Why August The First Is Every Horses Birthday

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!! Today is the 1st of August which means I need a lot of carrots and a good singing voice to sing Happy Birthday to all our horses.

So we know that not all horses were born on the one day, but why is this date considered their birthday?

In the Southern Hemisphere we celebrate on the 1st of August but in the Northern Hemisphere the horses birthday is considered the 1st of January.  These dates were chosen to coincide with the start of the breeding / foaling season.  Originally this came about in the thoroughbred and standardbred racing industries.  The reasoning was because horses were placed in races according to their age so it was therefore easier to have all horses birthdate deemed as August 1st of the year they were born.  Although it began in the racing industries, these days many breeds and competitions consider August 1st the horses birthday.  It was decided to do it this way to alleviate confusion and to have overall fairness in competition.

So if like us and today you are celebrating your horses birthday I hope you give your equine friend a carrot and a cuddle, or maybe if they are lucky they will even get a cake, carrot cake of course.

Until next time,
Bec