The Equinest archives

Horse Breeds From Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan FlagI’ve been enjoying my theoretical trip around the world to visit the horse breeds of each country. I’ve researched over 600 breeds of horse and it’s interesting to look at each one in the context of their origins. Today we take a look at the breeds of Azerbaijan.

Interesting Fact

The climate of Azerbaijan is rather unique as the country is home to nine of the eleven climactic zones found on the planet. This is also a mountainous country and one that breeds tough little mountain horses. Most of the animals from Azerbaijan have Arabian roots. However, the unique climate and varied terrain has evolved the Arabian into an animal more suited to the geography.
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Lyme Disease Symptoms in Horses

Click to see VideoAs the summer starts to heat up and grass grows taller, ticks start to become a problem. Not just for your and your horse, but for all of your furry friends.

Nasty Buggers

Lyme disease is just one of the yucks that ticks spread, but it’s a serious one so it’s important to be aware of general symptoms. As always, you know your horse the best, so you know when something is amiss – if your animal starts to act strange and you suspect they are ill call your vet right away.
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The Horses of Jean-Léon Gérôme

Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French artist in the Academicism style during the late 19th century. This style of painting was produced under the influence of academies or universities.

Not Really About Horses

Gérôme’s work is incredibly detailed, and his mastery of capturing the equine animal is quite amazing considering they weren’t his actual subject. Part of it is the obvious relationship he portrays between his subject and their mount, especially in the first one below The Arab and His Steed…you can almost feel the man’s sadness.
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Horse Breeds From Austria

Austria FlagIt’s been great fun going through the countries of the world and learning more about their breeds of horse. I’ve cataloged over 600 breeds and counting, so there is a lot to share. Today it’s breeds from Austria.

Interesting Fact

Austria is the home to one of the most famous and oldest riding schools on the planet, the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. This time honored establishment is also home to a ballerina of the horse world, the graceful Lipizzaner horse. The school was named in honor of the Spanish animals which form the base of the Lipizzan breed.
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The Horses of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Pt 3

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born during the mid 19th century to a wealthy family in the south of France. He was not a healthy child and by the time puberty hit he had broken both of his legs resulting in their stunted growth.

Art from Tragedy

From childhood Henri found solace in his art, and he became quite adept at capturing the emotions of this subjects. Perhaps because he spent much of his life feeling like an outsider looking in. As an adult Henri kept questionable company, preferring bawdy dance halls and houses of ill repute to find his inspiration. His body of work is enormous and horses make an appearance in a large portion of them. If you haven’t seen them already be sure to check out pt. 1 & pt 2.
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Horse Video Sunday is Moving – To Thursday

Film ReelI love finding new horse videos to share and the weekly videos on Sunday has been perhaps the longest running series on the site ever. It’s time for a change and I’m switching to a Monday through Friday posting week. Horse people are busy on the weekends anyway.

A Brave New Day

Starting this week Video Sunday will officially be moved to Video Thursday…it’ll still be there if you want to watch it on Sunday. If you haven’t already seen it, you can check out the new posting schedule here.
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Horse Frame Heaviness

Horse Frame TypesAs I was looking through horse images on some website or another I was suddenly struck by the difference in horse frame size. A quick search for information left me with nothing useful to refer to so I thought I’d create my own scale of body types.

Not Very Scientific

I’ll admit, there is nothing scientific in how I came to my conclusions about frame size. All of it is based on experience, research and looking thousands upon thousands of horse pictures over the years. The categories below are general & loosely gathered, based simply on how heavy the ‘average’ or ‘typical’ type is for the breed.
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