Sandy Ransford worked in publishing for many years before becoming a full-time writer. She is now the prolific author of over 30 books for children, including many titles on horses and riding, dogs and conservation. She lives in the countryside near Welshpool in Wales with her horse, two ponies, two pygmy goats, cats and two sheep, a kitten - oh, and her husband as well! Bob Langrish has been taking pictures of the world's most handsome horses and ponies for nearly 30 years, and has been the sole photographer for about 60 equestrian books. He lives in the centre of horse country in the Cotswolds, England.

1 Title 2-3 Imprint/Contents 4-5 INTRODUCTION What is meant by a breed and a type; what is meant by hotblood, coldblood and warmblood; difference between a horse and a pony; a horse's origins and evolution. 6-7 TYPES Horse types: hack, hunter, cob, harness horse, heavy horse. Pony types: native pony, show pony, part-bred ponies, working hunter pony, polo pony. 8-9 COLOURS Bay, bright bay, brown, black, chestnut, liver chestnut, red roan, strawberry roan, blue roan, iron grey, dapple grey, flea-bitten grey, yellow dun, skewbald, piebald, spotted, palomino, buckskin (US colour - Bob), cream, albino. Eye colour: brown eyes, wall eyes. Hooves: blue, white, striped. 10-11 MARKINGS Leg markings: sock, stocking, coronet, pastern, ermine marks. Face markings: star, stripe, blaze, snip, white face, lip marks. Flesh marks: white on underside of belly and flanks. Eel stripe. Whorls: where the hair direction changes. 12 HORSE BREEDS 13 HOTBLOODS - AN INTRODUCTION 14-15 Arab - Worldwide 16-17 Thoroughbred - Worldwide 18 Anglo-Arab - Worldwide 19 Barb - Africa, Spain, USA Akhal-Teke - Russia 20 COLDBLOODS - AN INTRODUCTION 21 Ardennais - France heavy horse Boulonnais - France, heavy horse 22 Percheron - France, heavy horse 23 Suffolk Punch - UK heavy horse 24-25 Shire - UK heavy horse Clydesdale - UK 26 Brabant - Belgium Noriker - Austria 27 Friesian - Holland Dutch Draught - Holland 28 WARMBLOODS - AN INTRODUCTION 29 Swedish Warmblood - Sweden Selle Francais - France 30-31 Dutch Warmblood - Holland Hanoverian - Germany Holstein - Germany Trakehner - Germany 32 Gelderlander - Holland Oldenburgh - Holland 33 French Trotter - France Camargue - France 34-35 Przewalski's Horse - Mongolia 36 Irish Draught - Ireland Hackney Horse - UK 37 Cleveland Bay - UK 38 Andalucian - Spain Lusitano - Portugal 39 Lipizzaner - Austria, Hungary etc 40 Morgan - USA Criollo - Argentinia 41 Quarter Horse - USA 42 Pinto - Worldwide Palomino - Worldwide 43 Appaloosa - USA 44 Tennessee Walking Horse - USA American Saddlebred - USA 45 Missouri Foxtrotter - USA Standardbred - USA trotter (harness) 46 Mustang - USA Waler - Australian 47 PONY BREEDS 48 Dartmoor - UK Exmoor - UK 49 New Forest - UK Connemara - Ireland 50 Welsh A, B - UK 51 Welsh C, D - UK 52 Fell - UK Dales - UK (harness) 53 Highland - UK 54 Fjord - Norway Icelandic - Iceland 55 Haflinger - Austria 56-57 Rocky Mountain Pony - USA Pony of the Americas - USA American Shetland - USA 58 Caspian - Russia Chincoteague and Assoteague - USA 59 Boer - South Africa Basutou - South Africa 60 Australian Pony - Australia Falabella - Argentina miniature pony 61 Shetland - UK Hackney Pony - Europe 62-63 Glossary and horse societies 64 Index