Eagle-like muzzle- this refers to horse muzzles that have a sharp downward break in the trajectory of the horse’s nose, much like the tip of the beak of the eagle.

Encommended Native American- these are Native Americans that were assigned to be controlled by the recipient of a royal land grant in the days when the Spanish Empire controlled territories or colonies. The encommended Native Americans were expected to work for the royal land grant owner in exchange for protection, housing, food and teachings of the Catholic Church. This arrangement differed from slavery in that the encommended Native Americans had a duty to carry out, while still having some independence of action and ownership of private or communal property. In fact, they could send other workers on their behalf as long as their obligations were met and these obligations were not expected to take up all their productive time. The Spanish reign expected this to be a mutually beneficial relationship, but many of the royal land grant owners were much more abusive than expected by the definitions that were set by the royalty of Spain.

Ergots- this is a small hard callus that can be felt on the back of the fetlock of the horses.

Estrous- this is the period in the reproductive cycle where the mare is sexually receptive to the male and during which time fertilization of the ova is possible. Mares in estrous will have a submissive look, squat and urinate frequently, raise their tails and wink their vulvas which are abnormally relaxed and elongated with some signs of clear mucus discharge. The estrous cycle refers to the period of estrous plus the subsequent days of diestrous (lack of sexual receptivity) before the onset of the next estrous during the breeding season.

Ewe Necked- this is a conformation fault that is typically seen in horses that have necks that are too long, and as a result there is a horizontal break in the trajectory of the neck giving the appearance of the type of neck often seen in ewes. In Spanish it is described as a swan neck (“cuello de cisne”) due to its inverted curvature. Chilean Horses often have a ewe neck only in the ventral portion of the neck in order to have a more refined throatlatch with a neck that is so wide at its base. Unlike the true ewe-necked horses, the common trait in Chilean Horses is a normal neck-to-head union on the dorsal side of the neck.

Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH) - this is defined as bleeding from the lungs as a result of physical exertion. Most often, the cause is a rupture of capillaries inside the bronchial pathways, and blood is often seen via an endoscope in the trachea-bronchial airways and at times is present dripping from the nasal passages (known as epistaxis, or the common term of “bleeders”). EIPH is most associated with racehorses but high strung parade horses in colonial Chile were also known to suffer from the problem. It is probably more widespread across horse breeds and disciplines than we realize.