Coat-Colour and Longevity in Thoroughbred Mares

Abstract

AUTHORITIES differ on the reality and consistency of differences in temperament and performance between horses of different colours^1,2. Scheiermann³, in a paper not available in Britain, has reported significant differences associated with colour in the working life of Rhenish horses. I have recently constructed life-tables for English thoroughbred mares, using the data contained in the General Stud Book, as part of a comparative study of the rates of actuarial ageing in mammals. Details of this work will appear elsewhere⁴: it was based on the 11 annual cohorts of brood mares foaled in 1860–64 and 1875–80 from the time of their entry at stud (average age 4 years). Of these 11 cohorts, 5 (1875–79) were scored for coat colour: of 1,271 mares composing them, 568 were bays, 181 browns, 262 chestnuts, 27 blacks, 5 greys, 3 roans and 2 grey roans, the balance being of doubtful or unstated colour. For comparison of the rarer coat-colours among thoroughbreds, further records of greys and blacks were taken by a search of the remainder of the Stud Book.