Horse Markings -
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It is very rare that 2 animals will have identical markings so understanding what they are called will help in identifying different horses more easily.
It's always easier when a description is illustrated so we threw in some pictures of horse markings just for you!
Facial Markings
White facial markings are common on horses regardless of their main coat colour and are given a bewildering array of descriptive names.
Horses can have one or more facial markings and while they look very similar, varying direction or quantity of hair growth means that no horse will have exactly identical markings.
Click here to for our definitive guide to Horse Face Markings with some real life examples thrown in for good measure!
Leg Markings
What is the difference between a "White Stocking" and a "White Pastern"?
How do you correctly describe white leg markings?
These markings are known universally by specific terms particularly with reference to Identification or Passport documents and Breed Society Registrations.
Find out more by clicking on our Horse Leg Markings topic.
Other Horse Markings
Dappling - Also called "pennies" these are markings most often seen on Grey or Bay horses and denote circular markings of slightly darker tone than the normal coat colouring. More noticeable on bay horses in the summer.
Dorsal Stripe - this is a thin line of black or darker hair contrasting with the main coat colour, running from the horse's wither to his tail and is most common on Dun horses. A similar mark is also seen on Zebra and Donkeys.
Chestnuts - these are hard skin like protrusions that are present on every horse just inside the knee on the front legs and inside the hock on the hind legs.
Chestnuts grow continually through a horse's life and should be peeled off gently to rise approximately 1cm from the horse's leg. The chestnut has been likened to a human fingerprint as it is unique to each horse. Some horses have quite pronounced chestnuts while others are barely visible.
Markings For Identification
Old injuries or scars may be used to identify a horse in addition to the markings shown above as these will be evidenced with white hair regrowth over the site of the injury.Obviously, this will be more noticeable on darker or solid coloured horses.
Another common marking that is used for identification is
Freezemarking.
We have looked at the benefits of this in our Horse Security section - please click on this link if you would like to find out more.
If you would like to learn more about the different
Horse Colours
that are commonly found today, why not click on this link to go there now.
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