In the review presented to your attention, we will talk about the best horses in the world - bay horses. You will ask why? Indeed, at international exhibitions, the first prizes for the exterior are taken by horses of isabella, igren, white, black or even gray, as well as their mastery. Is the bay really some kind of special horse? Why is she better than the beauties listed above? And anyway, bay, what color is this?
Bay compliments
In our article we will tell you what the word "bay" means, and also take a short digression into various aspects related to horses of this suit.
In the East they say: “If your mare has a black foal, sell it. Never buy a red horse. White will bring happiness, but it must be groomed and cherished. She is not very strong in he alth and will not cope with a heavy load. Always have a bay horse in the stable - she is the most reliable friend and best helper.
As you know, the Arabs and the inhabitants of Central Asia know a lot about horses. The best horses are descended from horses born precisely in the Turkic and Arabcountries. If we trace the genealogies of the most famous breeds of horses, we can find that they are most often based on bay horses. So, the breed of thoroughbred British horses began with bay Arabian, according to other sources, Akhal-Teke stallions, and the British Cleveland horse is still represented by only one suit - bay. In the Trakehner breed, which is very common in Europe, the bay color also prevails.
Four basic suits
Once upon a time, horses were divided into only four suits. Currently, the number of suits with apprentices exceeds seven dozen, and this is not the limit. After all, there are also excuses, but we'll talk about this a little lower. Sometimes a good horse breeder may not be able to determine the color of the horse. An exact classification for all types has not yet been created, however, all new suits and tricks have occurred as a result of selection of the four main ones.
The fashion for the color of the "shirt" of horses arose a long time ago, and breeders have learned to create new colors of horses. Nevertheless, the belief that the character of the horse is directly related to color continues to exist. It is believed that bay horses are the most obedient and most enduring. Crows are also hardy, but they are distinguished by a hot, that is, wayward character. Whites are too gentle and shy. Redheads are not hardy enough, they are not always obedient, they are capricious. The hero of our review is a bay horse. We will consider this suit as detailed as possible.
Features that unite bay horses
The color of the horse is not determinedonly by the color of the skin, but also by the color of the eyes, skin, mane, brushes, shade transformations due to burnout and as a result of molting.
What makes a bay horse different? First, her body is brown. Shades range from very dark, almost karak, to fiery, cherry brown. Secondly, the color of the legs. Below the hocks it is black. Thirdly, the tail and mane, they are also called dewlap, are also black. Pasterns and pasterns, except for the wild suit, are always black.
The skin under the coat is gray. This is the norm for all stripes, except for Isabella. Isabella has pink skin.
Figuratively speaking, the appearance of a bay horse is often compared to a smoky flame. When a bay horse rushes across the field, its mane and tail flutter in the wind. At this time, he really resembles tongues of fire and black smoke.
How not to confuse a bay with a redhead?
A person who knows little about horses may not understand how a bay horse differs from a red or caracow. As we have already said, red, like bay, is not a color, but a suit, that is, a combination of several characteristics - the colors of the body and distal areas. Once at the stable, do not ask the first person you meet on the go: “Bay - what color is this?” If you don’t want to get a long pause in response. The answer may be overly broad. The most accurate definition can only be heard from a professional hippologist, bereator or a representative of another profession related to horses.
How to distinguish a horse of a red color from a bay horse, because they are both brown?The red suit suggests the color of the mane and tail is similar to the color of the body or lighter. The same applies to the distal extremities. They are the same as or lighter than the body.
Brown is a derivative of red, but it is not surprising to confuse it with dark bay. Unlike the latter, the brown coat is dark brown in color. Suspensions are the same (not black, like the bay). Pasterns and hocks of the same shade as the body or lighter. We remind you: the bay is black.
If a bay horse has a characteristic color and can be easily identified, then it is much more difficult to figure out a lot of tricks. We will help you with this. After all, it is no coincidence that bay horses are considered the best of all in terms of basic performance indicators. This suit gives amazing results when creating new strokes. Learning to distinguish horses with bay genes is very useful.
How not to confuse a dark bay with a crow?
This question is not idle, because if you can’t confuse an ordinary black horse with any other, then a tanned black horse can be misleading. In this suit, the coat burns out in summer, and loses its coal blackness, becoming brownish. Such a horse looks like a bay buckskin suit. An experienced eye will see that the color of the suspension is highlighted by the sun. For an amateur, the whole truth will be revealed only after the winter molt.
Or this example: in front of you is a stallion, as if bay, with yellowish tan marks on the muzzle, in the groin, in the armpits and near the eyes. The color of the body is like that of a dark tan, or a black crow in a tan after a long stay onsun. You will be assured that this is a bay horse of a karak suit, but in fact you will find yourself the owner of a brown or karakov black horse. You can accurately determine the suit only by carefully examining the hair covering the body of the animal, dewlap and legs up to the forearm. It is important to know that the bay suit does not happen to be caracal, and also that the black color of the mane and tail of the bay suit does not fade in the sun, like a tanned crow.
Apprentices and excuses
Subsuits are derived from several basic suits. Tweaks are called shades of the main suit. In everyday life, these words are rarely used. Usually they say - dark bay buckskin, or light bay deer, etc.
Bay, like any other suit, differs not only in the shade of the main color, but also in the presence of spots on different parts of the horse's body.
Wild Suit
For example, a wild bay color is when the horse's legs from the carpals to the hocks have black hair. A slight admixture of dark brown hair is possible. In any case, the shade of the lower limbs from the wrist to the hock is darker than the body, and from the hoof to the carpal joint the color of the coat is white.
The ancestors of modern horses were bay, not white, gray or black.
Sneaky suit
This is the name of a bay horse that has white spots on the muzzle (near the eyes, mouth, on the forehead or bridge of the nose), as well as on the joints of the legs or in the groin. But don't confuse arrogance with piebaldness. Too big stains on the bodydefined as piebald and isolated as a separate group. Spots from the wrist and below are a sign of a wild bay, although there is no wild horse gene in such a bay.
Chubara suit
Chubaray can be derived from bay, as well as from red, black, bulan, nightingale and others. They are the foundation color. The admixture is white wool. The white coat begins with a symmetrical spot from the rump. White hair is mixed with the hair of the base color. Spots of the color of the base suit. The farther from the sacrum, the thicker they are. The skin is gray with pink dots, and the hooves are striped - stripes of unpainted horn and the colors of the base color alternate. Depending on the suit-base, the shade of the tail and mane may change. Leopard and tiger horses are referred to as chubar.
The general shade of the chubar horse is closer to the color of the base suit.
Roan suit
Roan is a derivative of the same stripes as chubaraya. Unlike the Chubara, it does not change color under any conditions - neither during seasonal molting, nor from long exposure to the sun. She has a greater admixture of white hair than chubaraya. The head and lower parts of the legs are the same color as the base suit.
The overall shade of a roan horse is closer to white.
Bulan suit
Horses of this color have a sandy, dusty-earthy shade of wool. It can be either light or dark. A bay horse of a buckskin suit has a dark belt running along the ridge. Apprentices - golden tan, silver tan, dark and light tan, and also roan, piebald and other "shirts" are possible.
Bulany may not beonly bay, but also black, gray and red horses. In order not to make a mistake, when determining the suit, you must first of all focus on the color of the legs and dewlap, correlate them with the color of the body. Then look at the rest of the indicators.
Bay deer
A deer-bay is a bay horse that has 2 or more shades, smoothly transitioning from darker to lighter. This suit is characterized by light fur on the stomach, armpits and groin, and the back, withers and croup are darker. The transition of shades is possible on the face. The overall color is both dark and light. The suit is defined as a dark or light bay deer color.
Exotic suits
To obtain new exotic colors and breeds, horse breeders cross the best representatives of good breeds with mustangs, ponies, zebras, Przewalski's horses. This is reflected not only in the exterior of the horses, but also in their character, temperament, endurance and, of course, color. The process of creating a new suit is very long and expensive. Often the investment is not worth it. It is possible to obtain only single copies with unique characteristics that are not passed on to the next generations. So, white horses are very rare. This color is a manifestation of the albinism gene, which manifests itself chaotically.
Horses of bay playful color have a black dewlap and a silver or isabella color of the body. Often they are a selection product of bay and gray or isabella color. These are incredibly beautiful horses. The black mane and tail against the background of the skin of an exotic cream color look veryspectacular, but the non-standard color is poorly inherited. This also applies to other unusual colors, for example, brindle, when black and brown stripes are clearly visible on the horse's body.
The most expensive horses in the world
I must say that, according to statistics, bay horses outperform representatives of other colors in all respects. In the top ten most expensive horses in the world, the overwhelming majority of places are occupied by the bay color.
In the late nineties, a one-year-old bay stallion named Montju was sold at a London auction for $85 million. Bought it by Mohammed bin Rashet al Makhtoum, Prince of Dubai.
Another, even more famous stallion of the same color, named Sheriff Dancer, was bought in 1963 for $40 million.
The most famous horses
In 1924, at an exhibition in Wembley (England), a bay heavy truck named Vulcan dragged a load weighing 29, 47 tons from a place.
The life expectancy of a horse is 20-25 years. It's rare for anyone to reach 30, but a bay stallion named Billy more than doubled that age, living nearly 63 years.
A dark bay stallion named Nearco is well known to owners of purebred English horses. He is the founder of a line, all of whose representatives each year take the main awards of the prestigious competition, known as the "Arc de Triomphe".
The legendary Italian horse - miniature and invincible bay Piccolo Ribo - once became famous for never losingin the races. He was always ahead of his rivals by many corps. The most successful and fastest of the rivals lagged behind by as many as six corps. The owners of Ribot received more prize money for his performances than the owners of all other famous horses.
A bay mare named Poetin kept the inhabitants of the Netherlands in suspense for several years. Since 2000, speaking at the most prestigious competitions and exhibitions, she amazed the audience with the beauty of the exterior, the constitution. Her trot, canter and walk received the highest scores. At Auction 24 of Perforance Sales International, a real battle began for her. As a result, the mare was purchased by the Dutch Peter and Petty van der Zwan for 2.5 million euros.
Bay horses in art
Horses are exceptionally intelligent and noble animals. They feel and understand people very well. They have character. A horse will never hurt a child. Accidents happen if you approach them incorrectly. They do not see what is happening behind the rump, so they can kick. For this reason, everyone who is near the horse for the first time is warned that it should be bypassed in front. You can even under the very neck - it will not do anything wrong. Noble animals have long inspired talented artists.
In the seventies of the nineteenth century, Sergei Donaurov's romance to the verses of Alexei Apukhtin "A Pair of Bays" was very popular. This is a sad story about the fate of an actress who once shone in the world, but in her old age she was forgotten by everyone and abandoned to a lonelyExistence. Only a couple of old bay horses remained her faithful companions.
On one of the squares of Kursk there is a bronze sculpture representing a pair of bay horses harnessed to an elegant carriage with a folded top. Against their background, people of Kursk and guests of the city love to be photographed.
In 2009, Sergei Krutinin's feature film "A Pair of Bays" was released. This is a touching melodrama. Starring - Irina Kupchenko and Mikhail Zhegalov. A granddaughter comes to Lydia Petrovna, the heroine of Kupchenko. She is played by Agniya Kuznetsova. A daring and self-confident Muscovite despises the lifestyle of the coastal province a little. The secluded life of her grandmother, her calm romance with Arkady Pavlovich, who lives next door, seem boring and stupid to her. Gradually, she begins to understand that the delicate attention that old people show towards each other is true love. In general, the old age of a man and the old age of a horse is a common comparison.
One of the main character traits of horses is herding. What does this mean? It is a complex structure common to a group of horses. In the team of horses there is always a hierarchy according to age and strength characteristics. Horses always protect and support their own, that is, those who are nice to them. This is clearly seen in the herd, when several new horses appear there. They, even if there are only two or three of them, once in a large herd, they always stay close to each other and are vigilant so that other horses do not offend members of their small team.
