Meet Dreamspinner!
Dreamspinner (nickname: Izzo) is a Thoroughbred horse and by the time the story ends he’s in the three-year-old category. More on that later.
He’s a May colt, meaning he was born in May, and is a male. Filly is the term used for a female. Horses are considered colts and fillies until age five. Then they become stallions and mares. A gelding is a male horse that has had his testicles removed—like neutering a dog or cat, and is obviously removed from the breeding population.
All purebred horses, including Thoroughbreds, are eligible to be registered through their breed organization. In the United States, where the story takes place, this is done via The Jockey Club. A racehorse’s official name must be eighteen letters or less. Conveniently Dreamspinner is twelve letters. The name must be approved by The Jockey Club, and no two racing horses may have the same name. I did a search while I was writing Run for the Roses and didn’t find any registered racehorses named Dreamspinner.
There is a lot of complicated information that goes with horse colors and why they occur. Simply put Dreamspinner is a silver horse. Many times his coloring is referred to as flaxen, however that is really only accurate in a chestnut (reddish-brown) colored horse. While in this picture he looks black with a white mane, he’s really varying shades of gray. I’ll get into why I chose this coloring in a bit, but let’s look at his markings first.
Dreamspinner has one white sock on his right hind leg. Some legends say that is considered good luck and the mark of a winner. Gray horses are thought to bring luck to a couple getting married. The white markings on his face are called a star and stripe.
Thoroughbreds have special identification cards listing, among other things color, markings, whirls in their coat hair and something called chestnuts. Chestnuts are little patches of hairless skin on their legs. No two are alike and they can be used like fingerprints are used with people. More information can be found in this Methods of Identification of Horses article.
Thoroughbred racehorses in the northern hemisphere are all assigned the same birthday, January 1. In the southern hemisphere it’s August 1. Because of this thoroughbred breeders in the United States like to have foals (baby horse of either sex) born as close to, but not before January 1st. Even a few months can make a huge difference to a growing horse. Horses in general are not considered adults until age five.
Dreamspinner was foaled (born) in May, because Dreamspinner Press released the first books in May (big sale every year, check it out). Dreamspinner’s coloring matches Dreamspinner Press’s logo. The thiry-one lengths mentioned in the book is a nod to one of my favorite racehorses: Secretariat.
The lovely picture of Dreamspinner was created for me by the very talented TL Bland, who also created the wonderful cover for the book Run for the Roses.
More interesting links:
The Road to the Kentucky Derby
ICE (a division of Homeland Security)
The Champagne Stakes (United States)
The Triple Crown of Horse Racing (United States)
Spoiler
Spoiler
Pssst: If you've read the book you'll understand this next statement: He won!
Dreamspinner (nickname: Izzo) is a Thoroughbred horse and by the time the story ends he’s in the three-year-old category. More on that later.
He’s a May colt, meaning he was born in May, and is a male. Filly is the term used for a female. Horses are considered colts and fillies until age five. Then they become stallions and mares. A gelding is a male horse that has had his testicles removed—like neutering a dog or cat, and is obviously removed from the breeding population.
All purebred horses, including Thoroughbreds, are eligible to be registered through their breed organization. In the United States, where the story takes place, this is done via The Jockey Club. A racehorse’s official name must be eighteen letters or less. Conveniently Dreamspinner is twelve letters. The name must be approved by The Jockey Club, and no two racing horses may have the same name. I did a search while I was writing Run for the Roses and didn’t find any registered racehorses named Dreamspinner.
There is a lot of complicated information that goes with horse colors and why they occur. Simply put Dreamspinner is a silver horse. Many times his coloring is referred to as flaxen, however that is really only accurate in a chestnut (reddish-brown) colored horse. While in this picture he looks black with a white mane, he’s really varying shades of gray. I’ll get into why I chose this coloring in a bit, but let’s look at his markings first.
Dreamspinner has one white sock on his right hind leg. Some legends say that is considered good luck and the mark of a winner. Gray horses are thought to bring luck to a couple getting married. The white markings on his face are called a star and stripe.
Thoroughbreds have special identification cards listing, among other things color, markings, whirls in their coat hair and something called chestnuts. Chestnuts are little patches of hairless skin on their legs. No two are alike and they can be used like fingerprints are used with people. More information can be found in this Methods of Identification of Horses article.
Thoroughbred racehorses in the northern hemisphere are all assigned the same birthday, January 1. In the southern hemisphere it’s August 1. Because of this thoroughbred breeders in the United States like to have foals (baby horse of either sex) born as close to, but not before January 1st. Even a few months can make a huge difference to a growing horse. Horses in general are not considered adults until age five.
Dreamspinner was foaled (born) in May, because Dreamspinner Press released the first books in May (big sale every year, check it out). Dreamspinner’s coloring matches Dreamspinner Press’s logo. The thiry-one lengths mentioned in the book is a nod to one of my favorite racehorses: Secretariat.
The lovely picture of Dreamspinner was created for me by the very talented TL Bland, who also created the wonderful cover for the book Run for the Roses.
More interesting links:
The Road to the Kentucky Derby
ICE (a division of Homeland Security)
The Champagne Stakes (United States)
The Triple Crown of Horse Racing (United States)
Spoiler
Spoiler
Pssst: If you've read the book you'll understand this next statement: He won!