Foal Facts

Horses are pregnant for 11 months.

Baby horses are called foals. 

Foals can stand up a few minutes to an hour after birth.

Foals can see shortly after being born.

Horses start cutting teeth a week after being born.

Foals take 3 to 4 years to fully grow up.

Foal's legs are 80% or more of the total length they will be when grown.

Foals ween off their mother's milk between 6 months and a year old.

A father horse is a sire.

A mother horse is a dam.

Mares tend to give birth at night and don't like to be watched while giving birth.

They are super adorable!

*Please note these are not my pictures.

Horse Colors

Gray – Horses with a dark coat and white to gray hair. They can often appear as white horses but if their points are dark they are considered grays.

Grullo – This is from a dun gene on a black horse. A dark dorsal strip, dark points, and dark legs. They can also have stripes on the legs, forward, back, etc.

Pearl – A horse with a red base coat lightened to an almost apricot color, the mane and tail will also be light.

Amber Champagne  - Gold coat with chocolate points. Can be confused with buckskin or bay dun. The mane and tail have light edges. This gene dilutes the color of a bay horse.

Brindle – A faint, small tiger striping pattern on a horse. This is quite rare.

Liver Chestnut – Very dark chestnut (reddish-brown) color.

Sorrel – A light chestnut (reddish-brown) color. The mane and tail will be the same color or lighter.

(*Please note, these are not my pictures.)

Color Vocabulary

I have compiled another list of horse colors below.
I have done two other posts on horse colors already. To see either of these posts please click on the corresponding link here: Bay-Buckskin-Palomino-Black or Leopard-Piebald-Skewbald-BlueRoan-RedRoan-BayRoan-Rabicano-WhiteTicking-Sabino-Piebald-Pinto

Dun – A grayish-gold or tan coat with a dark mane and tail with a dark strip down the back. Duns are typically more of a creamy color versus the golden color of a buckskin.

Yellow Dun – Typical of a dun with a yellowish color.

Red Dun – Typical of a dun with a reddish color.

Chestnut – A reddish to reddish-brown coat color with a mane and tail that are the same color or lighter.

Perlino – These horses are white in color with pink skin and blue eyes. They have darker points in the mane and tails.

Cremello – These horses are similar to Perlinos as they are white in color with pink skin and blue eyes but they have light manes and tails.

Seal Brown – Dark brown, nearly black color with black mane, tail, and legs. They will have a tan or reddish color around the muzzle and eye areas.

Flea Bitten – These horses have a white coat with small freckles of reddish hair throughout the coat, the amount of freckles can vary widely causing the horses to appear almost white in some cases and almost roan in other cases. This is considered a gray coat color. 

(*Please note these are not my pictures.)

Vocabulary

HANDS – The measurement of a horse’s height. Each hand is 4 inches.

DRAFT / DRAUGHT – A heavily built horse. Usually these are horses that were bred for working, they often pull carts and heavy loads.

BALD –  A wide white blaze marking on a horse’s face that extends past the eyes.

CHESTNUT – The knobby fleshy part that sticks out on a horse’s leg.

ROACHED –  A trimmed horse mane.

 PASTERN – Part of the horse leg between the hoof and the fetlock. (right above the hoof)

EQUUS – The genus of horses, includes donkeys and zebras.

 EQUINE – Of or relating to horses.

EQUESTRIAN – A horse rider.

Gender Vocabulary

MARE – A female horse.

BROODMARE – A female horse used for breeding purposes.

STALLION – A male horse that can still reproduce.

GELDING – A male horse that can no longer reproduce.

FOAL – A baby horse.

COLT ­­­– A male foal.

FILLY – A female foal.

Vocabulary

MANE – The hair from the horses neck.

FETLOCK– Joint a few inches above the hoof.

FEATHERS – Long hair above horses' hooves.

NARES – Another term for the horse’s nostrils.

STAR –A small white spot on the horse’s forehead.

BLAZE – A white stripe down the front of the horse's face.

SOCKS– White on bottom of the legs up to the fetlock.

STOCKINGS– White on the legs past the fetlock.

(Sometimes horses can also have black socks or stockings instead of, or as well as, white ones.)