Galop 5Knowledge
Contents
- 01WelcomeOverview
- 02How the horse learnsKnowledge
- 03Pied, spotted, additionsKnowledge
- 04The skeletonKnowledge
- 05The musclesKnowledge
- 06DigestionKnowledge
- 07SIRE, microchip and registersKnowledge
- 08Presenting in handOn foot
- 09Lunging and long-reiningOn foot
- 10Loading and stable bandagesOn foot
- 11The riding basicsIn the saddle
- 12TransitionsKnowledge
- 13The leg-yieldIn the saddle
- 14The dressage partIn the saddle
- 15Snaffle bitsKnowledge
- 16The jumping partIn the saddle
- 17The cross-country partIn the saddle
- 18RevisionRevision
Pied and spotted coats, and the additions
Two “bay skewbalds” can look nothing alike. To tell them apart, the official nomenclature names the type of pied or spotted pattern, then the additions — the details that finish making a coat unique.
In the exam programme
- Identify the different kinds of pie and spotted coats, and the additions.Common module B
To name a coat by the nomenclature of the IFCE — the one used by SIRE, the French equine register — you go in steps: the base colour (bay, chestnut, black…), any mixture of white or black hairs, any white patterning — the white areas, pied or spotted — and last the additions. It is written in that order: bai pie tobiano (bay tobiano skewbald), alezan crins lavés (chestnut with a flaxen mane).
The five pied patterns
A horse is pied when it has one or more white patches with pink skin underneath, whatever its base colour, or at least one white leg marking that reaches above the elbow or the stifle. In English, a pied horse is piebald on a black base and skewbald on any other. To find the pattern, look at the head, the legs, the topline and the edges of the patches.
Tobiano
Coloured head, white legs; upright, clean-edged patches that cross the back.
Overo
White head, coloured legs; level patches, crisp but jagged, that stay clear of the back.
Tovero
Almost all white: a little colour on top of the head, the flanks, the stifles, the tail.
Balzan
White head, belly and legs, with a clean edge.
Sabino
Mostly white head; a very ragged edge, mixed with coloured hairs.
| Pattern | Head | Legs | White patches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tobiano | Mostly coloured | Often white | Mostly upright, crisp edges; at least one patch crosses the topline |
| Overo | Mostly white | Often coloured | Mostly horizontal, crisp but jagged edges; none touches the topline |
| Tovero | White, often coloured at the top | White | Almost the whole body; a few coloured areas remain: top of the head, flanks, stifles, root of the tail |
| Balzan (from balzane, a white sock) | White | White | Head, belly and legs; crisp, even edges |
| Sabino | Mostly white | Often white, high stockings | Very irregular, ragged edges, mixed with coloured hairs |
The six spotted patterns
Spotted coats mix small white and coloured spots. They are best known in the Appaloosa, but occur in other breeds too. These horses often have mottled skin round the eyes and muzzle, plenty of white showing round the eye, and striped hooves.
Leopard
White ground, spots everywhere, legs included.
Spotted
Spots on a white ground, but coloured legs.
Blanket
A white patch over the croup, plain or spotted.
Marble
Almost white; the colour stays on the joints.
Streaked
A coat streaked with white.
Brindle
A body marked with black stripes.
- Leopard
- A white ground covered in coloured spots over the whole body, legs included.
- Spotted
- Coloured spots on white, but coloured legs: the base colour can still be seen.
- Blanket
- A white patch covers at least the croup, at most from croup to withers; it is plain or scattered with spots.
- Marbled
- A coat overrun by white hairs, also called varnish roan; colour survives only on the joints.
- Streaked
- White patterning in white streaks.
- Brindle
- A body marked with black stripes.
The additions
Additions are features laid on top of the coat without changing it. They concern the hair, the mane and tail, or the skin.
Dorsal stripe
A dark band along the topline.
Shoulder cross
The dorsal stripe and the shoulder band, crossing at the withers.
Zebra marks
Dark bars across the legs.
Dark head (cap de maure)
The whole head darker than the body.
Pangaré (mealy)
Muzzle, belly, flanks and elbows lightened.
Dappled
Rings with a centre paler than their edge.
Flaxen mane and tail
Mane and tail paler than the coat.
- Darker hairs: the dorsal stripe, a dark band along the topline; the shoulder stripe, running down over the shoulders; the cross, the two joined over the withers; zebra marks, dark bars on the legs; the moor’s head (cap de maure), a head that is darker all over.
- Lighter hairs: the pangaré or mealy effect, which lightens the muzzle, the girth area, the elbows, the stifles and the inside of the thighs; the dappled coat, scattered with rings paler in the middle than at the edge.
- Small tufts: white-flecked (floconné) for tufts of white hair, black-flecked (charbonné) for tufts of black hair.
- Mane and tail: flaxen (paler than the coat), silver or mixed (white and coloured hairs together).
- Skin: champagne skin, pink freckled with tiny dark spots.
Common mistake
Mixing up white patterning and a mixture of hairs. A roan or a strawberry roan (aubère) has white hairs mingled one by one with the coloured ones, on dark skin. A pied horse has real white patches, on pink skin.
A word from the instructor
Roll a skewbald in the mud and you have a bay for the afternoon. The examiner would rather wait until after the hosepipe.