How Visible Are Quarter Marks?

Quarter marks are simply horse hair reflecting light. They are created by brushing some of the hair on the horse's hindquarters in a different direction than the surrounding hair. This contrast in hair direction reflects light differently, thus creating a quarter mark.

So, how visible quarter marks are depends on two things:

1) Light. The more the better. Poor lighting? Poorly visible quarter marks.

2) A reflective surface. Clean horse hair reflects light better than dirty horse hair. Also, some horse colors reflect light better than others. Solid colors usually reflect better than mixed colors (like roans or grays), and medium-to-dark colors usually reflect better than light colors.

However, even if your horse has a color that makes it challenging to see quarter marks, don't despair. See our tips at the bottom of this page under the heading "Horse Coat Colors and Quarter Marks."

Examples

This is Ollie. In the world of quarter marks he's a rock star. He has a bright sorrel (chestnut) coat that shows quarter marks very well in summer and winter.

Here he is in the middle of winter lookin' good in the Cross01 quarter mark.

As you can see, most of Ollie's hair reflected the light but the part of the hair that made up the quarter mark absorbed the light. This made for a dramatic contrast, and a highly visible quarter mark.

 

Here's Ollie again with the Cause Ribbon quarter mark. This photo was taken within a couple of days of the photo above. In this case you can see that the hair that makes up the quarter mark reflected the light instead of absorbing it. This still makes a very visible quarter mark, just in a different way when compared to the example above.

Here's a red roan mare named Raspberry in her winter hair coat. Roan horses, of course, have hair coats that are a mixture of colors and this can make it difficult for quarter marks to be noticeable. In Raspberry's case, though, she has a nice thick winter hair coat of medium length, and during the winter she can often wear quarter marks very well.

When we took this photo her quarter mark was visible but not exactly eye-popping.

 

A few moments later we took this photo. The quarter mark is far more visible than in the photo above. That day, this is how her quarter mark appeared most of the time. In the winter, as shown in the photo below, Raspberry's quarter marks usually show up very well.

Horse Coat Colors and Quarter Marks

Like we mentioned above, a horse's color can make a difference in how visible a quarter mark is. For example, it can sometimes be difficult to see quarter marks on horses that are roan, gray, or light-colored.

If your horse has a color that makes it difficult to see a quarter mark, try sticking with designs that are big and blocky.

Also try applying quarter marks at different times of the year to see what works best for your horse. We've noticed that horses whose colors make it difficult to see quarter marks during the summer can often wear quarter marks very well in the winter.

How Long Do They Last?

In our experience quarter marks usually last all day. By all day, we mean applying the quarter mark at day break and riding the horse until late afternoon. As long as we don't brush them out, and the horse doesn't roll, we can often see a little or a lot of the quarter mark the next morning.

How long a quarter mark lasts does vary, though. We've noticed it varies from horse to horse and with weather conditions.

If you're concerned about how long your quarter mark will last you can spray your horse's hair with non-aerosol hair spray before or after you brush in the quarter mark. The majority of the time, though, we just use plain water with excellent results.