How Many Horse Breeds Are There In The World?

Have you ever thought well I know about a lot of horse breeds including Quarter Horses, Draft Horse, Mustangs, Thoroughbreds, Mini Horse, etc…but how many can there possibly be out there across the globe.

Horse Breeds From Around The World What’s The Count?

So how many horse breeds exist in the world? Upon our extensive research using many different national resources we have found on average there are around 350 nationally recognized horses and 100 pony breeds.

So with that being said we also found around 1,400 different horse breeds that don’t seem to be duplicates but aren’t recognized by national registries so that is why it is so hard to narrow down. How can this be? Well breeding really isn’t highly regulated and locally it is hard to keep records when people cross bloodlines or breeds and new horses are developed on almost a daily basis. Which isn’t always bad but can be when it comes to genetics being passed that probably shouldn’t be.

Just like with dogs where they are cross bred to attain a certain size there can be side effects and consequences. But overall 450 was the average number of pony and horse breeds we found. At the bottom of this article you can see the entire list and we also dove into some related questions that came to our minds like what is the oldest horse breed?

How are horse breeds categorized? They are basically broken down into 4 main groups that include Light Horses, Heavy Horses, Ponies and Feral Horses.

Light Horses – Horses that weigh around 1,000-1,300 lbs on average. They usually have thinner legs and smaller bones to go with their stature. Examples include: Quarter Horses, Morgans, Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walkers and also Thoroughbreds.

Heavy Horses – These are more of your work horse stature coming in at up 2,000 lbs. Bigger bones, bigger legs not as agile. Examples: Clydesdales and other Drafts, Percherons, Belgian and Shire.

Feral Horses – With the name they are more of a wild or somewhat wild horse. Examples of these would be Mustang and Brumby.

Ponies – They usually come in at 14.2 hands or under (<58 inches tall). So they are smaller than a normal horse. Examples include: American Shetland, Dales, Bosnian, and Dartmoor.