What colour...

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Complete novice! *waves* There are some horses next to my house, I know nothing about them, though I think I know who owns them. Anyway I can obviously tell a little about them, but not much, so I was hoping someone would confirm what colours they are (so at least I know I can tell colours correctly haha - yes, really a novice :D) and if you can tell the breed or anything else, that would be great! I'd just like to know a bit about my lovely neighbours :) I've put the pics in an album on my profile, I hope it works - obviously they're not mine so I don't really want to post pics up on this thread, and I'd like to delete the album today too :)

And just to add, there are only three there now, the pics are from the summer when there were six but three have disappeared.
 
In the pic with the 2 horses, they are both bay even though one of the horses has a little bit of white on his face and legs :)
The pic of the brown horse with the black legs and mane and tail is also bay.
The pic of the dark coloured horse with the white on his/her face is black in colour and the one behind him/her is chestnut (which is sort of gingery-ish)

lovely horses though;)

i cant really tell what breed they are but the second pic (the one with the bay horse by himself) looks like a cross between a thoroughbred (a horse breed) and maybe something else.
the black horse looks like a cob

ask your neighbours about the horses, i'm sure they will be happy to tell you something about them.

hope i haven't totally confused you:D
 
Yay I'm not completely stupid then :) I thought I'd uploaded another pic, but obviously not - I have now so if you'd please - this is the one I'm least sure about! The black and chestnut have left, as has another chestnut, but the two bays and the other one (in the pic I've just added) are still there. Any idea of how tall or young they are? The chestnut was a gelding but the others are mares - I *think* the black may have been pregnant, but am I being completely stupid? She didn't behave like the others (mounting, flirting etc with the gelding) and I think I may have seen her teats, when I was checking genders haha.

Re: the neighbours, they actually live in the next village; I think they are the owners because although I haven't seen a soul since, when the horses arrived in summer she was in the field. I worked (well, volunteered) for her for a couple of weeks but I left suddenly (she was getting me to do stuff I wasn't comfortable with, I already had a slight case of nerves/not confident in my ability and this worsened it) - she suggested I come back in warmer weather but I tried to get back in contact with no luck. Hence being wary of talking to her if I ever see her, in case she's still cross with me for some reason! (This was two years ago though).
 
yeah i think the black one is pregnant.

you can't really tell a horses age by looking at them. you can only tell a horses age by looking at their teeth but the black mare does look fully grown and she sort of looks around the age of 6 - 10 years old.

the two horses together look around that age aswell. they look around 14.3 hands high (around 150cm)
 
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Am I right in thinking one is a blue roan??

I was thinking the two bays, the roan and one of the chestnuts (not pictured) were young, I have no idea but I was going on their behaviour and that the chestnut gelding looked more muscular - guessing really! They seem small to me, then again I am comparing them to riding a 14-15hh at a riding school, and I was in my early teens then so likely he just seemed huge haha.
 
Bump :D I don't suppose you can tell what type they may be, is riding horse or polo pony possible? I have no idea why they're there, but a neighbour asked me if they were polo ponies which made me wonder.
 
I've looked through the photos and I can't see a blue roan among the horses pictured. Having white flecks in the coat does not automatically mean that the horse has the roan gene. Other genes also cause flecks (Sabino and rabicano, plus as horses grey-out - if they have the grey gene - they can go through a stage where they look roany). In the photo with the two bays looking over the wall, the one on the right has flecks that look like sabino, especially as the horse's blaze is wonky edged - which is also a sabino thing.

Here is a true blue roan for you to compare (black + roan).
102105116521816484_TORuJLOm_c.jpg
 
That does make sense - she didn't look like a blue roan from looking online (and at the picture you posted) but I wasn't sure, as she looks very different from the other two. I've put a quick pic up just in case (edited me out of it haha), and she does look 'brown' in colour. So are you saying she is a bay with either sabino or rabicano, or a grey with bay base colour?
 
I've looked at the photo. :)

Bay sabino.

I don't want to confuse you with my ramblings, so here is a lovely site (lots of photos) that explains horse colours.

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/equinecolor.html

Start with base colours and move on when you are ready. :)

ETA - I see you've found it yourself. :D

No, not grey as they get grey 'goggles' very early on in the greying process (my grey was born with goggles so she actually started to go grey in the womb!).
 
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That makes complete sense, thank you! Yep, it was a fascinating read - just have to test my skills out whenever I see a horse now! I love reading about stuff like this, I like studying in general, so studying horses is brill :) Even though I'm a novice I have the textbooks and workbooks for BHS stages one and two, just for fun.

Just to add: do you have any idea how tall they look? I have never been able to estimate my sizes, I always asked when I rode. If I'm right about the owner, I know she trains dressage horses, but as I said a neighbour mentioned polo (I have no idea why), so I do wonder about them! They seem young when I watch them in the field, but I have no idea if they really are - though the black and chestnut were definitely older when they were around.
 
It's not really possible to accurately guess their sizes from a photo. How tall are you? As you know, horses are measured in hands (four inches) from the ground to their wither. You can use yourself as a rough guide to their size. :)
 
I'm 5 foot 4-5". Obviously the cut out bit is the top of my head! I may just have to have a little measuring session tomorrow (if it doesn't rain) ;)
 
Just for fun - here's my grey from foal to four years old (not all greys, grey out this quickly).

Born chestnut but you can see the grey hairs around her eyes.
Flossyfour.jpg


Getting more grey and a lovely two tone mane.
Flossytwo.jpg


A year old and greyer still,
Flosstrotthree.jpg


Two and so grey that she got no chestnut left.
Flossgrazing.jpg


Three, starting to get chestnut fleabites.
100_1827.jpg


At four, she has even more fleabites and her coat looks like this.
100_2211.jpg
 
I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but I am honestly heart-warmed by your interest in these horses. It reminds me of myself as a small child, no horse was safe I had to know all about it! :)

Do you ride OP?
 
Gorgeous Faracat :)

CB, that's a lovely thing to hear/read :) I used to ride, I'm afraid I haven't in a while :( I had many riding lessons and had a couple of weeks working at private yards but, already nervous about riding, that knocked my confidence completely. I'm not scared of horses (god no!) but of my perceived inability. I don't want to go back into lessons because of the nerves/pressure; I would LOVE to have a friend nearby with a horse that I could literally just hang out with, communicate with (the horse I mean), and ride in a relaxed sense, just getting back in the saddle, cantering again and becoming confident that yes, I CAN do it! Have you read the Jill series of books? That's what I would love, find a horse, sit on it, get the feel for it myself instinctually and learn as I go instead of Lessons! (Obviously lessons are very important and I would go back to them, but I want to regain confidence in a relaxed, me-and-horsey-hanging-out type of way). I've never had horses nearby and my family aren't horsey in the slightest, hence the excitement now! It's nice also to interact with them, come to understand them, and be able to say to myself, I do understand horses!
 
Oh good I thought I'd come across wrong, didn't know how to word it lol :)

No that makes complete sense to me - I hate riding infront of people, I feel like they are judging me constantly. Some people thrive under pressure but I am quite the opposite!

I LOVE the Jill books, have to admit reading them again as an adult :P
Where are you based? Probably nowhere near me but if by ANY wild chance you are you are more than welcome to come and have a potter on my Coblet :)

It's lovely that you're giving these horses some attention, when according to your OP, there owner isn't about much! :)
 
I'm in Gloucestershire! And yes, I haven't seen anyone with them since the day they moved in this summer, apart from once when I watched the owner trying to catch the chestnut as his rug was twisted (though it had been twisted a number of days! I'd been in the field but I think a strap was broken); obviously someone's been around as he was then unrugged and now we only have three, so I presume they're doing very early checks. I do worry a little though; in one corner is some old wire fencing partially buried which I've tried to twist out of the way after one of the horses got their foot caught, I'm not sure if their hooves are in great condition (though I could be wrong), and as the field is muddy, they have had dirty coats for some time, though that's to be expected I suppose. Though I did buy myself a curry comb, for some sneaky grooming when I get the chance (so rain, please go away).
 
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