Animal Science 1 Unit 31

Terms  Foal: a young horse of either sex up to one year of age  Filly: a female less than 3 years of age Thoroughbreds, fillies include 4 year olds  Colt: a male less than 3 years of age Thoroughbreds, colts include 4 year olds  Mare: A mature female four years of age or older  Stud or Stallion: mature male four years of age or older  Gelding: A male that has been castrated.  Grade: an unregistered horse.  Hand: measurement used for horses, equal to 4 inches

Use of the Horse  5 general Pleasure Breeding Working stock Show Sport  Generally one horse can not be used in all 5 ways  Horses should be selected based on their major intended use.

Uses of Horses

Uses of Horse

Sources of Horses  Purchase from Breeders—best source Private owners Auctions Dealers

Age of Horse to Buy  5-12 years is the prime of life Horse in this age range are best for young or inexperienced riders  Young horses require more training and may not be safe for young or inexperienced riders.  Age can be determined by looking at the front teeth  See fig

Sex of Horse to Buy  Studs Hard to manage and control  For pleasure riding geldings and mares are the best choice.

Breed Selection  Intended use  Some breeds are better adapted to certain uses.  Personal preference  People not interested in breeding or showing may choose a good grade horse. They make excellent mounts for trail and pleasure riding and even ranch work.

Conformation

Feet and Legs  Two of the most important parts  Leg conformation influences how the horse moves Correct Position

Feet and Legs  See fig 31-26, 27, 28, 29, 30 for the correct and incorrect positions of the front and rear legs.

Feet  The horse carries it’s weight on the wall, bars, and frog. The sole normally does not touch the ground  The hoof should be kept properly trimmed to keep the horse standing squarely and moving straight  The hoof grows at a rate 3/8” to 1/2” per month  Feet should be trimmed every month to 6 weeks

Feet  Should be kept moist to prevent cracking  To keep feet from drying out use a hoof dressing or allow the horse to stand in a moist area  The pastern and hoof should form a 45 deg. angle with the ground  See fig

The Hoof  1.Heel perioplium 2.Bulb 3.Frog 4.Central groove 5.Collateral groove 6.Heel 7.Bar 8.Seat of corn 9.Pigmented layer-external layer 10.Water line- internal line 11.White line 12.Apex of frog 13.Sole 14.Toe 15.How to measure width 16.Quarter 17.How to measure length

Body Color (start)  5 basic colors Bay, black, brown, chestnut, white  5 major variations Dun, gray, palomino, pinto, roan  Piebald- white and black color combination  Skewbald- white and any other color  Roans Blue roan- mixture of black and white hairs Red roan- mixture of bay with white hair Strawberry roan- mixture of chestnut with white hair

Body Color- Basics BayChestnut (Sorrel) Black White

Color Variations  _color _color

Face and Leg Markings  Use to identify the horse

Face Markings (L-R): Blaze, stripe, stripe & snip, irregular blaze, interrupted stripe, bald (L-R)Faint star, Star, Star & strip, irregular star, snip, lip marking

Leg Markings Socks: Stocking, sock (boot), sock (fetlock) L-R: Pastern, Coronet, Partial Pastern

Unsoundness's & Blemishes  Unsoundness- a defect that affects the usefulness of the horse  Blemish- an imperfection that does not affect the usefulness.  Most serious unsoundness's affect the feet and legs  See p

Vices  Develop due to idleness or poor handling

Cribbing  Horse bites down on some part of the feed manger or stall  Wind sucking occurs when the horse presses the upper front teeth on some object and pulls back, at the same time sucking air into the stomach.  The two often occur together  Looked down upon by buyers.

Other Vices  Halter Pulling Horse pulls back against the halter while tied  Kicking

Gait  The movement of the horse’s feet and legs when the horse is in motion  3 natural gaits Walk, trot, gallop  Other gaits Canter, stepping pace, running walk, fox trot, amble, rack, pace

Walk  Slow  4 beat  Each foot leaves and strikes the ground separately from the other feet.

Trot  Fast  Two beat diagonal  Opposite front and hind feet leave and strike the ground at the same time.

Gallop  Fast  Four beat  Feet strike the ground separately in this order (1) one hind foot (2) the other hind foot (3) the diagonal front foot (4) the other front foot  For a brief moment all 4 feet are off the ground.  The extended gallop is the run.  alk alk

Canter  Slow  3 beat  Feet strike the ground (1) one hind foot (2) the other hind foot and diagonal front foot (3) the other front foot  Western adaption is a very slow canter called the lope

Stepping Pace  Slow  Lateral  Four beat  Four feet strike the ground separately (1) right hind foot (2) right front foot (3) left hind foot (4) left front foot

Running Walk  Slow  Diagonal  4 beat  Each foot leaves and strikes the ground just ahead of the diagonal hind foot  Natural gait for the Tennessee Walking Horse

Fox Trot  Slow  Short  Broken  The hind foot strikes the ground just ahead of the diagonal front foot

Rack  Fast  Even  4 beat  The time between each foot striking the ground in the same  The order of the feet striking the ground is the same as the stepping pace.

Pace  Fast  2 beat  Front and hind feet on the same side leave and strike the ground at the same time.  There is a brief moment when all four feet are off the ground at the same time

Amble  Lateral movement  Also called the traverse, side step, or side pass  Not a show gait  The horse moves to one side with out going forwards or backwards

Pedigree  Of great importance when selecting show and race horses  Ancestors back of the grandparents contribute little to the genetic inheritance  See Example Pedigrees

Price  Will vary  Grade horses are typically lower priced than registered horses  Registered horses with the potential for showing are higher priced  Currently the price of horses is very soft due to the closing of all the kill plants in the United States

Summary  75% of horses are used for personal pleasure riding  Other uses include: racing, ranching, breeding, commercial ridding  More than 5 million horses in the United States  More than $16 billion dollars spent in the horse industry annually

Summary  Many breeds of light horses  Horses should be selected on the basis of conformation, use, age, sex and soundness. Breed selection is a matter of personal preference  Breeders are the best source of horses, other sources include private horse owners  The five basic colors-bay, black, brown, chestnut, white Variations- dun, gray, palomino, pinto, roan  Variety of unsoundness's and blemishes  Unsoundness is more serious and the most serious affect the feet and legs  Gait of the horse is the way it moves

Assignment  Read p  Complete Discussion Questions 1,4,6,8,15,16,20,28 Review Questions 1-11