Transcript:

[0:00]

[Music] I'd like to ask you a question — who’s your favorite horse of all time? Famous horse, or could it be a personal one?

[0:15]

I have a couple favorites. I go back to my very first horse that I cared for on my own. Her name was Tar. I got to train her, ride her, care for her — I actually watched her give birth to her first foal. I can still hear her whinnying in my ears today when I used to walk into the barn after school. I miss her a lot.

[0:38]

Then I go back to my other favorite and famous horse — and it’s a modern horse that I was actually able to handle his daughter. And just by her birth, she was worth $2 million. I won’t lie — my hand shook when I handled her for the first time, knowing who she was and knowing her history. Like I said, knowing these horses, and their backgrounds and their lineages…

[1:11]

Her father was born on March 30th, 1970. His mother’s name was Somethingroyal. His father’s name was Bold Ruler. He was a red chestnut colt. He had three white socks and a star with a narrow stripe down his face. And like all foals, he stood relatively quickly, ready to run with the herd right after birth. It’s one of the most amazing things to ever watch — how quickly those foals are ready to go within a few hours. His birth was uneventful, which thankfully was good.

[1:47]

As he matured — yearling, two-year-old, three-year-old — he grew into this nearly perfect specimen, a representation of his breed and breeding for hundreds of years. This particular horse had no conformation flaws and he just appeared to be this powerful horse. Yet with his first race, he finished fourth — nothing spectacular about this horse. But then, in the next race, he won by six lengths.

[2:24]

And then, in his three-year-old year, in front of a crowd of 134,557 people, he won by two and a half lengths. In the next race, he won again — but again, only by two and a half lengths. And then in his very next race… well, let’s just say he became immortal.

[2:51]

[Announcer] Secretariat being led… He is number one. The horse — and the horse is the best thing in the world, isn’t it?

[3:04]

I’ve always loved them, really, since I was a little girl.

[3:09]

[Race call] Everybody’s in line… and they’re off! Secretariat away very well, has good position…

[3:17]

I never thought owning a horse could mean so much to me.

[3:17]

[Race call] Secretariat now taking the lead. The madness… What kind of a horse is that? I’ve never seen a horse like that before. Tightening now… He is moving like a tremendous machine…

[3:29]

Their story… Mustangs were more involved in the early development of this breed than I thought they were. But there — Secretariat has opened a 22-length lead! He is going to be the Triple Crown winner! Welcome to “Mad About Horses.”

[3:43]

[Music] I’m Dr. Chris Mortensen, and I’ve been an equine science researcher and educator for over 20 years. In this episode of “Mad About Horses,” we’re going to go deeper into the more popular horse breeds in the world — and starting that off with a famous racehorse. My very first love, Tar, was an American Quarter Horse. And, if you would have guessed it, that was Secretariat. He’s just captured my imagination — not so much as a child, but once I started to understand horses.

[4:19]

I was able to work at the racetrack in California, and I handled his daughter. She was worth $2 million just by her birth. I remember that — I had that close connection to him. I unfortunately never got to see him — he raced way before my time. But he lived until 1989, so he lived a long, fruitful life. He won that Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths and just wowed the world.

[4:50]

There are so many famous racehorses out there representing so many different breeds. One I know people love is Hwin, who’s a Mustang. Then there’s the famous palomino horses on TV — even though it was black and white back in the day, Mr. Ed or Trigger — you still knew that was a palomino based on the coat color. Or Black Beauty, a favorite of many young children, who is thought to have been a Thoroughbred.

[5:20]

So, what makes all these horses different and special? In the last episode, we talked about why care about breeds. I think when we look more deeply into it — in the hundreds of breeds that we have — if you’re interested in a horse and there’s a specific discipline you want to ride, or you want a good, close companion, there’s a breed out there for you. There are absolutely horses that have been bred for many different purposes, and we’re going to highlight some of those today — some of the more popular ones, and some you might not have even heard of before.

[6:02]

Then we also talk about breed-specifics — things like genetic disease. Which isn’t fun, but it is a reality in owning horses today. Because of this high selective pressure we’ve put on these breeds for the last couple hundred years — even 50 or 100 years — unfortunately, it has pushed some of these less desirable traits, these genetic diseases. So you should be aware of them, and I would highly suggest anybody with a particular breed research that breed very carefully.

[6:41]

Now, just as a recap — if you didn’t catch the previous podcast to this, I highly suggest you go back, listen to that one, then come to this. Or listen to this and then go back — that would make some sense too.

[6:48]

When we look at the total horse breeds in the world, the UN FAO estimates there are over 786 breeds. Eighty-seven of those are extinct. Five hundred seventy are estimated to be local breeds — so, to that particular country or region. There are 63 regional transboundary breeds — so you could think, in North America, a breed like the Canadian Horse that goes from Canada to the US, so that border region. Or in Europe we see this quite a lot — between Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France — there are regional breeds there.

[7:36]

Then we have our 66 international transboundary breeds. These are the big ones — the ones we’re going to talk a little more about today: Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Friesians, Hanoverians, Andalusians… all of these different horses that you see. We’re going to talk about some of these today — can’t talk about all of them, because it would be a five-hour podcast (which would be great, I’d love it!) — but in the interest of time, we’ll just highlight some of the bigger ones.

[8:02]

Some of the ones we won’t be able to get to today that are really popular: the Fjord Horse, the Andalusian Horse, the Paso Fino. Those are some you hear a lot about.

[8:16]

In the last episode, I left it with the oldest horse breed that we know of. I think it’s worthwhile to highlight these, because being that they’re so old, they are well-known, and a lot of our modern breeds have emerged from some of these older horse breeds.

[8:37]

We left it with the Caspian Horse — they trace it back 3,000 years, maybe longer. That’s why it’s thought to be one of the original horse breeds. Persian horse, modern-day Iran. Once thought to be extinct, they actually found a small population. There are a group of people around the planet — in the United States, in Europe, and in Iran — saving this specific breed.

[9:12]

I have seen some articles — not scientific articles, but websites and such — that have said the Przewalski’s horse is the oldest breed we know of. Just to remind you, if you go back to the very beginning of this podcast, talking about the origins of horses — Przewalski’s horses are not a breed. They are a separate species of equid. They’re not a domestic horse. Even though, in the origins episode, we talk about the Botai people and how some thought the Przewalski’s horses might have been domesticated, I explained why that research is probably flawed — it’s probably not true. Przewalski’s horses do have different chromosomes than our modern-day horse breeds.

[9:59]

Remember, they have 66, where domestic horses have 64 — so they are a separate species, they are not a breed. So when we talk about breed, in the last podcast we talked about how they were selected specifically for certain traits. And that’s where we see this Caspian horse.

[10:19]

The other breed that is in the running for the oldest — and it could be — is the Mongolian horse. This could date back three to four thousand years. It’s in the plains of Asia — in Mongolia, in China — where these horses, we trace their genetics back there. The Mongolian horse is the predecessor to many Asian horse breeds: the Japanese horse, the Chu horse, the Tuvinian horse, many others. Their lineage can go back to this Mongolian horse.

[10:55]

When you look at pictures of the Mongol horse, this is what you imagine early breeds as being — this rustic, rough coat, because they live in the plains of Asia where it’s cold and they have to be hardy. They are pony-sized — they’re the prototypical what we would think of as an early horse breed. This Mongolian horse — and I highly suggest you Google a picture of it — they’re beautiful animals, incredible animals.

[11:29]

I had a friend that did an endurance ride in Mongolia. Listening to her story — these horses were just… wow. She was like, “I’ve never ridden a horse like that — where it just went and went and went — and they were so hardy.” So, a beautiful horse, and one that we need to recognize.

[11:47]

One of the next oldest breeds — oh, it’s a spectacular-looking horse — Akhal-Teke. Some of you may know what I’m talking about. When you look at this animal, this again is one I’m going to spend a little bit of time on, because I would have to say if you went to a horse show and you saw one of these walk by you, your head would turn. You would take a double, triple take — it is like a beautiful automobile because they have this unique metallic sheen to their coat. It’s one of their breed characteristics.

[12:27]

This breed dates back 3,000 years. Their head carriage — the way they carry themselves — you can see where it might have had some influence in the Arabian horse. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous animal, and definitely is thought to have had some influence on Thoroughbreds. Like I said — and we’re going to talk a little bit about what the genetics tell us — we’re not fully there yet, but we’re getting there. I know researchers — one of my old colleagues at the University of Florida, she’s heavily involved in this work — are working to identify the origins of the horse, and then go back looking in these breeds. Very interesting study coming up that we’re going to talk about with Arabian horses.

[13:19]

So, where does Akhal-Teke fit in in the development of a lot of these breeds? We’re not completely sure, but when you look at the animal and see those characteristics, you’re like, “Oh, okay — I can see that in an Arabian. I can see that in a Thoroughbred.” Because they do have these long necks, longer ears, silky manes. And then when you look at their body shape — they have a narrow chest, much like our Arabians — but this long back, flat ribs. They stand about 15 hands.

[13:45]

So, going back to our ponies — which we talked about in the previous podcast — just as a quick recap: each hand is four inches. I explained that in that one, so if you need to go back… But 15 hands is 60 inches, and we measure that from the ground to the withers, which is like the top of the shoulders of the horse. So, 15 hands is about 60 inches. 15.1 is 61 inches.

[14:17]

Often these horses are dun in color — which is a favorite color. They can be bay, can be gray — I’ll have a future podcast trying to explain colors a little bit — but they really have a preference for these pale golden coats. And like I said, that metallic sheen is just… it’s like a brand-new car. You know, you’re driving down the road and you see this shiny car go by you, and you’re like, “Wow — that’s a good-looking car.” That’s the Akhal-Teke. It is a beautiful, beautiful horse.

[14:46]

Not only is it one of the oldest, though — it is one of the more popular horses that you find around the world. Like I said, some of these older horses, you find them everywhere. So, Akhal-Tekes are down here in Australia, New Zealand — near me — we find them obviously in Asia and Kazakhstan, where they originated from. You find them in Europe — France, the UK, Croatia — and you find them in the United States, and in parts of South America. So, very popular horse breed and one you definitely want to see if you haven’t.

[15:24]

The next oldest horse breed — and I’m going to spend more time on them here in a minute — is the Arabian horse. They date back at least 2,000 years. It is probably one of the most influential horse breeds in the world. It’s definitely contributed to the development of many of our light horse breeds today, and it’s known for its beauty, intelligence, endurance — we’re going to talk about that. They just have a fascinating history. I’ve personally been able to work with Arabian horses — I just find them beautiful and incredible animals. We’re going to talk more about them in a minute, but they are known as one of the older horse breeds.

[16:07]

When you think of draft horses, this one might come to your mind — and that’s the Norwegian Fjord Horse, or just called Fjord Horse. Very interesting history with their expansion across Europe and then also expansion into parts of North America. This horse — we also find it in other parts of the world — dates back over 2,000 years, and is called one of the purest breeds in the world. Very distinct body appearance — it looks like a drafty horse: thick neck, heavy-bodied, but a dun coat with some primitive markings, which are indicative of the Przewalski’s horse, or indicative of going way back — again, going back to the earlier episode talking about the Hagerman’s horse. That’s why they think they probably had some striping, because that eventually becomes zebras. We have striping along the legs in our donkeys and wild asses, and then we have some of these “primitive” markings on the body.

[17:19]

So, very beautiful horse — again, one that you do find down here where I’m at in Australia, New Zealand, and then up in North America and Canada, and then parts of Europe obviously. So that’s the Fjord Horse.

[17:30]

And then one of the other — I threw this one in here — one of the older breeds that’s just a fun horse to talk about is the Icelandic Horse. Anybody that’s involved in gaited horses knows this horse. It’s known for its tölt gait, or the flying pace. Bred in over 22 different countries around the world, and it’s old — over a thousand years old. So again, this was another one that the Vikings and the Norse settlers took into Iceland back a thousand years ago. So, a very beautiful horse and beautiful breed.

[18:10]

Why do I bring all that up? Why do I talk about the older horse breeds? Because we don’t know a lot before a few hundred years ago — before we started keeping records in the 1700s or the 1800s with the creation of these breed registries. So, these older breeds that we know of probably had some influence, or they’re part of these extinct breeds that maybe were around in the 1500s, 1600s, and we didn’t know about them and that breed went extinct — not horses as a species, but that specific breed went extinct.

[18:44]

Like I talked about, the Canadian Pacer — that was bred out of existence because it was no longer needed. So, these breeds were so influential, and I think the next step to take is to go back and revisit the Arabians, because they are the most popular breed in the world.

[19:08]

There are two ways to look at this: the breed that’s in the most countries around the world, and then the breed with the biggest population. So which one’s more popular? It’s arguing apples to oranges, right? So we’ll talk about both of those. But the Arabian is considered the most popular breed — in Europe alone, it’s in 23 countries. Its population is estimated to be over 1 million — so out of the 60 million horses in the world, 1 million of those are Arabians. They are here in New Zealand, Australia, Japan — all around the world, you will find Arabian horses.

[19:52]

In the last podcast, we also talked about hot-blooded, cold-blooded, warm-blooded — again, that doesn’t have to do with body temperature, it has to do with their temperament. So, the Arabian is really the embodiment of a hot-blooded horse — that is just always on it. They’re so intelligent, very perceptive, and really a joy to work with once you understand them.

[20:26]

And when you look at their influence, really, they are thought to have been originators of many breeds — like the Thoroughbred, which I’m going to save for… and again, in just a little bit, when we talk about them.

[20:38]

Now, why are Arabians so popular? Well, really their history dates back to the Arabian Peninsula, and that’s with the Bedouin people who really prized them. There’s actually artwork from 3,500 years ago — paintings in rocks in Arabia — where they show characteristics of Arabian horses because they are so unique. So, when I talk about Akhal-Teke being very unique, the Arabian is also very, very unique.

[21:10]

And really, it’s not just their body composition, but their face and their head is really different compared to a lot of horses. You’ll hear Arabians described as having a dished face, and what that means is between their forehead and nose is a concave. So most horses — it’s pretty flat and goes down — but in Arabian horses, there’s a little bit of a concave there, and it gives this dished appearance. It’s been a trait selected for hundreds, if not thousands, of years in these Arabian horses.

[21:52]

There are lots of different breeding centers around the world where some of these Arabian horses are heavily selected for that dished face so it’s really distinguishable. And then other Arabian horses — it’s a little bit more subtle. You’ll have to look up some of those images online to really see what we’re talking about.

[22:13]

Now, the Arabian horse is a light horse — it’s a riding horse. It stands about 15.1 hands, which again is 61 inches, or 155 cm, at the withers — so a moderate-sized riding horse. What’s also interesting about Arabian horses is they have survived in some of the harshest environments on our planet — the deserts of Arabia. So they’re very hardy, and they are known as one of the horses with the greatest endurance — meaning they can go for miles and miles and miles. We’re talking 100 miles, or hundreds of kilometers, with very little rest. They are known as one of the hardiest horses on the planet.

[23:00]

But outside of endurance racing, you see Arabians in eventing, driving competitions, halter classes — this is an all-around horse that people love. They deserve their own podcast one day, talking about this breed more in depth — maybe some of the research, going into feeding, things like that. But for now, just know — if you want a beautiful animal, or you want to look at a beautiful animal — look up an Arabian horse.

[23:33]

The next breed is the one that is the most populous in the world — it’s my personal favorite, probably a lot of personal favorites for people listening. But I mean, there are so many breeds — I love all horses. I opened up talking about Secretariat, a Thoroughbred, but that’s the American Quarter Horse.

[23:52]

When you look at pure numbers, this is the breed that there’s the most of. Today there’s over 3 million Quarter Horses — and to be exact, there’s 3,022,241 registered Quarter Horses in the world, according to the American Quarter Horse Association. That was their 2022 statistics. In the United States alone, there’s over 2.5 million. Canada had the second largest population — which makes sense, neighbors to the north of the United States — with 261,167 animals. Mexico was the next — neighbor to the south — with 50,000. And then you go to Europe: Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium — all have populations of Quarter Horses. Brazil — so we go to South America. Then back to Europe: Sweden. Those are the top ten. I know we have Quarter Horses across the Tasman Sea from me, some Quarter Horses here in New Zealand — not many, but some that have been shipped over. So a very, very, very popular breed.

[25:01]

The origins of the Quarter Horse go back in the United States — because I’m going to talk about the Thoroughbred next — but the Thoroughbred was racing for a mile. They had endurance, but they weren’t really sprinters. It takes them a while to get up to speed, but once they’re going top speed, they’re one of the faster horses out there. Quarter Horses — in these old American towns, you just had this long straightaway. Anybody that’s watched any movies of the Old West, you know — you have the town with the street down the middle, and they used to hold races down there. They wanted horses that could win, and so they started racing a quarter of a mile. That is why the name American Quarter Horse — this was the animal that could race a quarter of a mile better than anybody.

[25:51]

Really, the breed registry didn’t get established until the mid-20th century, but these are horses that are quick sprinters. They’re actually the fastest horse on the planet — they can get up to 55 miles an hour, which is close to 88–90 km/h. So they’re extremely fast.

[26:15]

Their lineage — their breeding — they were really heavily influenced by the Spanish horses. In the previous podcast, I talked about the Caribbean horse and horses reemerging in the Americas — that’s some of the Quarter Horse lineage. Then there are the colonial horses brought over by the English and other Europeans that came. But also the Mustang had a big influence. The Chickasaw horses also had some impact on the Quarter Horse breeding.

[26:51]

In the opening monologue of this podcast, B.F. Yeates is talking about the Mustang having more of an influence on this breed — that is talking about the American Quarter Horse. He’s had a huge influence on my own career — when I earned my PhD at Texas A&M. He’s just a great old cowboy who’s had a big influence on the Quarter Horse, and Texas, and horses in general.

[27:13]

Now, compared to some of the other breeds, Quarter Horses can be tall — you’ll find them in different shapes and sizes, but they’re up about 16 hands at the withers (64 inches, or 160 cm high) — but I’ve seen some taller than that. They weigh around 1,100–1,200 lbs (500 kg) — just like your traditional horses, but maybe a little bit heavier because Quarter Horses are known for being really strong and powerful. When you look at an Arabian horse or some of the other breeds we’ve talked about — maybe not so much the Fjord Horse because that one is stocky — American Quarter Horses are pretty stocky. And when you look at them, they’ve got these powerful hindquarters — so again, that sprinter speed.

[28:05]

You will find Quarter Horses in almost any competition. They are an incredible all-around breed. I’ve worked with hundreds of them — sweet dispositions, they are just incredible animals. They’re known for their cow sense — so when we say that, in cutting horses, they were selected to be very intelligent and able to cut cows out of the herd back in the day. You see them in barrel racing because they’re fast, you see them in sprinter competitions on the racetrack, roping events — name it, they can do it. They’re just an all-around great horse.

[28:41]

Now, again, one of my favorites — but it is one of the most popular breeds on the planet. And that’s the Thoroughbred. You find them everywhere. Just the other day, I was working with some Thoroughbred crosses. We have horse racing here in New Zealand — Australia is big, the Melbourne Cup; up in Japan, it’s big; Hong Kong, China — Thoroughbreds are everywhere around the world. And they are beloved by many. I know many who have taken horses post-racing careers and trained them — incredible show jumping horses, eventing horses. One of my favorites too — I’ve worked with many, many Thoroughbreds — and they are some of our most famous horses in history. It’s not just Secretariat — we’ve got Man o’ War, other racehorses that have been made popular in movies, television shows, things like that.

[29:32]

They date back to 1791 — that’s when this breed was really just “founded” with the studbook — and they were selected for endurance, speed, great demeanor, athletic ability. Again, an all-around horse that people just absolutely love and adore.

[30:00]

One of the things, researching for this podcast, that just kind of blew my mind away — and I mentioned one of my old colleagues at the University of Florida, Dr. Samantha Brooks, brilliant geneticist — in one of her papers, with a whole slew of authors, I found this fascinating. And not to go into too much of the science, but there is a reason I’m bringing this study up. The study was published in Nature — which again is the top, top journal — in their Scientific Reports, and the title is “Genome Diversity in the Origins of the Arabian Horse.”

[30:33]

Now, that kind of led me into some of the things about the dished face and how that’s a breed-specific trait that I mentioned earlier. But really, the reason I wanted to bring the study up is because it changed what I understand about the origins of the Thoroughbred breed. Going back to my undergraduate degree — even probably through my PhD and some of my early teaching years — I used to always teach and talk about how the Arabian horse had a huge influence on the foundation of the Thoroughbred breed. And that is because we can trace the Thoroughbred sires back to three.

[31:07]

So, previous podcast we talked about the matrilineal lines and mitochondrial DNA, and how we can go back in history. This one, we know — we have it written down, we have documented history — so this was pretty much set in stone. The three original sires that were then bred with English mares — no specific breeds, but English-type riding horses — the three original sires of the Thoroughbred breed were called Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian, and Byerly Turk. All thought — well, at least the first two — were Arabian horses, and then Turk was an Oriental-type horse, probably Arabian.

[31:49]

When we look at the genetics, that’s actually not true — and I want to quote this study because it blew my mind. It’s one of those things that’s like, “Oh yeah, I’ve always known this to be true.” No — it’s not true. And that’s why science — I get, again, nerdy and excited about it. So, in this study they state: “Although celebrated in many historical accounts, the three Arabian sires recorded as the main male founders of the Thoroughbred breed were likely individuals of other Oriental horse populations, and the Arabian breed appears to have contributed little to the autosomal genomic content of the modern Thoroughbred.”

[32:33]

And they go on to talk about how, when they brought these horses to England, they got them from Arabia, so they just called them “Arabian.” But what it basically is saying is — no, they are not Arabian horses. The genes don’t show that. Now, later on — in the last, you know, 50 years plus — Arabian horse bloodlines have been introduced into the Thoroughbred bloodline. So to sum that up — basically, they are Oriental, meaning horses from Asia, so they have an influence on Thoroughbreds, but not Arabians like we thought they did. That changed everything.

[33:16]

And that’s why we’re doing research. And I think it should make you excited that research is ongoing in understanding horses. It’s all around the world — it should make you feel great that there are people that love these animals so much that we’re still learning as much as we can about them.

[33:28]

Now, just a quick snapshot of the breed — again, Thoroughbreds deserve their own podcast. Just incredible athletes. I know people listening to this have worked with Thoroughbreds, probably own Thoroughbreds, Thoroughbred crosses. They are a little bit taller than the Quarter Horse — they can be up to 17 hands, which is about 68 inches, or 173 cm, at the withers — but again, not as heavily bodied as, say, a Quarter Horse. So you’re looking at 1,100 lbs, or 500 kg.

[33:59]

Besides Thoroughbred racing, you see them everywhere — endurance riding, hunt seat, polo (I’ve ridden them in polo; I’ve ridden polo ponies that were Thoroughbreds), show jumping obviously is a big one for them. Just an amazing horse that everybody loves.

[34:24]

So those are some of our light breeds. And there are many other popular light breeds — the Trakehner, Lipizzaner, Paint Horses. I haven’t even talked about Appaloosas, Criollos. The Haflinger is very popular around the world. And so many more horses that are very much like our light horses.

[34:43]

The one class — and I mentioned this in the previous podcast — is the gaited horses. These are the shiny cars of the horse world, bred for these special gaits: Tennessee Walking Horse, that Icelandic Horse that we talked about earlier, the Missouri Fox Trotter, the Peruvian Paso, Rocky Mountain Horse — many, many others. There are over 30 naturally gaited horse breeds like this.

[35:06]

One thing that’s very interesting about this is looking at their genetics. And there was another study published — “Genome-Wide Analysis Reveals Selection for Important Traits in Domestic Horse Breeds.” Very, very quickly — this is so exciting — gaited horses actually have a mutation in one of their genes, in the DMRT3 gene. That may not mean a lot to people, but what it means is these horses have a genetic mutation that allows them to do these gaits.

[35:38]

So as a scientist and researcher, what gets me excited about that is — when we talk about genes and behavior, it does influence and it does have effects on athletic ability. And that’s something we should explore further in this podcast down the road — identifying genetics that means that horse may be more of a superior athlete. Things like that. So, if you’re in competition, it’s probably something you want to know about.

[36:07]

I’ve got to talk about some of the other types of horses — and that’s the coldblooded breeds — and then we’ll finish out with the pony breeds. Just to give you some snapshots: coldblooded breeds again go back to medieval Europe, where they were used for pulling carts, farm work. With the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution, these horses became so important, and you saw a great refinement of the breeds. They became more specialized — “I was a plow horse,” “I was a cart horse.”

[36:36]

The largest horse in the world is recognized as the Shire Horse. Average height, 17.2 hands — so Thoroughbreds can reach that tall, and I’ve seen some very tall Thoroughbreds. Unbridled was one I remember watching race back in the day — he was close to 17 hands. Shire Horses can get as tall as 19.2 hands — so 78 inches, or close to 2 meters. I’m 77 inches, so I wouldn’t be able to see over their withers. They’re huge, and they weigh over a ton — 2,200 lbs, or 1,000 kg — but can be as gentle as can be.

[37:17]

Working — I’ve worked with a handful of draft horses — very easy to handle, very calm demeanors. Gorgeous, beautiful, full, big Percherons, Belgians — incredible horses. What’s also interesting about our draft horses is they have these long hairs on their legs — we call that “feathering” in the horse industry. Feathering is these long hairs that have helped horses, as they were developed, with insulation. It protected their lower legs. So it became a selected trait — today it’s more selected for their beauty and aesthetics, but back in the day it was, “Hey, this horse has to plow through a bunch of fields, rocks, going through the soft soil — this feathering actually helped protect their lower extremities.”

[38:08]

What I find interesting about the Shire Horse was it was developed in the 1790s from the heavy black horse. If you go back in their history, they were imported into the United States in the 1850s, became a favorite for many Americans, and were a favorite in Europe. They were flashy, beautiful, big horses. They once numbered close to a million — they were a massive breed, a huge animal that was so important to the economies of the world at the time. But then came the tractors, then came the automobiles, and so the Shire Horse was forgotten — so much so that it almost went extinct. The Livestock Conservancy website lists the Shire today as “critical,” meaning if we don’t manage them, they’re going to go extinct.

[39:00]

So, you know, there’s maybe 2,000 of them left in the world — but people recognized that and said, “Oh, we better save this breed because they are so important to our history, and they’re beautiful animals.” And with modern breeding techniques that we have today, we should be able to save this breed. So things are looking good for them.

[39:21]

Some of the others — the Clydesdale is a famous draft breed. Friesians are a lot of people’s favorites, the Irish Draught, the American Cream Draft — a whole bunch of other types of draft breeds out there. And like the gaited horses, there’s over 30 draft breeds in the world. So, out of the 600–700, you know, it’s not a ton, but they are out there.

[39:43]

Now, switching gears to pony breeds — so we went super tall and big, now let’s go to our little ones. Huge amount of breeds of ponies around the world — over 160. So, very, very popular. And it’s not just the mini horses, the tiny ones — just “pony,” like I talked about in the previous podcast, is anything that stands under 14.2 hands (that’s 58 inches, or 147 cm) that is considered a pony. But there are many pony-specific breeds.

[40:21]

Brilliant histories with these — so different to why some of them were developed. Obviously smaller ponies for riding for children, but then they even got specialized — pulling carts in mines, bringing them down those old elevators, and they would pull carts and work in the mines next to people. Companionship is a big one with them.

[40:46]

The miniature horses have a very interesting history. They were thought to be developed for nobility and royalty as kind of like a little companion animal. But I had to highlight a new breed for me, and that’s the Falabella breed. This is the smallest horse breed in the world. Thumbelina was the smallest horse in the world — she was a very small miniature horse — but as a breed, or breed standard, the Falabella is the smallest. Developed in Argentina in the 1940s, their heights range from 7 to 8.2 hands — which is 28 to 34 inches tall at the withers, or 71 to 86 cm. They can weigh anywhere from 150 to 175 lbs, or 70 to 80 kg.

[41:40]

Now, miniature horses can stand a little bit taller — they can go up to 10 hands, or 40 inches — so the Falabella is the smallest horse breed in the world. And there are so many more — I mean, there’s so many more that we couldn’t cover, that all have incredible histories. The Spanish Barb, or the Spanish Mustang; the wild Mustang in the West; the Brumbies in Australia — there are so many different horses out there, and we will be talking more about these in the near future — the athletic ones, but also, you know, we’ll highlight some other breeds in future podcasts.

[42:13]

We opened up with thinking about your favorite horse, and I want to ask you — do you know? Do you know their breed? Do you know the history of that breed, the lineage? Look it up — it’s fascinating. And madbarn.com has many breed guides that are being pushed out every day. Just one that I looked up yesterday — the Orlov Trotter breed guide — is up on our website. The characteristics, health, and nutrition — but you need to know each individual breed. You have to. So look up the resources, Google the breeds, learn about them — because the results are going to surprise you.

[42:55]

Horses — you’ve got to love them, right? I mean, just — I’m smiling as I finish up this podcast talking about these animals. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Stay tuned — we’ve got more great stuff coming your way, and thank you for listening.

[43:13]

I just get so giddy when I talk about these animals, and I’m spending hours researching all this — reading the research, reading the literature, finding out as much as I can so I can bring you that information. I hope that enthusiasm comes across in the podcast, and I know you’re listening — and if you’re listening to this point, you love these horses, and hopefully you’re enjoying this podcast. And if you are, if you wouldn’t mind just going to Spotify and iTunes, clicking a five-star review, give us some comments — we will read them.

[43:45]

But again, like I said, you can go to madbarn.com — breed guides on health and nutrition. Like I said, the Orlov Trotter, the Arabian Horse, the Friesian Horse, Holsteiner, Missouri Fox Trotter — we’re kicking them out every single day. You can find it under the “Learn” tab, “Articles,” but also other articles on health and nutrition — anything you want to know about horses should be on there. Again, we’re pushing out this information as fast as we can.

[44:15]

You can keep up with updates on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok — so look for Mad Barn there. Or you can also email me: podcast@madbarn.com. I just want to thank you so much for listening. Stay tuned — more in development, and we’re going to keep telling this story each week. Take care.