# What makes a horse or pony "fancy"?



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I've seen the word "fancy" used to describe a lot of different ponies (and I think horses also) but I've never been clear on what it means. Is it used to describe unusual coloration? That's my best guess. Or conformation? Way of going? General attitude or personality? Something else? Or does it mean different things to different people? What does it mean to YOU?


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## celestejasper13 (May 16, 2014)

For me it's any horse I'll never reasonably be able to afford...


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

To me it means the horse has presence. It has the ability when in the ring to say, "Look at ME!" Not by misbehaving but by believing it is the best.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Being an Arabian person, fancy to me means a dished face, large eyes, a high set arched neck, and action(high step). In other horses, it means a head that is more “Arabian-like” than the normal breed has, and more action than normal.


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## Whinnie (Aug 9, 2015)

When my mare is actually clean.


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

@Whinnie:rofl:Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

to me "fancy" is another word for "classy". Well-put-together, smooth, well-bred, nothing coarse or common about it. Usually implies exceptional gaits as well. Color has nothing to do with it, in fact I date from back when a pinto, palomino, or appaloosa horse was looked down on, and the "classy" colors were black, bay, chestnut, and gray, period. 

A fancy horse would be contrasted with a backyard-bred animal with a big clumsy head, obvious body faults, hairy, crude-looking, big feet, short stuffy neck, big feet ..


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

I don't think I ever use the work Fancy to describe a horse..


I will say "he's a fancy mover" or maybe a fancy looker, but not the whole thing..


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

To me "fancy" would be a combination of what all have posted and commented on...
It can also be coat color and accentuating markings that combine to make flashy and fancy...

Fancy to me is the horse I turn to get the second more in-depth look at. 
I can find nice in any horse as all are creations of a animal I love...

:runninghorse2:....


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

Fancy to me is different from flashy, which I would use to describe a look. I think of it like foxhunter said. A “look at me” type of attitude and movement.

We have one right now. A bay mare, refined thoroughbred looking, but she is a quarterhorse. She moves in a way I haven’t seen before; it is like she dreams she is a dressage dancing queen stuck living in a ranch horse corral. When I ride her I laugh because of all the added movement she brings to the table. I think she has as much up and down as she does forward. Lol. She believes everyone should bow to her beauty. It is almost sad she is regulated to the life she has.


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## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

I hear or see the term "fancy broke" in sale ads meaning a broke horse that can spin and stop hard for example.

Have used the term "fancy" very sarcastically to describe an ill mannered puke or when a horse does something stupid.


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## HuntleyHorse (Jan 14, 2019)

Fancy for a horse isn’t usually referring to the color most of the time but more like the mind set, build/conformation, possibly has papers, the movement of their gaits, work ethic, level of spookiness, they’re generally fun to ride, good manners, sometimes level and type of training... ect.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

When I read 'Fancy' in the description for a horse, I'm thinking that the horse has presence. It has this presence for a number of reasons. The way it's built, the way it carries itself and has a "look at me" type attitude. Maybe one could be referring to their breeding/bloodlines. i do find the comment about big feet interesting. If I were a horse, I would probably appreciate big feet.

I do think that fancy is a word that is left to the describer because, like beauty, it is in the eyes of the beholder.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

When my new riding teacher saw Brooke under saddle for the first time she cried, "oh, she is fancy!" What she meant was not just nicely built and pretty, but the look-at-me presence other posters have mentioned. No one believes Brooke is only 14.2. She thinks of herself as a much taller horse.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

It means nothing to me at all - its not a term used in the UK


Closest I get to using the word in relation to horses is me walking around a horse auction or looking at horses online and constantly repeating
'I fancy that one.....'


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## redbadger (Nov 20, 2017)

celestejasper13 said:


> For me it's any horse I'll never reasonably be able to afford...


😂 this.


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