Horse Markings

Welcome to the informative page on those wily white markings of our favorite animal, The Horse! First, we start off with the Facial Markings. Lastly will be the Leg Markings. Let us begin!

Here is a picture of a horse's head that has no facial markings. Notice that there are no white hairs any where.

A white mark on the horse's forehead that is between the eyes and above the bridge of nose of the horse is called a Star.

A white mark that in on the horse's bridge of nose is called a Strip. The Strip is a stripe on the bridge of nose. Some breeds, like the Appaloosa, use the term Stripe.

A white mark that is on the horse's muzzle between the nostrils is called a Snip.

All three markings can run together into one long marking called a Star, Strip, Snip. The commas (,) indicate that the markings are connected.

Here is a connected Star, Strip.

Here is a connected Strip, Snip.

The markings can be disconnected. Here is a horse with a Star. Snip. The period (.) means that the star and snip do not touch each other.

A horse can have all three marking with none touching each other. Here is a horse with a disconnected Star. Strip. Snip. Thus we see, markings can be connected to each other or stand alone.

Combos of the two are very common. Here is a horse with a Star. Strip, Snip.

A Star, Strip, Snip do not have to travel straight down the horses face. They can trail off to the side to cover a nostril. This marking is called a Race. This occurance is described as Star, Strip, Snip in a Race.

A wide Star, Strip, Snip that is still between the eyes, but wider than the bridge of nose is called a Blaze.

When the white extends past the eyes and covers most of the face, it is called Bald Face. The Bald Face may also extend to the lower lip.

White on the lower lip of the horse is called Lower Lip. Pretty simple, eh?

White that starts as a small point on the horse's forehead (Star), but widens to cover the horse's muzzle is called Apron Face.

There you have it. A run down of the basic white facial markings and how to combine them into beautifully marked horse faces. There are more ways to describe the markings. "Crescent shaped star" describes a star that looks like a crescent moon. "Sunburst star" generally describes a star with several pointy sides. "Half Strip", "Thin Strip" all help to give a better visual picture of the horse's strip marking. So, use this markings as your guide to describe your horse's facial markings, but feel free to add some extra adjectives to help distinguish your horse's Star, Strip, and Snip from other horses.

Now, on to the white markings of the horse's legs. Leg markings can get confusing. Not all sources agree on what a "sock" is, and not all horses read the books on leg markings. Learn what the markings are with the pictures and descriptions I am providing you, but keep in mind that a horse can have a leg marking that is one marking on the left side, and another marking on the right side of that same leg. I personally know a mare whose left hind leg is a Coronet on the inside of her leg and a stocking on the outside of her leg. Just so you know now, when you have a confusing leg marking like that mare's, you go with the higher marking. Here we go!

Here is a leg with no white markings

When white covers the coronet band of the horse, the marking is called a Coronet.

White that covers the lower part of the pastern is called a Half Pastern.

White that covers the pastern is called a Pastern.

White that covers the fetlock joint is generally called a Fetlock. There is some dispute on this marking. Some call it Ankle, etc. It usually depends on how much white there ultimately is on and around the fetlock joint.

White that is no higher than half way up the cannon is called a Sock.

White that is more than half way up the cannon but below the knee or hock is called a Stocking.

Some horses may not have a complete Coronet, but will still have white spots on the coronet band. These are called White Spot(s). These may also be called Heel Spot(s) if they are specifically on the heel of the horse as shown in the picture.

Other horses may have dark spots on their white leg markings called Dark Spot(s). These spots usually appear on the coronet band of the horse, as shown in the picture. Other names you can use instead of "Dark Spots" is Ermine or Distal Spot(s). Distal Spots tend to be more towards the heel of the horse.

Some Appaloosa horses have irregular white on their cannons. These are generally called Lightning Marks. Not all Appy's have Lightning Marks. In fact, most Appys' leg markings fall into the categories shown above.

Now you know the leg markings. Notice that all the markings are white. There is no such thing as "Black Stockings". "Black Points" are a color that indicate that the horse is a sort of Bay, Buckskin, or other black legged with a black mane and tail horse. Telling someone that you have a Bay horse and it has "Black Stockings" only shows that you don't know what a Bay is. Markings are white. Anything not white but that the horse was born with should go under the category of Horse Color.

Now, how do you specify what white marking is on which leg, you ask? Here we go.

State which leg has the marking.

i.e. Left Front leg.

State what the marking is.

i.e. Sock.

Put the two together.

i.e. Left Front Sock.

Now let's describe a horse with facial markings and leg markings. If a horse has a star that is disconnected from the strip, but the strip is connected to a snip, and on his legs he has a white pastern on his left foreleg, and a sock on his right hind leg, you would describe his markings like so:

Star. Strip, Snip. Left Front Pastern. Right Hind Sock.

A short hand version of stating the above markings is to abbreviate some words like so:

Star. Strip, Snip. LF Pastern. RH Sock.

As stated above, the use of the period (.) indicates that the markings do not touch and the comma (,) indicates that the markings do touch. If you had used a comma (,) between the "Snip" and the "Left Front Pastern" you would have said that the horse's snip and pastern were connected, which is an impossibility. Be cool. Use the proper codes.

One note about brands and tatoos. Hot Iron Brands, Freeze Brands, and Tatoos are all ways to identify a specific horse. The horse was not born with Brands or Tatoos. Humans had to put them on the horse. Therefore, because they ultimately mark the horse in a visable way, they should be considered as markings and entered in the White Markings Category.

Try your hand at describing horse colors and markings. Please check out the examples at the Challenge Your Mind page!

Go to the Horse Colors Page
Back to the Main Page

Disclaimer: As stated before, different sources describe the markings differently. I have used the AQHA's guidelines as my primary source. Please do not say that my descriptions are "wrong". If you have information to add or modify, please e-mail me a kind note and we can discuss. Thank you.

This page hosted by Geocities.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws