Horses in Regency England

In an era of so many transportation choices, sometimes it’s hard to imagine that folks once were quite a bit more limited in their options of travel. One of the most common modes of transportation (besides walking!) was by horse.

As a reader and writer of historical fiction, it’s important to know how people described their animals and how far they could expect to travel on them. It wouldn’t do to make it halfway across England in an hour if it would have taken a week!

• Mare – Female horse
• Stallion – Uncastrated male horse
• Gelding – Castrated male horse
• Foal – Newly born horse until 3 years old
  • Filly foal – female
  • Colt foal – male
  • Yearling – a newborn in the year after it’s birth
• Body – refers to the overall color of the horse’s coat
• Points – refers to the ears, hocks and knees, dock and flack, may differ in color from the coat
• Stockings – white leg markings on the foot up to the knee or hock

Base Coat Colors:

• Black – All black in color
• Brown – All brown in color; seal brown or chocolate tones without red
• Bay – Red brown in color; always have black points
  Common variants: Cherry Bay, Blood Bay, Mahogany Bay, Maroon Bay, Dark Bay
• Chestnut – All red brown in color, including the point

  Other Colors:

• Dun – Light yellow, red or brown coats(washed or sandy in appearance), typically with black points; may also have black ‘primitive’ marks like a dorsal stripe down the spine or zebra-like stripes on legs.
  • Grullo – Slate-blue body with black points
  • Buckskin – Tan or yellowish body with black points
  • Claybank – Pale dun body without dark points
  • Red dun – Reddish yellow body with red points
• Palomino – A golden coat with blonde main and tail
  • Isabella – similar to the Palomino but lighter in color, like cream
• Mixed
  • Roan – Mixed color and white hairs on the body that don’t change with age
    • Blue Roan – Black and white with a blue tinge
    • Wine, Red or Strawberry Roan – Red and white
  • Piebald – Irregular patches of black and white color on the body
  • Skewbald – Irregular patches of any other color and white on the body
• Grey – A greying of the coat over another color. Like grey in humans, a horse with this dominant gene will gradually lighten with age.
  • Rose Grey – Bays and chestnuts that grey have a slight pink tinge
  • Steel or Iron Grey – Blacks that grey have a deep grey color
  • Dappled Grey – Dark dapples or patches of the base color show through in the coat; always with silver manes
  • Fleabitten Grey – The coat has tiny black and brown spots on the coat that look like fleabites
  • White Grey – A horse that has completely greyed
• White – Pure white coat with pink skin; usually exists only with older animals
  • Albino – White coat with blue eyes

Height

• Chain – an instrument used to measure height; made of brass or iron links, six feet in length, marked at foot increments with a wire. Hung like a plumb line it was used to determine height in feet and inches. 1770 is most recent noted use of this.
• Hand – the most common form of measurement; a chord, employed in absence of the chain, was measured by the fist (equivalent to 3 inches in 1770; 4 inches in modern use) to determine height. The average horse is 15-16 hands. Ponies are typically less than 14 hands.
• Elbow – Rarely used in place of the hand; one elbow is the equivalent to 1 ½ feet

Distances:  Rules of thumb

• Walk – appx 5 miles per hour
• Trot – appx 8-10 miles per hour
• Canter – appx 15 miles per hour

The faster a horse moves, the less distance they can maintain the speed without suffering harm.. Weather and terrain can also play a significant role in speed and distance it’s possible to cover and the Regency period in England is not known for the best of roads!

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Sources:
Gombaux, Armand and Barrier, Gustave. The Exterior of the Horse. 2nd Edition, 1892. JB Lippincott Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=46tFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA775&lpg=PA775&dq=isabella+horse+color&source=web&ots=Ga39CLKoJ5&sig=uzXdkd3214BmitzSscVQcB499vw&hl=en#PPR2,M1

Ross, Julia. A Few Frequently Asked Questions About Horses. 2002. http://www.juliaross.net/horsefax.html#Colors
Ultimate Horse Site. Horse Color and Genetics. 2000-2005. http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/index.html
Wikihow. How to Distinguish Horse Color By Name. http://www.wikihow.com/Distinguish-Horse-Color-by-Name