B

Bale: a measurement of hay, equal to 10 “flakes”.

Barn Sour: a horse that does not like to leave the barn or stables.

Boodmare: a female horse used for breeding.

Canter: term used in English riding for a three beat gait. This is the same as a lope or slow gallop in Western discipline riding.

Colt: a male horse under the age of four. A common terminology error is to call any young horse a colt, when the term actually only refers to young male horses.

Conformation: the overall structure of the horse. What is acceptable conformation depends on what you plan to do with the horse.

Cribbing: when a horse chews on wood on a regular basis (i.e wood stall or fence).

Dam: the mother of the horse.

Farrier: this is a blacksmith who does horse shoeing.

Feral: horses, who had domesticated ancestors but were born and live in the wild, are distinct from wild animals, whose ancestors have never undergone domestication.

Filly: a female horse under the age of four.

Flake: one tenth of a bale of hay.

Foal: a horse of either sex less than one year old. A nursing foal is sometimes called a suckling and a foal that has been weaned is called a weanling. Most domesticated foals are weaned at 4-6 months of age.

Gallop: the fastest that a horse can run, a three-beat gait.

Gelding: a castrated male horse of any age, though for convenience sake, many people also refer to a young gelding under the age of four as a “colt.”

Lope: western term for a three-beat gait, the same as canter.

Mare: a female horse four years old and older.

Paddock: a large enclosure to hold a horse.

Sire: the father of a horse.

Stallion: a non-castrated male horse four years old and older.

Tack: horse tack is all the gear that comes with owning a horse. The bridle, saddle, bit, girths, cinches, saddle pads, lead ropes, halters, whips, stirrup irons and stirrup leathers, horse boots, and most other horse things are tack.

Trot: a two-beat gait.

Turnout: when a horse is let out of its stall into a pasture or arena or corral.

Weanling: a horse under one years old that has been weaned from his mother.

Yearling: a horse of either sex that is between one and two years old.

Tagged as: Horse Terms