Horse Face Markings

Horse Face Markings are described using words that often bear little resemblance to the actual marking. A quick reference guide is set out below with a pictorial example of each horse face marking.

A horse may display one or more of the facial markings shown below:-

Snip - not quite as painful as it sounds - this is a white marking that occurs on the horse's muzzle (nostrils or upper lip area). On paler coloured horses, this may also appear as a pink mark with little or no hair growth.

Star - this is a small patch of white hair on the middle of the forehead just under the forelock.

It is not star-shaped but is referred to as such because it is an isolated marking of different coloured hair and so it stands out against the rest of the facial colour.

Blaze - this refers to a vertical band of white hairs that run from the top of the horse's forehead (level with the eyes) down to the nose.

A Blaze can vary in size from just a thin strip of hair down the centre of the face or can join up with a star to form an inverted "tear-drop" shape as in the picture below.

White Face - A blaze can go to the other extreme where it covers most of the horse's face including the eye area. In the picture below - very little of the horse's main colour is visible when observed "front-on".

Horses with a white face often have one or more "Wall Eyes". What does this mean?

Horses typically have dark brown or black eye colour but a "wall eye" is described as such because it is usually blue in colour with a white ring around the eye itself.

Some coloured (Piebald and Skewbald) or paler coated horses can have one or both blue eyes.

Whorl - these are circular patches of hair that represent a change of direction of the hair growth. They can occur on the horse's head but also on the neck, belly, inside leg or quarters.

Hair is the same colour as the rest of the coat, but this particular horse marking is also listed on identification documents because its precise location is unique to each animal.

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