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Here is some helpful information to help you evaluate the horses you're looking at. It is also a popular article reviewed by judges before Gypsy Horse classes at many shows.
Gypsy horses, a breed, a type, or just some horses that the gypsies have? Many people ask us to tell them about the registry that the gypsies have for these horses. Well, since most true gypsies, or Romany folk as they are known, don't read nor write, they therefore don't write down blood of a horse. Records are kept much like the Native Americans kept their history records, by word of mouth and stories told. As for the thought that only a registry with papers makes a breed, consider this... British and Irish Gypsy horses have been bred for generation after generation by a small, unique group of people on a few small and unique group of islands just west of Europe. Geography alone goes a long way toward ensuring breed type in this situation. The oral history on blood of horses is accurate, this can only be experienced and appreciated by getting to know the people who "created" this breed of horse. We can tell you for sure that, in spite of the lack of papers, the gypsy cold-blooded horses ("traditional") are a definite type, that breeds true. They have been bred the same way for generation after generation, some lines over 100 years, which is longer than most breed registries have been around. A type that has been bred for generations and that breeds true is the fundamental definition of a breed, papers or no. As any good old-timer will tell you, papers don't make a horse. Just because no one decided to start writing down horse names hundreds of years ago, DOES NOT mean that these horses are any less of a breed than any other. They are, in fact, a breed that is still "open" to the addition of individual horses that compliment the type. Many British as well as U.S. horse registries are open to horses that compliment their type as well. The difference is only the sheet of paper that it is written on. Any one that is realistic will also concede that in breeds that have papers, unless there is parentage verification on each horse, that the purity of a line is only as good as the honesty of it's breeder. That said, there are several different registries that do register these horses, although none are breed-specific. We register our horses with the Gypsy Horse Registry of America
What's the difference between a Traditional Gypsy/Drum Horse and a North American Spotted Draft, or other spotted draft type horse? Genetics and Feather! There are plenty of spotted draft horses in the US and Canada, most of which have been bred from Belgian and Percheron stock. There are some with Shire or Clydesdale blood in them, but it takes at least 2 generations, usually 3, to get the feathering and British draft breed characteristics back. Before then, the stock just looks like a large pinto horse, with maybe a smattering of hair on the legs. When you see a real gypsy horse or drum horse, the horse will just SCREAM Shire/Clyde at you, with the body characteristics, and all of the hair and feather. In fact, when we are in the UK and see solid colored gypsy horses from a distance, we still cannot tell the difference between them and a shire until we are standing alongside and can see the size. Don't let someone tell you that you can breed a Shire or Clydesdale horse to a spotted light horse and get a gypsy type horse. This can't be further from the truth. That will give you a spotted draft cross, which looks like a spotted warmblood. When you breed out the bone and feather with a cross like this, you cannot get it back for several generations. You also lose the coldblooded aspect of your horse, as gypsy horses, drum horses and shires are completely coldblooded draft horses. Bottom line, if it looks exactly like a Shire or Clydesdale, and
has the great feather and hair to match it, and happens to be tobiano
spotted, it is most-likely a gypsy or drum horse! What's the difference between a traditional gypsy horse and an "Irish Cob", or a "Gypsy Vanner"? Although generically, calling a colored, feathered cob-sized horse a gypsy horse is not a huge faux-paux, technically, there is a difference between Colored Cobs (many call them Irish Cobs), and gypsy horses. A traditional gypsy horse can be an Irish Cob (by their registry's definition), but most Irish Cobs are not traditional gypsy horses. A gypsy horse (frequently called a "Gypsy Vanner horse" by Americans) is a horse which is bred by gypsies, and will have generations of breeding and pedigree behind it. It will have blood from a preserved and protected line, and that blood will be known among the gypsy breeders. An Irish Cob is generally a horse without a past. Many Irish Cobs are cross-bred gypsy cobs, being partially light horse blood, and are quite refined and not well-feathered. Although some of the dealers that sell this type of horse know the sire or dam of their horse, they won't have come from the long bred and preserved lines. Any traditional gypsy horse can be registered as an Irish Cob, but most Irish Cobs can't be called traditional gypsy horses. Physically, traditional gypsy horses will have specific characteristics that gypsies are breeding for at any given time (ie, small size, "sweet" heads, compact bodies, good bone, HEAVY feather, etc).
Over in the British Isles, you see colored, feathered horses all over the place. Usually they don't have tons of feather, or won't be conformed as well as some might like. These are the horses that the gypsy lads call "trade horses". This means that they are the cheap horses that you find at auctions, and in slaughter pens. Of course, not all "trade horses" are junk, and there are people who specialize in going to sales and such to find a decent one or two, and then they work it a bit, and sell it as an "Irish Cob". This horse has a place in society, of course, and are indeed the majority of the colored, feathered "using horses" that you see around Britain and Ireland, but they shouldn't be confused with a traditional gypsy horse of good breeding and pedigree. Although the horses that have this sort of history can be wonderful for riding, or driving, or whatever, if you are serious about breeding, you would do better to consider a traditional gypsy horse. What is a Gypsy Vanner? The term Vanner, among gypsies, means a lighter boned and legged, larger cross-bred horse, used for pulling the milk wagon, or similar vehicle through town. A true gypsy would never call a traditional, heavy gypsy cob a "vanner". As one of the most respected, and established breeders of these horses in England told us, "If I called the lads to tell them about my best filly of the year, I would be doing her no favors if I called her a "vanner". I thought that summed it up pretty well. The name Gypsy Vanner was trademarked a few years ago by a man in Florida, who then created the Gypsy Vanner Society. Through this gentleman's superb marketing skills, the name "Gypsy Vanner" has become well known within the USA. In essence, the name refers to the same horse. There is no difference in them. The term Gypsy Cob may be a much more proper name for this breed, although the traveling people themselves usually refer to them as Coloured cobs. Since the American trend is for owning and breeding larger individuals of this breed, we feel that the term Gypsy HORSE is the most encompassing name for them, and this name has become quite standard in North America. Gypsy Cob is a good, and proper name as well, but it's sometimes hard to convince people that a horse standing 15.2 hands is a "cob". Nobody disputes that these are "horses", so it's a good, standard "generic" name for them..
What do I look for in a GOOD gypsy horse? A good gypsy horse should have the basic same good conformation points as any draft horse. He/She should have a nice, short back, with a well sloped shoulder who's angle compliments the angle of the well rounded croup. A short back is achieved by a sloped shoulder and a nice croup, so you will see these things together. Steep, straight shoulder and rump are very common faults in these horses and should be avoided as it should in any horse breed, as it is just bad conformation. These faults will usually make the horse seem to have a very long back, which is unfortunately fairly common in heavy type horses. The head should be in proportion to the size of the animal, with a kind, gentle eye. Roman nose is acceptable, as long as the head isn't too big for the rest of the horse. A small, tidy pony type head is fine as well, as long as it isn't too small for the horse's body. The neck should sit well up on the horse's well sloped shoulder, and be of appropriate length for the body. The legs should be clean and flat in bone and joints, with plenty of bone to support that massive body. There should be no question that this is a DRAFT horse. Hind legs need to have some angle to the bend of them, with very straight hind legs being a very common fault of conformation in these horses. (you will often find the straight "post legs" in a horse with a very steep croup). The pastern should be at the same angle as the shoulder, and be long enough to give the horse proper flexion and spring when moving. Short pasterns are not only unsightly, but become unsound long before a pastern of proper length. Short pasterns are also very prevalent in gypsy horses of marginal quality, and are indeed the number one fault that causes us to reject a horse that has been presented to us. I would say that about one quarter of gypsy type horses in the USA today have pasterns which are too short for the horse. These have been sold to unsuspecting buyers that don't know what terrible lameness issues that can arise from this fault. Long pasterns aren't common in this breed. As a matter of fact, I can't think of ever seeing a pastern in a gypsy horse that was conformationally too long. Hind legs should have a bit of "set" to them, as any horse bred for pulling should.
* * * * * Hair. Although hair does not make the horse, in order to be a traditional gypsy cob, you have to have at least as much hair as in a modern day Clydesdale or Shire horse... In order to be a good one, you have to have LOTS more hair than that! The hair should cover the front of the hoof. If it doesn't, you may have a lovely horse, but it is not a traditional gypsy cob. On a traditional gypsy cob, the more hair (feather) the better. There is no such thing as too much. Hair is, of course, not everything, but without the hair on a traditional gypsy horse, you cannot have everything. If you have two nice, and identical mares, and one has twice as much feather as the other, that "heavier" mare is worth at least twice (much likely more like 4-5 times) what the other mare is worth! If she's a poorly conformed horse with lots of feather, she still isn't worth much. The two ingredients to make a *TOP* gypsy horse are wonderful conformation AND tons of hair. For more complete description of feather, see the article called "The Truth About Feather" You'll notice I did not mention color, markings, or eye color in the above points. This is because the most important thing in ANY horse is the conformation, and pretty color and markings are just icing on the cake. Eye color and markings ARE NOT factors which make a gypsy horse good or not. Don't be fooled by some sellers who will tell you that this is what most matters in these horses!!! A good breeder will look first at quality of the horse, and then put the skin, eyes, and hair back on him or her. We must say that we have seen FAR too many horses billed as "the best" simply based on the fact that they have pretty markings and lots of hair. Strip the hide of these horses and you have just plain junk. PLEASE be sure to look under the color and feather! Conformation first, always! Weight of a gypsy horse. I thought I would touch on this, because one of the most common problems we see with new owners of these horses is that they aren't used to the draft horse body type. They often think that a horse is too fat, when, in fact, the horse might be just this side of starved. These horses should have a nice, big draft horse barrel. If you can feel ribs, your horse is not in top condition. A gypsy horse in good, show condition will have what we call "Apple Butt". He should have a nice, rounded behind, with the bone down from the roundness of the behind. If the bone is the highest point on the horse's back or behind, he's way too thin. This is different from the thoroughbred body type, or most light horses. Remember, this is a DRAFT horse.
EXAMPLES OF CONFORMATION
My pet-peeve, one of the main faults I see in these horses... SHORT
pasterns. Pasterns that are too short will make a horse lame
(through ringbone and sidebone).
You won't ever see a 20 year old draft type horse working if it has the short
pasterns that are so common in inferior examples of the coloured cob
horses, they go lame well before then. I don't like a really
straight hind leg either, but at least it won't lame a horse as fast as
the pasterns that we see.
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Conformation in the Gypsy Horse
Quality and Conformation considerations
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