The Gypsy Cob, also known as the Traditional Gypsy Cob, Irish Cob, Romani Cob, Gypsy Horse or Gypsy Vanner, is a type or breed of domestic horse from the islands Great Britain and Ireland. It is a small, solidly-built horse of cob conformation and is often, but not always, piebald or skewbald; it is particularly associated with Irish Travellers and English Romanichal Travellers of Ireland and Great Britain. There was no stud-book or breed registry for horses of this type until 1996, but as breeders developed standards and recorded pedigrees, there are now organizations that register qualifying horses..
From about 1850, travelling people in the British Isles began to use a distinct type of horse to pull their vardos, the caravans in which they had just begun to live and travel. The color and look of the breed were refined in the years after the Second World War. Horses of this type were first exported to the United States in 1996.
Characteristics
The Gypsy horse is usually, but not always, piebald. It may also be skewbald or any solid colour; a solid-coloured horse with white splashing on the underbelly is called "blagdon" or "splashed". There is no coat colour requirement in the breed standard of the Irish Cob Society, Gypsy Cob Register, Gypsy Vanner Horse Society, Gypsy Horse Registry of America, or Australasian Gypsy Horse Society. Since the horse originates in the British Isles, British colour names may be used in registration in the United States.
There are many breed societies for the Gypsy horse, with variations in their respective breed standards. The range of desired heights is generally from in the United States and Australasia, but in Ireland and continental Europe, the desired height limit goes up to for some types and they permit both lighter-boned as well as larger horses than typically desired by the American organisations. Some stud-books have different categories: The Gypsy Horse Registry of America has two height classifications: Section A for purebred horses under and Section B for purebred horses and over. Its Section C is for Gypsy Crossbred horses. The Netherlands stud-book for Gypsy horses, the Nederlands Stamboek voor Tinkers, identified there as the "Tinker horse," classifies horses into three groups: "cob," "vanner," and "grai," based on height in metres and degree of refinement. The cob type is approximately , and the vanner . The more refined "grai" may be of any size but is typically within the 14.3- to 16.2-hand range.
Feathering, long hair on the legs, is considered a "characteristic and decorative feature of the Irish Cob", but is not a requirement for registration.
A Gypsy Horse's facial profile should be straight, neither overly dished nor roman nosed. A "sweet" head, more refined than that of most draught horses, is desired. The GHA's breed standard states that the head may be "sweet", "a small, tidy pony type head", meaning without coarseness and in proportion with the body, but the AGHS calls unequivocally for a sweet head, "more refined than a Shire might have . . . with broad forehead, generous jaw, square muzzle, and even bite". According to GVHS, the "forehead must be flat and broad . . . with [t]he frontal facial bone . . . flat to slightly convex".
The neck is strong, muscular, and of medium length "with a throat latch slightly deeper than lighter breeds". The chest should be broad, deep, and well muscled. Withers are "well rounded, not high and fine, i.e., hardly noticeable". Most standards call for a "well-sloped" shoulder But the GVHS's standard is more precise, specifying a shoulder angle ranging from 45 degrees to 60 degrees. The back is to be short coupled with well sprung ribs and a deep heart girth. The length of line of the belly should be twice that of the topline of the back and the horse should not appear 'wasp waisted'. The Dutch breed standard for vanner and cob types requires a strong, well-muscled build with abundant feathering, similar to that of other associations. The "grai" is classified as a lighter and more refined riding type.
Strong hindquarters define the breed as a small draught horse, "designed for strength and power, but with class, presence and style." They are sometimes described as having an "apple butt" as the croup is well rounded and "very generous, smooth and broad". Poorly-muscled hindquarters or a too-sloping rump are unacceptable. The line measuring the length of the hip should also be horizontal; if the tailhead falls below the horizontal line intersecting the point of the hip, the horse's "hip/croup will be approaching too steep an angle for the Gypsy Vanner".