Horse and Pony Type

[CarouselCowgirl]

I am having a difficult time keeping the correct types in my Percherons and Andalusians. For my Percherons, I want Medium Heavy Pony-Types, but occasionally I get horse types! With my Andys its the opposite, I want Medium Light or Medium Horse types and I sometimes get pony types.

I found this post: http://www.horseworldonline.net/forum/v ... ype#p14223

And someone said that:
Horse type: Short back, long legs.
Pony type: Long back, short legs.

Is that how it works? The back length and leg length are what determine type?

If so it would make a lot of sense with what I am seeing in my herds. With my Percherons, I've been breeding for shorter backs. With my Andys, while I haven't been breeding for it, a lot have longer backs.

[Scythian]

Yes, that's the basic idea. The Breed Evaluation says "Type is the description of leg length to body length."

At the extremes, Turkmenes often approach 100% Horse type:

http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/117233 Top competitor in breed, 92% Horse type

while Very Heavy Pony types like Shetlands and drafters are often 90+% Pony

http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/179853 91% Pony

BTW, the median is 50-50; 50% Horse is also 50% Pony*. Can't have less than 50% on either side.

*Not sure how the computer decides; maybe based on breed or height?

[CarouselCowgirl]

Yes, that's the basic idea. The Breed Evaluation says "Type is the description of leg length to body length."

At the extremes, Turkmenes often approach 100% Horse type:

http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/117233 Top competitor in breed, 92% Horse type

while Very Heavy Pony types like Shetlands and drafters are often 90+% Pony

http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/179853 91% Pony

BTW, the median is 50-50; 50% Horse is also 50% Pony*. Can't have less than 50% on either side.

*Not sure how the computer decides; maybe based on breed or height?

Interesting. Thank you for the examples! I haven't evaluated any of my horses in a long time. Perhaps I should, at least for the Andys, to try to stay away from pony type. With my Percherons, I am considering allowing horse type, but I am not sure.

Perhaps body size also has something to do with it too? At least maybe for the ones at 50% each type? Isn't the scale like Very light horse-light horse-medium light horse-medium horse-medium pony-medium heavy pony-heavy pony-very heavy pony? <Which is also another reason why I wouldn't want horse type Percherons, because I definitely want medium heavy sizes!

[Argent II]

Type and body size are unrelated.

[CarouselCowgirl]

Ah, yes. The evals page says "build" is affected by body size(and type). And type "is the description of leg length to body length." Thanks Argent and Scythian!

Evidently, I need to start using the evals more.

[Revenant]

Huh. I've just been trying to get within the proper norms for my breeds by the breed books, but I suppose as I begin to fine tune some of them, I may need to consider if I want any horse type in my ponies or pony type in my horses. o.o That's going to be a new challenge to consider.

[Kintara]

Well the breeds books have the accepted norms for horse/pony type

[Xant’hippe]

Just to add to the complexity, animals who don't meet all the breed criteria are still described as "Breed Name" if enough of their ancestry was that breed. Case in point, this stallion, Buttercup:




The computer describes him as "Mixed Baladi [40%]". He evaluates as 2/5; only his Body Size, 21%, is within Baladi standards. Which I why I describe him as a "Sport Horse" in the Stud ad. (He is just 1" too tall to be a 5/5 Thoroughbred.)

And then there are crossbreds and grades ...