Whorls

[Aussie_2020]

I’ve read about whorls and what they may mean in relation to their placing on a horses forehead. Whorls on other parts of the body also have meanings and the type and size are supposed to point to general characteristics too. Have you noticed if these seem true? I had a horse with two whorls above the eye line and he was a bit of a pill. Linda Tellington Jones had a book on whorls and nose types. I thought it was interesting.

The video is The Clever Cowgirl showing wild horses and her own stock and giving a run down on what the whorls could mean for each horse. Nothing to set your clock by, just interesting stuff that may or may not influence your next horse purchase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o2hGAZZVYU

[endlessclimb]

I’ve definitely seen correlation between size and placement of eyes versus temperament. But I do wonder if that’s more about field and depth of vision than it is “temperament”, if that makes sense.

I’ve personally never correlated whorls to anything, but similar to animal communicators, it’s fun to go through and analyze.

[NaturalSelection]

I’m a science based person, I swear.
For years I thought the whorl theory was silly. I have two horses that have > 1 whorl out of the 16 total I have owned in the last 20 years since I started paying attention to whorls. I do believe there is a correlation between sensitivity and head whorls.

I have a 7-yo gelding that I’ve had since he was a weanling. Double whorls on forehead above eye level. Very smart, more sensitive than most. Honestly, if I hadn’t been paying attention to whorls, I wouldn’t have noticed much difference.

I have a 4-yo gelding that I’ve had since he was a long yearling. FOUR whorls on his forehead. Smart but very fractious, struggles to get control over his emotions, more so than any horse I have met over my 40+ years.

Temple Grandin did a study on cattle whorls, cattle because there’s less of an influence on handling/training than horses.
https://www.grandin.com/references/abstract.html

[Aussie_2020]

My wonderful mare had two small whorls right between her eyes, and my incomparable gelding had a large feather whorl with the center starting just below the eye line. Both horses rarely spooked and my gelding was the most confident horse I’ve ever ridden.

I do think their upbringing and training has a lot to do with how they act, but the whorls could possibly tell us how they’ll react.

[Jackie_Cochran]

When I got Linda Tellington Jones’ book on whorls I read it then took it down to the 4 horses I had then.

She had them nailed, including my otherwise saintly first horse deciding occasionally giving me a lesson in how my riding sucked that day.

[Aussie_2020]

Have you seen her stuff on horse noses? Interesting idea and I watched for it after that.

But it’s like I’d heard about horses with small eyes being hard headed and borderline mean. My friend had a horse with small eyes and she was the sweetest most easiest horse to ride. And no spook.

[TheJenners]

After my literal lifetime in horses (books and movies as soon as I was crawling, lessons at six, first horse at seven, I’m in my 40s now and only went three months horseless between losing my first horse and sending the other horse away in my grief, and picking up a pony)…

I’ve now had three mares straight with double whorls Grey pony mare had a double whorl side-by-side, my Libbi has a double whorl one on top of the other fairly close together and Volley has a double fairly spread apart. After growing up being told that double whorls were rare and I’ve had them two at a time, pony mare then Libbi, then sold the pony (who was a flip who just stayed about three times longer than I intended but still flipped very well) in order to purchase Volley. Volley also has an interesting prominent whorl on one front forearm but not the other.

[EventingMaff]

I have never paid attention to whorls / swirls in my 30+ years of being around horses. But this thread had me checking my mare’s face.

She is incredibly smart, hard working and highly athletic / performing but also sensitive and does NOT respond well to correction. I’ve always attributed it to her being a mare – it’s a partnership and conversation not a dictatorship and directive – but she’s got two whorls perfectly stacked that start above her eyeline.

So for my mare the characterization seems to fit? (I didn’t watch the 22min long youtube video, just did a quick google on whorl placements and correlations / caricatures)

[Aussie_2020]

I fast forwarded through a lot of the video. I only watched when she got to showing the wild horses and talking about how they handled being spooked within their enclosure. The whorls aside, there were some really nice horses in that bunch!

[Flyaways]

It’s the sort of thing I usually write off as an old wives’ tale but I read about a study a few years ago that did actually find the possibility of a link between whorls and behavior: https://thehorse.com/1110229/genomic-study-links-whorls-and-behavior-in-horses/

[SLW]

I’ve been a believer of whorls as a possible predictor of behavior for decades. Love my current mare- single whorl, just barely below eye level. Absolutely a saint of a mare.

Had another mare with five whorls on her head- 3 on her forehead and 2 on one cheek plus a long whole on her neck, cowboys call them memory lines. She was a complex dear.

[Aussie_2020]

Wow! Five whorls! I remember a quirky gelding that had a small whorl above the eyeline and a large feather one between his cheek on the left side of his face. His sire was a known stinker so I assumed the temperament came from there. No idea what type of whorls the stallion had.

[Aussie_2020]

https://youtube.com/shorts/w6qIa06dpH4?si=z2EAjDx0wsyaXUgg

Four whorls on her “difficult” gelding. He is not friendly and is reactive. Handsome though!

[RhythmNCruise]

Oh, I watched this the other night! I love her videos. I’d never paid much attention to whorls, but after watching that video, I did notice my guy’s whorl on his face is directly between his eyes. He’s still kind of fuzzy-faced and has white so it’s kind of hard to make out if it’s a normal whorl or a feather whorl.

I was riding today and noticed his has a whorl maybe about halfway down his neck close to the top, kind of under where his mane would be if it didn’t stick straight up like Woodstock’s feathers, LOL. Now I’m curious if that has a meaning (the whorl, not the goofy mane). He’s a good, honest, fairly brave but occasionally chicken kinda guy.

[Aussie_2020]

Did you watch the video of hers I posted at the beginning? I fast forwarded through most until the last part showing the mustangs at the holding corrals.

Years ago Linda Tellington Jones wrote about whorls and nose shapes. I don’t remember any of what she said about body whorl size, type, and location but each piece of that mattered.

[paintedpennypony]

My mare has four whorls, two of which are a double whorl. She is definitely very sensitive and very smart. I’m not sure if horses can think critically, but I joke that she transcends normal horsey intelligence. Certainly an expressive horse with a colorful personality!

OTOH, my yearling just has one bog-standard whorl in the center of her forehead and is about as steady and unexcitable as they come lol

[paintedpennypony]

My farrier actually just told me that a lot of old cowboys won’t buy horses without a neck whorl or if the one they have isn’t three inches from their ears! Something something brain development. Not sure lol

[Aussie_2020]

I can’t think of any horse I’ve had that didn’t have a large feather whorl up along the crest, usually closer towards the poll than the withers. And I know most also had a small, tight whorl on the underside of the neck, closer towards the jaw than the shoulder.

Now I want to visit stables just to check out all the whorls

[RhythmNCruise]

Oh dear. I’m pretty sure my guy’s is more than three inches down from his ears. I’ll have to look when I go back out. I was just there with him for a couple of hours and never paid any attention to his whorls. Silly me (LOL).

Regardless, he’s super sweet and always has been. So whatever kind, position, and number of whorls he has must be perfect.

[Aussie_2020]

I’m going to (try) post a couple of close ups of whorls. I don’t know these horses so no idea how their temperament fits the whorl type and placement.
The bay has a large feather whorl that starts really low on his face and the chestnuts is tiny, high and off center.