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The Gypsy Vanner® Horse Society has chosen seven standards to define conformational and other characteristics of the Vanner breed. These can be viewed at the registry’s web site. Silver Belle, one of the breed's best representatives, illustrates those standards having to do with conformation in this visual reference.
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What Constitutes a Vanner? The Gypsy Vanner | Breed History
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In addition to the physical characteristics described above, the Vanner is also marked by a docile and pleasing personality. Gypsy-bred horses worked and lived closely with their humans, including the family's children. Thus, no aggressive or dangerous behavior could be tolerated, and any horse which displayed such behavior was immediately banished. This docile and easygoing personality has moved the breed's American discoverer, Dennis Thompson, to nickname the Vanner "The Golden Retriever with Hooves"®. Although not visible to the naked eye, personality is a key characteristic in defining the Vanner Breed. A little more about coat colors and patterns... Any color and coat pattern except appaloosa is acceptable. Best known are coloured Vanners, those having at least two colors on their bodies in irregular, spotty patterns. Among coloured Vanners, most common are piebalds, whose body coloring is a mixture of black and white. Also seen are skewbalds, which have mixed red and white body coloring, and odd-coloured Vanners, which have body color of white and at least one other color which is not black or red. Silver Belle, who is gray and white, is odd coloured. A tricolor horse having white and two other colors on the body is also odd coloured. Also seen are palominos, which have tan, creamy, or golden bodies and flaxen mane, tail, and feathering. Lastly, Vanners even appear in solid colors—black, chestnut, brown, or gray. If the horse has white feathers and white splashed up from underneath, it is called a blagdon. If the feathers and underside are not white, then the horse is simply called a solid. A solid is permitted to have a star or blaze, but the body, legs, and tail must be the same color as the body. In addition to color combinations, coloured Vanners can be described by the relative amounts of light and dark found in their coats. Coloured Vanners which are predominantly white are known as overos whereas those having more dark than white are called tobianos. Silver Belle and The Rose are therefore both tobianos. As stated above, black and white Gypsy-bred horses are best known. Reportedly, Gypsies would sneak their black and white horses in to a farmer's field by night to graze with his Holstein cows, which, of course, were also black and white. In the moonlight, the farmer would not notice the horses in his field. By dawn's early light, the Gypsies would have quietly slipped their horses away, and the farmer would have been none the wiser.
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