Horse breeds make a great meeting topic because you can easily taylor the meeting to the age and skill level of your group.
You’ll need to do a good amount of prep work before the meeting depending on how in-depth you want to go. Using either physical pictures or digital pictures that you bring up on your laptop or tablet, make sure that you have information on the most common horse breeds ready.
Choosing 10 to 12 of the most common breeds is a good place to start and will take a good amount of time to talk about.
Either write out a breed description on a notecard or just write it on the back of the picture so you can see it. Basic information includes common coat colors, average height of different breeds, and the classification of each breed. You can also include the disciplines that each breed excels in, breed associations, and where the breeds originated.
Common horse breeds to include:
(Click each horse breed below for even more detailed information about each one)
Quarter Horse – Common colors are chestnut, bay, palomino, black, gray, sorrel, dun, roan, or brown. Quarter horses stand 15 to 16 hands. They are powerful horses with strong hindquarters. They are classified as light horses.
Appaloosa – Common coat colors are black, bay, chestnut, white or brown. Their coat patterns are blanket, marble, snowflake, frost, or leopard. The hips and loin are white with intermingling spots. Their hooves are black and white striped. Appaloosa horses stand 14.2 to 15.5 hands. They are classified as light horses.
Miniature Horse – Miniature horses can be any color. They stand at a maximum of 34 inches at the withers. Minis were originally used to pull carts in the coal mines. They are classified as miniature horses.
Clydesdale – Common colors are brown or bay with white markings. They are known for the feathers on their lower legs. Clydesdales stand between 16 and 17 hands and can weigh up to 2,000 lbs. They are classified as draft horses.
Arabian – Common colors are gray, chestnut, bay, black or white. Arabian horses stand 14.2 to 15.2 hands. They are classified as light horses and are known as the father of all light horses. They are considered the purest of all breeds.
Thoroughbred – Coat colors include black, sorrel, bay, brown, gray or chestnut. Commonly have white face and leg markings. Thoroughbred horses stand 15 to 17 hands and are the largest of the light horses. They were developed specifically for racing. They are classified as light horses.
Shetland Pony – Shetland ponies can be any color or pattern. They have two class sizes; 43 inches and under and 43 to 46 inches. Their classification is pony.
Welsh Pony – Common coat colors are gray, roan, black, cream, bay, or chestnut. They have two size classifications: 48 inches and under and 48 to 56 inches. They are classified as ponies.
Saddlebred – Coat colors include chestnut, bay, gray, brown, black, or golden. They stand 15 to 16 hands. American Saddlebred horses are classified as light horses.
Tennessee Walking Horse – Tennessee Walking Horses can be black, bay, brown, roan, chestnut, sorrel, white or golden. They commonly have white markings on their feet and legs. Standing 14.2 to 15.2 hands, they are the gentlemen of the equines.
American Mustang – Can be any color. Common colors include bay, chestnut, gray, pinto, palomino, black, and roan. American Mustangs typically stand between 14 and 15 hands. They are classified as light horses.
Percheron – Common coat colors are black or dapple gray but can also be chestnut, roan, brown, or bay. Percherons stand between 16.1 and 16.3 hands and weight 1,700 to 2,100 lbs. They are classified as draft horses.
Icelandic Horse – Many different coat colors but more commonly they are chestnut, black, bay, gray, pinto and roan. Even though Icelandic horses are pony size standing 13 to 14 hands, their classification is horse.
The Meeting
Start the meeting by asking the kids what their favorite breed is and why. Some of the kids will be eager to tell everyone all about their favorite. Others might not know at all but hopefully by the end of the meeting they’ll have a good idea!
Show a picture of a breed of horse and ask if anyone knows what breed it is. Give a brief description focusing on basic information such as colors, average size, and the disciplines that the breed excels in.
When you’re done discussing the horse breeds, test the kids’ knowledge by having them match the pictures or description of the breeds with the name of the breed written on a notecard.
Challenge the older kids to name a few rare horse breeds. Let them google it if they need to. Here’s a few that they might come up with:
- Cleveland Bay
- Akhal-Teke
- Shire Horse
- Suffolk Punch
- Caspian Horse
It would be a good idea to know a little about these breeds too if you have time to talk about them!
Educational Craft Project
Lastly, finish off the meeting by creating a colorful, educational horse breed or dream horse booklet! Click here for the instructions and to see how ours turned out!
Clinic Idea That Goes Hand in Hand with Horse Breeds
If you’re looking for an idea for an educational field trip, or clinic, for your group, visiting a breed specific horse barn would be a perfect companion to this meeting. There’s an Icelandic Horse Barn in our area and while visiting that barn, everyone learned so much. It was a great experience for the kids!