must be met for it to be recognized as belonging to the respective breed.

There are two types of studbooks: open and closed. An open studbook allows a horse whose parents belong to a different registered breed to be registered for a particular breed, provided it meets the requirements. A closed studbook only allows a horse to be registered if both parents are registered as belonging to the breed in question. This type of studbook ensures much purer breeds. A good example of this is the Arabian studbook.

Development of Horse Breeds

Horse breeds developed when humans began to breed animals for specific purposes. The heavy draught horse was developed for agricultural work and developed special skills in this area. An offshoot of this breed is the light draught horse, which was suitable for light agricultural work as well as for pulling loads. The carriage horse was developed as a lighter, faster breed that was suitable for work in harness and light draught work. The saddle horse was, as the name suggests, the ideal riding horse. Today there are many crosses from the various main groups, as it is now important to produce good riding horses. Mechanization has displaced the draft and carriage horses, but these heavy breeds are often successfully crossed with lighter breeds to produce excellent, medium-weight riding horses. There are also various pony breeds, which can also be divided into different groups. Some breeds are more suitable for riding and others for driving. However, there are also many riding and driving breeds, such as the Welsh pony, which can be used excellently in both areas. The increasing crossbreeding of different breeds has now led to the decimation of many once genetically isolated breeds. One example of this is the Strelitz Arabian, which was completely absorbed during the development of the Tersker in the former USSR and no longer exists as an independent breed. In the USA in particular, there are many young, newly developed breeds, such as the American Walking Pony, which has only been registered as a breed since 1968.

Categories

There are three different categories according to which a horse can be classified: Thoroughbred, cold-blooded, or warm-blooded. Typical examples of thoroughbreds are the Arabian and the Achal Tekkiner. These fine-boned and fast horses often have a fiery temperament, as they were originally native to the desert. They are insensitive to extreme heat and their skin and coat are usually very thin. 

The cold-blooded horse originates from Northern Europe and is typified by heavy-draught horses such as the Shire Horse. These horses are large, strong, and characterized by a calm and gentle nature. 

The warmblood is a mixture of both and its ancestors are descended from both thoroughbred and cold-blooded breeds. Typical examples of warmbloods include the Trakehner and the Westphalian.

Horse Breeds From A to Z

Pony Breeds

• American Shetland pony
• American Walking Pony
• Ariègeois
• Australian pony
• Aveligneser
• Bali pony
• Bardigiano
• Bashkir
• Basuto pony
• Batak
• Bhutan
• Bosnian pony
• Burmese
• Camargue
• Chinese Guoxia Pony
• Connemara Pony
• Dales Pony
• Dartmoor Pony
• German Riding Pony
• Dülmen wild horse
• Exmoor Pony
• Falabella
• Fur pony
• Galician
• Galiceno
• Garrano
• Gotland Pony
• Hackney Pony
• Haflinger
• Highland pony
• Huzule
• Icelandic horses
• Java Pony
• Kazakh
• Caspian pony
• Taper
• Landais
• Lundy
• Manipuri
• Mongolian pony
• New Forest Pony
• Nigerian pony
• Northerner
• Norwegian Fjord Horse
• Peneia
• Pindos
• Pony of the Americas
• Pottiock
• Przewalski's horse
• Sable Island
• Sandalwood
• Sardinian pony
• Shetland Pony
• Skyros
• Sorraia
• Sumba
• Tarpan
• Tibetan pony
• Timor Pony
• Tinker Pony
• Viatka
• Welara
• Welsh Mointain Pony
• Welsh pony
• Zemaituka

Cold-Blooded breeds

• Ardennes
• Auxois
• Boulonnais
• Brabant
• Breton
• Clydesdale
• Cob Normand
• Comtois
• Dole-Gudbrandsdal horse
• Dutch cold blood
• Finnish horse
• Freiberger
• Irish Draught
• Italian cold blood
• Jutlanders
• Latvian horse
• Lithuanian cold blood
• Muraközer
• Noriker
• North Swedish horse
• Percheron
• Poitevin
• Rhenish cold blood
• Russian cold blood
• Schleswiger
• Shire Horse
• Sokolsky
• Soviet cold blood
• Suffolk Punch
• Tinker
• Tori horse
• Trait du Nord
• Vladimir cold blood

Warmblood breeds

• Age-Real
• American Cream
• American Saddlebred
• American Standardbred
• American Bashkir Curly
• Andalusian
• Appaloosa
• Australian Stockhorse
• Aztec
• Belgian Warmblood
• Brumby
• Budjonny
• Cleveland Bay
• Colorado Ranger
• Criollo
• Danish Warmblood
• Don
• Finnish universal horse
• Florida Cracker Horse
• Frederiksborger
• French trotter
• Friesian
• Furioso
• Gelderland
• Groninger
• Hackney
• Hanoverian
• Dutch Warmblood
• Holstein
• Indian half-breed
• Irish Hunter
• Calabrese
• Canadian cutting horse
• Carbadiner
• Karabacher
• Karabai
• Carthusians
• Kisber Felver
• Kladruber
• Knabstrupper
• Custanaier
• Latvian
• Lipizzaner
• Locomotive
• Lusitano
• Malapolski
• Mangalarga Machador
• Maremma
• Missouri Fox Trotter
• Morab
• Morgan Horse
• Murgese
• Mustang
• Vernier
• Nova Kirghiz
• Oldenburg
• Orlov Trotter
• East Bulgarian
• East Frisian
• Paso Fino
• Peruvian Paso
• Pinto
• Pleven
• P.R.E.
• Quarter Horse
• Rocky Mountain horse
• Russian trotter
• Salern horse
• San Fratello
• Sardinian horse
• Swedish warmblood
• Selle Francais
• Tennessee Walking-Horse
• Tersker
• Trakehner
• Ukrainian riding horse
• Wielkopolski
• Württemberger

Thoroughbred breeds

• Achal-Tekkiner
• Anglo-Arabian
• Arabs
• Berber
• English thoroughbred
• French Anglo-Arabian
• Gidran Arab
• Hispanic-Arabian
• Iomud
• Kathiawari
• Marwari
• Persian Arab
• Shagya Arab
• Turkmene

Breed portraits at ClipMyHorse.TV

In our ClipMyHorse magazine you will already find several breed portraits in which the above-mentioned horse breeds are described in detail. Why not take a look?

Mustangs: The wild horses of North America

Tinker: Great leisure partners

Haflinger: The blond all-rounder

Trakehner: From soldier horse to versatile athlete

Icelandic horse: Small power horse with many gears

Friesian horses: history, appearance and uses

German Riding Pony: Versatile athletes

Hanoverian: An all-rounder in the sport and leisure sector

Oldenburger: Versatile for sport and leisure

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