Whorls

Back in April of 2021, I wrote an article on sworls/whorls/swirls. I find it fascinating and many times a good predicter of certain equine characteristics and disposition. I recently saw an article in Western Horseman that had a few new ones on me, so see what you think. If you have photos of a horse with some of the more bizarre sworls, please send them to us and be sure to weigh in on what you notice about your horse and its sworls.

Interestingly, the brain and hair are created at the same time, from the same embryonic layer, so there appears to be some science in the correlation of the two as it relates to fear response and trainability.
 
Several very famous equine folks have studied this (Doug Carpenter, Temple Grandin, and Linda Tellington Jones to name a few).

Sworls can be clockwise or counterclockwise on their face, chest, legs, back, neck, poll, stomach and flank. Has anyone noticed a difference in the horse who has sworls that go counterclockwise?

The normal place for a forehead sworl is directly between the eyes. If it is higher, they can be busy minded and lower can mean more complacent. See below how to guage if your horse’s is high, low or just in the middle.

The tighter the hair is coiled, the more focused their mind will be.

Double or triple whorls on the head or neck can indicate multiple personalities.
Boy, have I seen that one be true!

A girth whorl can indicate a horse who’s cinchy. I’ve seen that one bear out also.

Here are a few I’d never heard before: a sworl on the check can be a bad omen
for debt or ruin!

Mules often have sworls on their ears, a sign of focused energy.

Horses with no poll whorls don’t flex vertically very easily. I have seen horses with whorls half way down their neck that didn’t break at the poll but instead tried to break furth down their neck and also when they’ve had one on only one side of their neck, be less supple in that direction.

A horse will carry it’s head higher if it has a sworl under it’s throatlatch.

A centered chest whorl was thought to indicate prosperity. (I’m not sure if that means for the horse or the owner though!)

A back whorl can indicate a bucker.

If a horse has front leg whorls on the back or the side of them, he can be shorterstrided.

A tail whorl can indicate a horse who will wring it’s tail.

We’d love to hear your observations and see pictures of any out of the ordinary whorls you’ve seen!