The credit crunch continues and the knock-on impact on the horse world is increasingly evident.

The Horse Trust in Britain is reporting a five-fold increase in enquiries in the last 6 months from horse owners  who are in financial difficulty and asking the charity to help with re-homing. However the charity is receiving reduced donations and have a full allocation of 100+ ponies, horses and donkeys. The daily cost per animal is approx 17 pounds. I’m sure this trend is being seen world-wide.

At the same time, animal welfare groups are urging horse-owners to  think about the costs for your horse during retirement. The campaign organisers are requesting that horse owners in England and Wales complete an anonymous Equine Retirement Questionnaire in an attempt to find out the scale of the problem. This is a very good idea and I can understand why it is being discussed at this time. However with many people worrying about their families and current investments, it’s hard to see many being able to start  a horse pension.

In the US for thoroughbred racing, both betting and purses were all significantly down in February and this follows a year on year trend.

A Paso Fino recently won a battle of the breeds so I have done some research as I was not familiar  with this breed.

The Paso Fino has a long history and was originally based in Spain. Its ancestry included the Barb, the Andalusian (one of my favourite breeds) and the gaited Spanish Jennet, which is now extinct. The latter came with Christopher Columbus to the Dominican Republic to be used as conquistador mounts during the 1500s. Their heritage is shared with the Peruvian Paso and the American Mustang.

The unusual inherited gaits of the Spanish Jennet are the breed’s hallmark. The gaits are the paso fino (slowest), the paso cordo (the preferred gait which is approximately the speed of trot) and paso largo (fastest).

Two different strains of Paso Finos developed in the Dominican Republic and in Columbia. Both are relatively small at approx 13.2 to 15.2 hands but their body shape can vary quite significantly from quite small and light to quite large and powerful. The gaits of the two strains are quite different with the Columbian horse having a stronger action.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the breed, here’s the link to the Paso Fino Horse Organisation

Last night on TV for the first time I saw quarterhorses racing. I have seen plenty of thoroughbred racing and even some Arab horses racing, but I was still surprised by how fast the quarterhorses were.

If I heard correctly, one race over a distance of a quarter of a mile was run in just over 15 seconds. Can that be right? - 1 mile in a minute which is 60 miles per hour. I will have to read up on and find out more about quarterhorses in the coming weeks.

Konik means small horse in Polish. I recently came across some pictures of this rare breed and thought they were extremely pretty and had an interesting history. They are mouse grey in colour with dark manes and tails and zebra-type markings on their legs.

They are descended directly from the Tarpan, a wild European forest horse which survived in central Europe until the late 1800s when the last were captured in Poland, and then kept in captivity in zoos until the last died in 1910. However, around the time of World War 2, Polish scientists noticed that Tarpan-like foals called Bilgoraj Konik were being born to domestic ponies. Scientists have managed to back-breed over generations and recreate the extinct forest horse.

I noticed a recent article about the first coloured full thoroughbred foal born in the UK. He is registered with Weatherby’s as a Bay Overo.

I have been reading about the genetics of horse colours and this is far more complicated than I realised. I have listed below some information on horse colours/patterns which were new to me:

Overo refers to a pinto coloration pattern of white over dark body markings in horses. There are at least three different genes which fall under the “overo” classification: frame overo, sabino, and splash overo.

A Splash Overo pattern appears like a solid colored horse who has been dipped in white paint, and the color splashed up from the bottom.

Sabino is listed as a type of overo colouring but it is genetically different. The most common markings are high white stockings (often with jagged edges), a wide blaze often extending past the eyes and small white patches or roan colouring on the belly or flanks. Most have four white feet. Minimal sabinos may have only one trait while a maximum sabino is a completely white horse.