by Charlotte Howard

Created on: July 02, 2008   Last Updated: March 02, 2010

Horses and ponies are brilliant animals that you can watch and ride.  Some people are lucky enough to have them as pets, whilst others have to visit them at stables.  If you are interested in horses and ponies you will want to learn more about them.  There are a lot of interesting facts about horses and ponies, some of them you will know, and some of them you won't.

Height and Weight

Horses and ponies are measured in hands. A hand is the length of an average adult's palm, or four inches. The height is written as a number followed by the letters 'hh'.  A horse stands at 14.2hh or above, whilst a pony is anything that measures under 14.2hh.  To weigh a horse, you measure around their girth and from their tail to their withers.  Multiply the length from the withers to tail by the circumference of the girth and then divide the total by eleven.  This will give you an approximate weight of the horse in pounds.

Age and Gender

Horses and ponies can live up to 30 years old, we can tell how old a horse is by looking at their teeth. There are different stages of a horse's age.

Any horse or pony under the age of 6 months old is known as a 'foal'.  A horse aged between 6 months and 2 years old is called a 'yearling'.  A 'filly' is a female horse or pony aged under 4 years old, whilst a male horse under 4 years old is called a colt'.  'Mares' are female horses over the age of 4 years old.  'Stallions' are male horses over the age of 4 years old.  Sometimes stallions have an operation called 'castration' performed. This stops them from being able to breed. When they have been castrated, a male horse is called a 'gelding'.

Breeds and Colors

There are lots of different breeds and color of horse and pony. Some examples of the different breeds, their heights and colours are:

•Exmoor Up to 12.3hh Bay, brown or dun

•Connemara Pony 13hh 14.2hh Grey, black, brown or dun

•Shetland Pony 40 inches Various but usually black

•Icelandic Pony 13.2hh Various

•Arab 14hh - 15hh Bay, brown, black, chestnut and grey

•Thoroughbred 14.2hh 17.2hh Solid colours

•Shire 17hh 18hh Black, brown, bay or grey

Gait

A 'gait' is how we describe how fast a horse is going. There are four different gaits.  Walk is the slowest pace.  Trot is when the horse is jogging slowly.  Canter is when the horse is running.  Galloping is the fastest a horse can go, sometimes up to 50 miles per hour! 

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