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Welcome to the Animal Naturopathic Medicine Educatum podcast, specialising in canine, feline, and equine animal health from a biological perspective. Today's discussion

Welcome And Topic Overview

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is on the five major categories of equine breed types. Throughout time, humans have bred different types of horses to do different types of jobs, but most of the horse breeds we have today stem from five different types of horses, containing a variety of horse breeds therein, all complete with certain traits being attributed to one group over another. Categorically speaking, the five types of horses are draught horses, light horses, gaited horses, ponies, and warm bloods. Warm bloods in Germany, these horses are traditionally

Draught Horses And Cold Blood Traits

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and specifically named in relation to a particular origin and county. So each of the types named have their own functional place and role in the world of humans, and each of these horse breeds offers something unique that can be found nowhere else due to the origins of the horse type. So let's start with the draft horses. They're also known as the giant breeds. Draft horses are the powerhouses of the equine world. They are considered the biggest and strongest of all the horse breeds and have been burdened with all the heavy tasks. There are many different types of draft horses, including the wildly recognized Clydesdales, Big Pejeron or a Belgium Draft, and there are many more. Humans found a niche for these heavy horses to suit heavy labour, most commonly performing a variety of agricultural tasks that are predominantly slow, methodical work. The large draft breeds continue to specifically be bred to pull heavy loads. The average draft horse weighs over 700 kilos and is usually over 16 hands tall. Often referred to as the gentle giants, draft horses are those horse breeds that are wonderfully known for being of a calm nature with a sweet demeanour, along with a slow metabolism that matches their slow methodical thinking. Many of these horses can develop a profound, lasting relationship with their owners and or families. These types of horse breeds are also commonly referred to as cold bloods, although this title is not the same as cold blooded in biology terms, where we would be referring to as a reptile as an example. It instead refers to a horse's temperament being hot or cold in their muscle type, and demeanour to which is then related to a horse's breed having predominantly fast, slow or intermediate muscle twitch fibers. Therefore, these giant breeds are naturally calm, capable of methodical, slow-paced movement, and in relation to their nervous system responses of either flight or fight when in danger, the draft horse will initially display more of a fight response before deciding to run from danger. Whereas a thoroughbred with predominant fast twitch muscle fibers will have the automatic tendency to take flight and run in response to danger. So now let's look at the light horses or what we might class them as hot blooded. So it may be useful to consider light horses as the exact opposite to their slower, cold-blooded

Light Horses And Hot Blood Speed

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types. These breeds are considered easily excitable and light footed, being bred for their speed, agility, and overall faster rideability. They are ridden for a vast majority of purposes all the way up to racing. Light horses are known for their fast twitch muscle fibre type, allowing them to move quickly and faster than other horse breeds. Some examples of light horse breeds are thoroughbreds, Arabians and the Morgan horse. Versatility is a key component in this type of horse, being highly adaptable and capable of performing a variety of difficult tasks with speed and agility. Alright, the next one let's look at warm bloods. Technically these are a man made breed and are now referred to the category of horse breeds, where a cold blood

Warmbloods Built For Sport

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breed has been mixed or crossbred with a hot blood breed, resulting in a middle weight horse. Centuries of deliberate focused breeding and the technical advances that came with modern day breeding practices has resulted in genealogies that exemplify the best of both genetics. What has been produced is a powerful, tall, athletic horse with an even temperament that is nearly always level headed and capable of competing in some of the higher caliber disciplines such as show jumping, three day eventing, combined driving and dressage. This category of horse dates back to the original German Bavarian Warmblood and the German Oldenburg Warmblood. Alright next we have gated horses. Gated horses have been categorized with a name referring to their unique characteristic of their gait. Historically, horse breeds

Gaited Horses And Smooth Rides

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identified as being gaited were referred to as a gentleman's horse by their very distinct, exaggerated ascetics that were seen as refined and sophisticated in appearance. These breeds also considered a light horse, bred specifically for riding, are best known for possessing an exceptional smooth ride, although some gaited horses have been used in carriage work. Gated movements include but are not limited to the gates known as the pace, the stepping pace, high step, the running walk, and the slow gait. Well known examples of these gated breeds are Icelandic horses, Paso Fino and the Tennessee walking horses. Alright, last out of this five in the category is the pony. The ponies are not to be forgotten. By definition, a pony, according to FEI standards,

Ponies And Their Many Jobs

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is a horse that does not exceed the height of one hundred and fifty centimetres. These small horses are incredibly versatile and have been bred for a variety of purposes, illustrated by the fact that currently there are over 100 different breeds of ponies alone. Historically, ponies have been bred for nearly every task imaginable. Some ponies have had the dreaded responsibility of working down in dark mines, carting mined goods in and out all day long. Some have had the responsibility of ploughing duties on the farm, along with the daily delivery of foods and other goods to neighborhood communities. Some ponies have been bred specifically for children's showing, dressage, jumping competitions, and pony harness racing. Yet others have simply become pets to their owners and perhaps were also the perfect lawnmower. Regardless of the purpose for breeding, ponies have continued to bring a tremendous amount of joy into people's lives, as it is difficult to look at a pony without smiling. So lastly, we're going to talk about the non horse type equids. So these are not a part of the top five in the horse type category.

Non Horse Equids And Crossbreeds

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Non horse type equids are closely related to horses enough that they are capable of interbreeding with them, producing some interesting crossbreeds. The non horse equines include donkeys, mules and zebras. Most of these crossbreds are the result of human intervention. For example, a zorse became quite a desirable crossbreed in America and certain parts of the Middle East, resulting from breeding a zebra with a horse. This strange combination is not a natural occurrence in the wild, as both herd types have different herd behaviors and vocal languages that has led them to having different evolutionary paths that have not crossed over since. Typically speaking, man has created this combination as a trophy horse, as zebras are incredibly difficult to train and ride. Their physique and weight bearing load of a rider is very poor compared to that of a horse. But let's also not forget that whilst we have so many horse breeds in general, no horse or zorse was actually anatomically designed to ever be ridden. However, the Zorce was a receptive trainee under saddle, gaining increasing popularity and a way to eliminate the difficulties that man has had with trying to domesticate zebras. However, like mules, they are sterile, so they are hard to obtain and heavily frowned upon. When we look at the natural biological laws of nature, this is a clear sign that this genetic combination is not to be pursued, as even nature has rejected the crossbreed result from reproducing. Hmm. Lot of interesting information there, and I hope you found it entertaining and useful. Alright, bye for now. Thanks again.