Stable & Hoof · The reference
Find the answer you came for.
Breeds, riding, daily care and the partnership. Follow a question or find something for a horse lover.
70 results
- The daily round
How do you pick out a horse's hoof?
Picking out a hoof means using a hoof pick to clear stones, mud, and dirt from the sole and frog.
- The partnership
How long do horses live?
No body publishes an official average. The British Horse Society says horses and ponies today often live into their 30s, and a 2011 welfare review says the same.
- Dreaming of horses
How much does a horse cost?
The purchase price of a horse is usually the smallest part of the true cost of ownership.
- Choosing your horse
Hunter horse portraits and prints
Bone, substance, day in deep going: the British hunter is a type that survives.
- Choosing your horse
Irish Sport Horse
Tough, kind, brilliant over a fence: the working amateur's eventing horse.
- Choosing your horse
KWPN Dutch Warmbloods
Ster, Keur, Elite: the Dutch sport horse studbook and its earned predicates.
- The partnership
National Hunt racing, and what the horses jump.
The hurdle height everybody quotes is the height of the panel, not the height of the jump. The regulator's own specification says so.
- Choosing your horse
New Forest pony portraits and prints
Hampshire-born, semi-feral, the British family's native pony.
- Choosing your horse
Paint Horse
Tobiano, overo, tovero: every Paint Horse is visually unique by genetic design.
- Horse gifts
Personalised horse gifts
Three ways to put a particular horse on something: their name, their portrait, or your own photograph. Made to order, with free UK delivery.
- Gifts for horse lovers
Personalised or ready-made?
A ready-made horse artwork can be a thoughtful gift. So can a name print or a favourite photograph. The useful difference is what you know about the recipient, what they would enjoy using or displaying, and how…
- Choosing your horse
Piebald or skewbald: what is the difference?
Piebald is black and white. Skewbald is white with any other colour: brown, red, bay or chestnut.
- The partnership
Point-to-point horse racing, and the jumps season.
The amateur end of British jump racing, and the only racing in this country legally tethered to hunting.
- Choosing your horse
Quarter Horse
America's working stock horse: sprint speed, cow sense, the dominant breed of the global horse register.
- Choosing your horse
Shetland pony
The smallest British native pony with the biggest personality on the yard.
- Choosing your horse
Shire horse
A tonne of horse with a kind eye and a feathered leg, the Shire is conservation in motion.
- The daily round
The daily round
The parts nobody photographs: feed, rugs, the muck heap, and four hooves that need doing whatever the weather is.
- The daily round
The horse rug guide.
When a horse needs a rug, what the weights mean, and why two reputable sources will give you different answers for the same horse on the same day.
- The partnership
The partnership
What the work turns into: the disciplines you might take up, and the length of the road you are on together.
- Choosing your horse
Thoroughbred
Bay, chestnut, off-the-track: the British Thoroughbred has a second career after the racecourse.
- Custom horse portrait from your photo
Turn a horse photo into a portrait in a painted style: how it works
Upload your horse’s photo, choose one of five styles, and select the result you want to print. After email verification, you can generate up to three free, watermarked previews per day. This guide explains how …
- Choosing your horse
Warmblood horses
Hanoverian, KWPN, Trakehner, Holsteiner: the European sport horse register family.
- Choosing your horse
Welsh pony portraits and prints
Four Welsh sections, four different ponies: the breed family that runs British Pony Club.
- Dreaming of horses
What are the main horse breeds?
There are hundreds of horse breeds worldwide, but most fall into three broad groups: hot-bloods, cold-bloods, and warmbloods, alongside a wide range of ponies.
- The daily round
What are the types of horse rugs?
Horse rugs fall into a few main types (turnout, stable, cooler, and fly) each suited to a different job.
- The daily round
What do horses eat?
Horses are built to eat forage first (grass, hay or haylage) with hard feed added only as needed.
- The partnership
What do you do with a horse passport when the horse dies?
The passport must be returned to the organisation that issued it within 30 days of the horse's death.
- The partnership
What do you do with a horse when it passes away?
What you may do with a horse after death depends on which UK nation you are in, and burial is not permitted everywhere.
- The partnership
What do you say when someone loses a horse?
Use the horse's name, say one specific thing you remember about them, and resist the urge to look for a silver lining.
- Choosing your horse
What is a bay horse?
A reddish-brown body with black mane, tail, lower legs and ear rims. The black is the interesting part.