Identifying a horse: sex, colour, markings, whorls

Describing a horse precisely means you could pick him out of a hundred. In Galop 4 you bring together all the vocabulary of Galops 1 to 3 in one simple method of observation, always the same.

In the exam programme

Carry out a basic identification: work out a horse’s or pony’s sex, coat colour, markings and whorls.Common module B

A horse is recognised by what never changes, or hardly: his sex, his colour, his white markings and his whorls. Noted in a fixed order, these make up his description: the record that appears in his papers and lets you check that you really have the right horse in front of you.

Sex: look at the back of the belly, from the side
Coat: body hair, mane and tail, then the lower legs
Head markings: here, a star on the forehead
Leg markings: a white sock on the left hind
Whorls: on the forehead and under the mane

Fig. 4.2The five points of a basic identification

Set up the observationHave the horse held, or tie him up, on level ground, in good light, clean, dry and without a rug. A wet or dirty coat looks darker; a rug hides markings and whorls.
Work out the sexLook from the side, from a distance, without ducking under the belly. A male has a sheath under his belly: if he still has his testicles he is a stallion; if he has been castrated, a gelding. A mare has no sheath: her udder sits between the hind legs.
Name the colourLook in turn at the body coat, the mane and tail, then the points, as in Galop 1. Then call on all your vocabulary: black, chestnut, bay; white, grey, cream, chocolate; spotted and pie (piebald or skewbald); dun and mouse dun; liver chestnut, café au lait, palomino.
Note the head markingsFacing the head, slightly to one side, name each marking and place it exactly: a star on the forehead, a blaze running down the face, a snip — a white patch between the nostrils. Give its shape and size.
Note the leg markingsGo round the legs in the same order every time: near (left) fore, off (right) fore, near hind, off hind. For each white marking, note how high the white reaches: just above the hoof, the pastern, the fetlock, the cannon.
Look for the whorlsA whorl is a swirl where the hair changes direction. Look for it on the forehead — above, between or below the eyes — along the neck under the mane, on both sides, then on the chest and the rest of the body.
Add any distinguishing marksFinally, note what life has left behind: a scar, white hairs from an injury or from rubbing tack. They help you recognise the horse, but may have appeared after his papers were drawn up.

Remember

Always the same order: sex, colour, head markings, leg markings, whorls. A fixed order stops you forgetting anything and makes two descriptions easy to compare.

Beware of colours that change. A grey is often born dark and whitens with age; sun and winter coat change the shade of a black or a chestnut. If in doubt, look at the areas the sun hardly reaches, such as under the belly or inside the thighs.

Safety

To check the sex or the hind legs, stay beside the horse, never behind him or crouched under his belly. Approach a horse you do not know calmly, talking to him, as you learnt in Galop 1.

Did you know?

Taking an official description, with its tools — a colour chart, the forms — is on the Galop 6 programme. In Galop 4 you are asked for a basic identification, accurate and in good order.

A word from the instructor

“He’s got a white bit on his face” will not do: half the yard has one. Precise words exist precisely so that the wrong horse does not go home with the wrong owner.

Ekidemy

The Galops^®, from the first step to Galop 7