Horse Treats

By, Meredith Rogers

Our world is filled with warmbloods, thoroughbreds, and quarterhorses, bays, chestnuts, and greys. But there’s more to the equestrian world than that. See below for some rare animals.

First rarest breed: Galiceño. These are small horses, ponies really, at 12-13.2 hh. It is estimated that there are only 100 purebreds left, and unfortunately, there’s not much breeding stock. They are thought to have descended from the Garrano horses of Portugal, a primitive breed from the Iberian Peninsula. They were first brought here by Christopher Columbus and evolved into the breed they are today. They supposedly have excellent dispositions, and are friendly and curious. Some are gaited with an extended running walk, but all are smooth.

Second rarest breed: American Cream Draft. It is estimated that there are only about 2000 in existence, with only 30 registrations per year. This breed is American born and traces back to a cream-colored draft mare named Old Granny, born at the turn of the 20th century in Iowa. Interestingly, even though it’s called “Cream” it doesn’t carry the cream gene; instead, it carries the champagne gene.

First rarest color: Pure white. We’ve all seen almost white, but genetic white is super rare. A true white horse has a white coat with pink skin and usually dark eyes. Genetically they have 1 white gene (2 white genes are fatal) and they are called dominant white horses. As of 2021, there were 32 varieties of dominant white, with each corresponding to a mutation on the KIT gene. Generally, at least 1 parent must be dominant white to produce a white offspring, but sometimes spontaneous mutations occur. The color can occur in any breed.

Second rarest color: Brindle. Similar to the dog, brindle horses have “drippy” looking striping over their bodies, which can be of any color but are usually darker than the horse’s base color. It is more common in draft horses and ponies but can be found in any breed. The color is usually genetic, created by 2 alleles on the BR1 chromosome, which both parents must possess. However, some brindle horses are actually chimeras which is when 2 embryos blend into 1 early in the pregnancy. The first brindle horse on record was a Russian cab horse from the 1800s (see picture of the actual taxidermied Russian cab horse).