Breeds of Horse Information & Suitability

Breeds of Horse & Horse Breeds of the World

What Exactly are the different breeds of horse? Well, a breed is defined as a group of animals with a common origin.

Each group or breed, has definite breed characteristics not commonly found in other breeds.

These characteristics are fixed in the genetic makeup of that breed of horse and will be passed from sires and dams to fillies and colts.

You can recognize many horse breeds by the style of their body.

Some popular and recognisable pleasure breeds include the Quarter Horse, Arabian Horse, Appaloosa, Morgan, Thoroughbred, American Saddle Horse and Paint Horse.

Horse Breeds Icon

Popular pony breeds for smaller riders include the Shetland and Welsh pony breeds.

Horses that are crossbred are produced from mating two or more breeds and once you learn to recognise breed characteristics you can identify whether a horse is a Thoroughbred, Arabian or Quarter Horse.

You will also be able to tell when certain purebred characteristics appear in crossbred horses.

Breeds of Horse Indexed Alapahbetically …

  • Clydesdale
  • Cob
  • Connemara Pony
  • Criollo / Crioulo
  • Dales Pony
  • Danish Warmblood
  • Dartmoor Pony
  • Donkey
  • Dutch Warmblood
  • Exmoor Pony
  • Falabella Miniature
  • Fell Pony
  • Friesian
  • Hackney
  • Haflinger
  • Hanoverian
  • Highland Pony
  • Holsteiner
  • Hungarian Sport Horse
  • Hunter
  • Iberian
  • Icelandic
  • Irish Thorougbred
  • Irish Cob
  • Irish Draught
  • Irish Sport Horse
  • Kisber Felver
  • Lipizzaner
  • Lusitano
  • Mangalarga
  • Marchador
  • Maremmano
  • Marwari
  • Miniature
  • Miniature Shetland
  • Missouri Fox Trotter
  • Mongolian
  • Morgan
  • Mustang
  • New Forest Pony
  • Paint
  • Palomino
  • Paso Fino
  • Percheron

A little more info on a few of the popular Horse Breeds origins …

The history and origins of some of our most popular horse breeds.

For instance, Thoroughbred horse breeding originated in England but the Quarter Horse breed originated in the southwestern part of the United States in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, eastern Colorado, and Kansas.

Both breeds of horse serve very different purposes but both are built for speed.