Horse Facts & Trivia

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The value of owning (or leasing) a horse

Owning a horse can be expensive when paying for monthly board, horseshoes, vet care, training, lessons, competitions and so on. (leasing is usually much more cost effective) The returns, however,
are priceless, especially for children and adolescents.

Here are a few of the benefits:

*Many a parent will readily attest to how horses kept their child occupied and out of trouble, especially during the often difficult teen years.

*Riding and caring for horses require the formation of a relationship built on mutual respect and trust. Therapeutic riding centers capitalize on this outlet to teach relationship skills through horses.

*Character building is a natural part of horse ownership, teaching responsibility, punctuality, sportsmanship, frugality, patience, commitment, confidence and self-esteem.

*Horses can be a source of mental rejuvenation and stress-relief for the owner or rider-- a chance to go to a place very different from typical daily activities.

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Horse categories

Horse breeds fall into four categories: ponies, coldbloods, hotbloods and warmbloods.

Ponies - Pony breeds are defined as being under 14.2 hands (one hand = 4 inches) or 58". Many pony breeds have developed in the wild and this has led to a natural hardiness that is not found in most horse breeds.
Coldbloods - Usually refers to the large, bulky draft horse breeds, such as the Shire, Clydesdale, Percheron and Belgian. These horses are known to be docile and insensitive,and are often called gentle giants.
Hotbloods - Usually refers to Arabians, Thoroughbreds and other horses of oriental origin. These horses are known to be energetic and sensitive, or hot.
Warmbloods - Originally a cross between a hotblood and a coldblood, resulting in a trainable, athletic horse with good size and bone and are often used as a sport horse for dressage, jumping, eventing and so on. European breeders have warmblood registries that represent particular lineage, such as Hanoverian, Holsteiner, Oldenburg, Trakehner, Dutch Warmblood and Swedish Warmblood. These European horses are highly sought after in other countries, resulting in a large exportation market.

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Calories burned while riding

Below are estimates of calories burned per hour for a 150-pound person:

*Saddling, grooming and general riding for one hour = 238 calories
*Riding at the walk for one hour = 175 calories
*Riding at the trot for one hour = 450 calories (and sore legs for a few days!)
*Galloping for one hour = 550 calories (and one exhausted, lame horse!)

So, how does this compare with other activities?

Well, high impact aerobics and moderate bicycling at about 12 - 14 miles per hour can each burn approximately 500 calories per hour. General house cleaning can burn about 246 calories per hour, which is similar to general riding.

Riders of smooth-gaited, well-trained horses do not expend as much energy as those who ride young, inexperienced horses or rough, bouncy horses.

Mucking stalls is where you can really burn calories. Many horse owners replace gym memberships with this money saving aerobic exercise!

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Blue Horses

*Perhaps one of the rarest colors of horse is the grulla (pronounced grew-ya) or grullo (grew-o), also known as the black dun, blue dun or lobo dun. (Our little mustang, Misty, is a grulla)

*The coat color is the result of the dun gene on top of a black gene, which produces individual hairs that are a mousy gray, smoky blue or slate gray color. Grulla horses can vary quite widely, from a distinctive smoky blue to a mousy tan.

*Often these horses have a dorsal stripe on their back, a dark face, dark ear tips and edging, dark mane, tail and legs and leg barring (called tiger striping)

*The Spanish word grulla refers to a slate-gray crane.