Horses and Ponies – by Frances (speech for Brownies).

I love horses. They are loving animals and there are lots of different breeds. My favourite breed is called the Thoroughbred. It’s my favourite breed because it’s the fastest horse and it’s very pretty. When they are fully grown they are usually 16.1 hands high (explain this to the group). They are usually brown, bay, or chestnut. Ponies are like horses but smaller. My favourite breeds of pony are the Dartmoor pony, Exmoor pony and New Forest pony. Dartmoor ponies when fully grown are 12.2 hands high. They are usually black, bay, or brown with some markings. Exmoor ponies when fully grown are 11.2 to12.3 hands high, usually bay. They are even rarer than the Giant Panda and they have very big eyes. New forest pony’s grow up to 12.2 to 14.2 hands high, they are any colour except piebald or skewbald.

Horses are measured in “hands” which is the width of a man’s hand, or about four inches. 4 inches is the same as 10cms. They are measured from the withers (which means their shoulders) down to the ground. Any horse of 14.2 hands or less is a pony.

There are lots of different colours of horse and some of them are a bit confusing! Bay is a reddish brown horse with some gold in it, so the horse looks like the colours of a chestnut. A bay horse usually has a black mane, tail and lower legs. Piebald’s are white and black in patches and looks a bit like a Frisian cow!!!! Skewbald horses are the same as Piebald but the black parts can be any colour except black. There are Spotted horses in white, black or brown; they look a bit like Dalmatian dogs. One of the strangest colours of horse is “grey” where the horse is actually white!

A very unusual horse is the Albino; it has snowy white hair, mane and tail as there is no colour pigment in them and they have pink eyes. There eyes are really clear but you can see the colour of their blood being reflected in them. You can have Albinos of any type of animal, even people and i have seen an Albino rabbit.

Horse have different types of markings on their face. They can have a snip, which is a bright white stripe on their top lip or they can have a blaze, which is a thick white stip all the way down their face. They can also have a star, which is a mark of any shape or size on their forehead. On their legs, horses can be described as having socks, stockings or various other markings.

Horses are used in all sorts of ways; they can be wild, like ponies on Dartmoor, they can be pets, they can be ridden in competitions or used for hunting. Working horses might work on a farm, especially in olden times when they were used for ploughing; they are usually big, strong horses and a Shire Horse can be 18 hands tall, so just the height up to their shoulders is as tall as my mummy!!!! I’ve been reading a book called War Horse and in the book the horse goes off to be ridden in the First World War battles.

I don’t have a horse but i have 2 aunties who have horses and i’ve been to see them and ride on them. My dream horse would be a Thoroughbred which is black with a star on her face. I would call her Twilight.