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Emmie's pony, Phantom, is grey with lots of dark grey dapples (ring-like markings) on his coat. Which of the following is true of Phantom?

His coat will probably get lighter as he gets older.. Grey horses are actually born another colour and develop their grey colouring as they grow. Over time, grey horses will become lighter and lighter, though some will develop dark flecks in their coat and become 'flea-bitten greys'.

When she was at Pony Club, Emmie had trouble finding her friend Violet because she did not know how to describe Violet's pony's colouring. Now she knows that Violet's pony is bay. What does Violet's pony look like?

He has a reddish-brown coat with a black mane and tail.. Bay is a common colouring for horses and ponies of many breeds. Bay horses are often black around their lower legs, but sometimes they have white markings there instead.

Violet's pony, Rocket, has a fairly wide white marking on his face that begins at his forehead and runs down the front of his face to his nose. What marking is this?

Blaze. Blaze is the name for a band of white that runs down the front of a horse's face, but if the marking is quite narrow then it would be called a stripe, strip or race. A snip is a patch of white on the horse's muzzle between the nostrils. A star is a patch of white on the horse's forehead.

Violet's brother, Henry, tells Emmie that the name for the colour of his pony's coat is the same as the name of something that grows on trees. What do you think it is?

Chestnut. Chestnut horses have a reddish-brown coat and a matching mane and tail. Chestnut is quite a common colour but it is also popular because it can be very attractive and will often shine beautifully when the horse is well-groomed.

A pony named Midnight lives in the paddock next to Emmie's pony. Midnight's coat is pure black over his entire body except for the lower parts of his legs, which are white, and a white patch on his forehead. What term correctly describes Midnight's colouring?

Black. Although truly black horses are not common, they do exist. The white patches that Midnight has are only on the lower part of his legs and on his face, so they are considered markings and do not change the name for his colouring.

Midnight's legs are white from where the hair begins above the hoof until almost half-way to his knee joint. What is one word that would describe this marking?

Sock. Many horses have white markings on their lower legs, and these markings can have different names depending upon how far up the horse's leg they go. For example, stockings go up higher than socks.

Emmie made a friend at Pony Club whose name is Penny. Penny's pony has a golden coat with a white mane and tail. Emmie can't remember the correct name for this colouring. Which of the following do you think is correct?

Palomino. The ideal palomino has a rich golden coat with a white mane and tail, but horses whose coats are somewhat darker or lighter than this can also be called palominos. It is quite common for a palomino's winter coat to be lighter than its summer one.

Penny's brother, Jonty, owns a pony that has a reddish-brown coat with flecks of white all over it. He tells Emmie that this colouring is called red roan, but it has another name that includes a type of fruit. What is it?

Strawberry roan. Some strawberry roans have so many white hairs flecked through their coats that they have an almost pinkish appearance, while others look more like chestnuts with a few white hairs.

Jonty tells Emmie he saw a pony that was white with brown spots all over its body. Emmie thinks this sounds strange, but could Jonty be telling the truth?

Yes, it was probably a Leopard Appaloosa.. The Appaloosa is a breed of horse and can have a range of different coat markings. Leopard Appaloosas have a base coat colour with spots of another colour on it and could easily fit the description Jonty provided.

Emmie has learned a lot of new terms today, but she can still see a pony whose colour she does not know. This pony, Rocky, has large patches of black and large patches of white all over his body. How might Emmie describe this colouring? (Hint: Rocky has no particular breeding so he does not qualify as a paint.)

Piebald or pinto. Piebald refers to horses whose coats are made up of patches of black and white. Skewbald refers to a horse whose coat is made up of patches of white and a colour other than black. Pinto can refer to either a piebald or a skewbald.