This page is a list of
horse and
pony breeds, and also includes terms for types of horse that are not breeds but are commonly mistaken for breeds. While there is no scientifically accepted definition of the term "breed," a breed is defined generally as having distinct true-breeding characteristics over a number of generations; its members may be called "
purebred". In most cases, bloodlines of
horse breeds are recorded with a
breed registry. However, in horses, the concept is somewhat flexible, as
open stud books are created for developing horse breeds that are not yet fully true-breeding. Registries also are considered the authority as to whether a given breed is listed as a "horse" or a "pony". There are also a number of "
color breed",
sport horse, and
gaited horse registries for horses with various
phenotypes or other traits, which admit any animal fitting a given set of physical characteristics, even if there is little or no evidence of the trait being a true-breeding characteristic. Other recording entities or specialty organizations may recognize horses from multiple breeds, thus, for the purposes of this article, such animals are classified as a "type" rather than a "breed". The breeds and types listed here are those that already have a Wikipedia article. For a more extensive list, see the
List of all horse breeds in DAD-IS.