08 Dec All About Cowlicks

A cowlick is a swirl or charge of direction in a horse’s coat that most commonly occurs on the forehead and flanks. It is also called a whorl or trichoglyph. These swirls develop based on how the hair grows when the foal is still inside his mother. In ancient times, breeders and buyers used swirls to predict a horse’s behavior. They believed as energy flowed through the horse, it was disrupted by swirls in the hair. Horses with small, higher forehead whorls were thought to be intelligent while horses with multiple forehead whorls in a Z shape were seen as violent and dangerous. Swirls found elsewhere on the body helped ancient horsemen to predict stiffness in one side of the horse.
Be sure to check your horse for a unique cowlick next time you go to the barn. What do you think, does the hair pattern match the personality?