Face: the horse's head. Also, to turn toward a cow

Fall: for a horse, shoulder and hindquarter on the same side touch the ground; for a rider, separation between the rider and horse necessitating remounting

Faltered: used for a horse that was in contention early and drops back in the late stages. It is more drastic than weakened but less drastic than stopped

Farm Harness: a simple, one-horse draft harness used in the 19th century and by the artillery from early days until about 1800 ad

Farrier: the trained and qualified person responsible for shoeing and trimming horses' feet

Far Side: the horse's right side

Fartlek: a Swedish word that roughly translates to "speed play". Fartlek is a type of conditioning that involves an assortment of anaerobic stress (quick work, such as sprints) and aerobic slow work mixed. This method is often used on endurance horses

Fast Track: the optimum condition for a dirt track, dry, fast and even

Fault: scoring unit to keep track of knockdowns, refusals, or other offenses

Favor: to limp slightly

Feathering: long hair on the lower part of the legs, most often seen in the heavier horse breeds and in some of the highland pony breeds

Feed: the term for hay or grain that is fed to horses

Feed Bag: a sack usually of canvas and leather held on the horse's nose by a strap behind its ears allowing it to eat grain without a manger or other container

F.E.I.: Federation Equestre Internationale or International Equestrian Federation, the organization governing international competitions

Fender: part of the Western saddle that protects a rider's leg from the rigging. The wide leather strap, on the western saddle, between the saddle seat and the stirrup on which the riders leg rests

Feral: an animal that was once domesticated, but has since been released/escaped into the wild and has established itself living successfully in a wild state

Fermented Feed: fodder preserved by storing in piles or air-tight structures causing it to ferment and heat; also any feed that has become damp accidentally, causing it to ferment

Fetlock Joint: between the cannon (metacarpus or metatarsus) and the pastern (first phalanx) including the sesamoid bones; sometimes referred to as ankle

Fetlock: the tuft of hair on the back side of the fetlock joint

Fewspot: an Appaloosa term; refers to a horse that has very little spotting

Fiador: knotted rope throatlatch, used in conjunction with a basal, browband headstall, and horsehair reins. The knots of the fiador are the hackamore, the fiador, and the sheet bend

Fiberoptic: bundles of glass fibers that transmit light and permit one to see around corners

Field: used to describe all the horses in a race

Fielder: term to describe a good horse that worked very hard and ate little

Figure Eight Noseband: noseband popular with eventers; straps cross in an 'X' on the bridge of the horse's nose for better leverage and control

Filing: horse hooves are filed with a farrier's tool called a rasp -- it is like a human finger nail file, only much larger and made of textured metal. One side is more abrasive than the other, and either side may be used depending on the job. This is used by a farrier during shoeing, to take off rough edges and smooth the hoof down

Filly: a female horse until she is fully grown, which is generally taken as four years of age

Firing: a traditional way to treat leg injuries, but now seldom used because of cruelty claims. It involves burning the flesh and connective tissue with a red-hot iron, while the horse is under general or local anesthesia. There is no evidence that this speeds healing or helps the horse; it could just be the pain causes the horse rest the injury, letting it heal. The stated purposes are to increase blood flow and promote healing; and to create scar tissue as a substitute for weakened connective tissue around tendons and joins. With line firing, lines are burned into the skin at intervals along a flexor tendon. With pin or point firing, points are burned around a joint or over tendons. With all firing, the horse is given rest after the treatment

Firm: a optimum condition for a turf course corresponding to fast on a dirt track

First Turn: bend in the track beyond the starting point

Fistulous Withers: an abscess on the horse's withers. This differs from poll-evil only in location. It is caused when bacteria enter by a wound on the spine, or it can be caused by pressure from an ill-fitting saddle

Flag: signal held by a man (referred to as a flagman) standing just in front of the gate at the exact starting point of race. Official timing starts when flag is dropped to denote proper start

Flank: in roping, to hold a calf by its flank and leg and place it on its side. The area of a horse's barrel between the rib cage and the hindquarters

Flash Noseband: cross between a cavesson and a figure-eight noseband

Flat: class without jumping

Flat Foot Walk: a true flat foot walk is a four-beat gait in which each foot is picked up and set down in an even cadence. The rear end movement should be smooth and close to the ground without any snap or pop. Each stride should reach forward and slide in as it is set down, over striding the track of the front foot. The head shake is in time with the rear feet and should be smooth. The tail should set still and flow

Flatten Out: when a horse drops his head almost on straight line with body, generally from exhaustion

Flaxen: a golden mane or tail on a darker-bodied horse

Flea-bitten: a horse with a grey coat coloring what has a quantity of dark hairs distributed throughout it, giving it a freckled appearance

Flehmen: a reaction to odd smells or tastes; horse curls upper lip upward

Flex: to bend the horse to the inside. Also, to give in the poll and yield to rein contact

Flexion: when the horse yields to the bit through the jaw, with the head bent in the correct position through the poll. There should be no tension or resistance

Flexion Test: flexing a joint for 30-60 seconds, then jogging the horse. Occurrence of increase of lameness suggests that inflammation and/or degeneration are present in or around the joint

Flexor Tendons: tendons located at the rear of a limb

Flexor: muscle responsible for closing the angle of a joint

Float: to file a horse's teeth to remove sharp points; a filelike instrument used to float teeth

Floating: the process of filing off sharp edges of a horse's teeth

Fly Back: a bad habit in which a horse will suddenly pull back, often resulting in a broken halter or tie

Flying Change: a change of lead at the lope, without slowing to the trot

Flying Lead Change: change from one lead to another without changing gait

Foal: a horse or pony under one year of age

Foal Colic: abdominal pain in a mare, following foaling, due to the rapid contracting of the uterus

Foal Heat: estrus that occurs in most mares 9 days after foaling

Foaling: the process of a mare giving birth

Follicle: fluid-filled blisterlike sack on ovary which contains the ovum (egg)

Footing: condition of racing surface

Forage: any type of roughage or to graze

Forearm: the top part of the horse's front legs, above the knee

Forehand: the horse's body from the withers forward, including the forelegs, shoulders, neck, and head

Forelock: the lock of hair which falls down the horse's forehead or face from between the ears

Fork: part of the swells of a saddle that makes up the gullet

Form: a horse's current condition

Founder: another word for laminitis, a serious disease affecting a horse's hooves and often caused by a horse's eating too much grain or green pasture

Four-beat Lope: an incorrect lope, where the horse strikes the ground in a broken rhythm

Four-square: a horse that is solidly built and appears to have a 'leg at each corner'

Fox Trot: a gait in which the horse walks with the front feet and trots with the hind, the hindlegs stepping into the foreprints and sliding forward. The horse's head nods and the teeth clack together in time with the hoofbeats

Fractions: clocking of time at intervals in races or workouts

Free-Running Type: a horse which tends to take a strong hold of the bit and pull its way to lead during the early stages of a race

Free Walk: walk on a loose rein to allow the horse to stretch its neck and lower its head

Freshening: layoff or vacation from racing

Frog: the wedge-shaped elastic horn which is found on the sole of the foot; helps concussion and grip

Front Runner: a horse who usually leads (or tries to lead) the field for as far as he can

Frugal: a horse which survives well on minimum food rations

Furosemide: Lasix, the medication used to treat of bleeders

Furlong: one-eighth of a mile; 220 yards; 660 feet

Futurity: a show class or event for young horses that requires entering long (often years) before the actual event

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