Description of the black horse
A black horse, like a mare of red or bay color, is considered one of the fundamental and basic representatives of standard colors. The color, which resembles a raven's wing, was obtained due to a special gene, which, combined with others, led to the emergence of derivative colors: roan, ash, "tanned". The black color of a horse can be seen quite rarely, despite its prevalence. The most popular representatives of basic colors are bay and red horses.
Black horse suit
What other black horses can be
The black stallion can be characterized by several types of coloration, which are determined by the breed, molting, or the peculiarities of the conditions of detention. A black horse can have several color options, we will consider them in more detail below.
- Horses of classic black saturated color. They are not inherent in molting, white spots, therefore a very bright shade remains throughout life. Foals can have a bluish tint, and molt can only begin with poor care. A clean black horse is recognized immediately.
- Black horses are brownish or "tanned", which are slightly lighter than the classic version. The horse and mare often have separate white, bleached hairs. Sometimes representatives have a brown tint due to the specific living conditions. In the absence of serious sun exposure, an approximation to the classic color is observed. Black horses of brownish color are characterized by molting.
- Ash-black horses have little difference from the classic color, however, when they are under strong light, you can notice the presence of a smoky, ash tint. Sometimes ash-black representatives are associated with night colors.
- Black piebald horses have white spots that blend harmoniously with black. A color can be called a black color only when a clear predominance of black on the animal is noticeable.
- Smoky black horses are much lighter than the classic ones and sometimes have white blotches, which look interesting on a bright black color. Often a black suit with white markings is found in business, because such an appearance looks quite impressive on races and photos.
Horses of the color under consideration without blotches and markings are less common than black suits with a white admixture. It is easy to distinguish the black suit among others: just look at the black mane and tail with uniform coloring. Stains and impurities can only be found on the face or limbs of horses.
About existing horse breeds
The black suit can be found in a fairly large number of riding and working breeds, which are used to transport goods. Among others, the Friesian breed stands out, since it has an exclusively black suit. The Gaflinsky and Suffol breeds, intended for the transport of heavy goods, cannot have a black color due to the absence of the corresponding Extention gene.You can see what this or that breed looks like in the photo.
The black suit is often found, due to the fact that it serves as the basis for breeding other breeds. These filly can only produce black foals, whose fur is bright and uniform in color. Another color is possible only in the case of crossing with red colors that have a dominant gene. In general, hereditary transmission of the classic suit occurs in 70-75% of cases. The black suit of horses is found in 2 types of staining. The smoky black horse is distinguished by a silvery-light color due to the special genes included in the genome. The black roan horse has an ash-dark or silver-gray hue.
The black suit has a rather outstanding external description and quite simply stands out among others. To preserve the individuality of the representatives, they are provided with appropriate care.
How to care for black horses
The bay, silver-dark and classic black representative of the suit needs to fulfill special requirements for survival and preservation of health. What kind of care does a black horse require?
- Black horses need to be provided with a not bright, but also not very dark room, in which there will be an appropriate temperature at all seasons. Crow-wing horses should be kept in warm stables in order to have less appetite and feel full. It follows from this that the plank rooms will not suit black horses - preference should be given to stone ones. The black filly can sleep and stand on an elevated floor, protected from dampness.
- It is required to avoid getting excessive light from the window into the eyes of animals, so as not to provoke the appearance of eye diseases. To do this, it is better to provide the stables with narrow and high windows, regularly ventilated. You need to ventilate the stable every day in order to avoid skin and foot diseases.
- A black horse cannot live on a reusable bedding due to the accumulating fumes. Sprinkling fresh hay on dirty hay means provoking strong fumes. It is required to change the straw to clean daily.
- Blacks should be given regular and daily care of the stable: it should be cleaned, saturated with fresh air in order to maintain the health of the animals. Sometimes horse breeders use juniper berries for smoking, but this should be done carefully.
- Daily grooming of black horses is essential not only to maintain their health, but also to maintain their outstanding shine. The same goes for feeding the horse. It is important to use a brush for brushing, feed in moderation, and supplement the diet with vitamins to keep black horses bright and saturated.
The peculiarity of the approach to these representatives
Each ride on animals should end with rubbing the animal's limbs with straw, washing off the dirt from the feet. After that, the individuals are wrapped in a blanket and not fed without preliminary drying. As it dries, the owner should examine the hooves of the animals. When the horseshoes are weakened, they need to be tweaked, pick out the dirt, inspect and find sharp objects that are important to throw away immediately. The wound is cleared and filled with lard.
In order to blacken the hooves, you will need to prepare a homemade ointment from lamb fat, honey, wax, rosin and turpentine. Each ingredient is taken in equal amounts and melted. After that, everything is removed from the heat, mixed with soot and stirred with a wooden spatula until it cools completely. A similar agent is used to maintain the color of the coat, to prevent drying and crackling. Plus, the ointment makes the hooves look beautiful.
Proper nutrition
Mostly blacks are fed with small hay. If you give spoiled food to animals, you cannot avoid serious diseases. To check if the hay has gone bad, you need to try whipping it with a stick.If a dusty cloud appears above it, then it is not subject to animal feeding due to the likelihood of developing asthma. There are times that it is necessary to feed the animal, then the spoiled hay is knocked out with sticks before crushing. Putting it in the feeder, you should shake the hay several more times in order to get rid of harmful components, droppings, mouse nests, extra feathers, etc. In summer, hay is sometimes sprayed with liquid.
Before you feed your horses with oats, you need to check that it is as clean as possible, pleasant to smell and heavy. Oats are pre-sowed, in the summer they are sprayed with water and salt. Can be mixed with straw chopping, which encourages animals to chew rather than swallow food. Bran is able to cool animals, because they are not aimed at strengthening, which is why they are mainly given for food in hot seasons or after hard work. After moistening with warm water, the bran can be provided to the animals safely.
In the case when the black horse does not go out to graze in the summer season, it is important to provide it with freshly cut and succulent grass. When feeding withered and cut grass, constipation and other complications of the gastrointestinal tract can be provoked. The same goes for drinking animals. Any cloudy, rotten and too cold water is not suitable for a black suit, because it leads to cuts in the stomach, a runny nose. In order to properly water the horse, it is better to give preference to clean river water in the summer season and water from a well in the winter. In the absence of the possibility of drinking with the listed liquid, the water should be insisted in the stable.
Photos of black horses prove how impressive and noble the representatives look. The black suit combines a resinous tint and incredible beauty shine, thanks to which the name "black" came about. Typical black horses are characterized by a uniform color in black and blue colors, and white blotches are sometimes found on the muzzle. Interestingly, the hooves are also black.