The Zante Horse (also 'Zakynthos Horse') is a Greek breed of a black horse.

The black horse from the Island of Zante:
Zante is a Greek island located in the Ionian Sea. Its bright beaches are bordered by massive, white cliffs, covered with green vegetation to form natural beauty. It was on this spectacular island that, during the beginning of the 20th century, horse breeders crossed Andravida mares with Anglo-Arab stallions to create a new breed: the Zante Horse.

Over the century, Zante Horses were bred to be elegant, black-colored horses, that bear the lightness and slenderness of the Anglo-Arab combined with the massive neck and convex head of the Andravida.

The Zante Horse today:
Today, Zante Horses are bred only on Zante Island, where they serve for recreational riding as well as for driving. This breed is still being developed.

Conformation:
There is no official breed standard for the Zante other than the requirement that this breed will have an elegant build and a black coat. Therefore, in Horse Isle, we relied on pictures when setting the breed standard for the Zante.

The head has a slightly convex profile, and the ears are upright and can be slightly curved inwards. The neck is held at a high angle, has a broad base, and connects to smooth withers. The back is short, the croup is slightly sloping, and the legs are long. The body has a squarish frame and is slender, except for the head and neck which are heavier in a similar manner to the Andravida.

The mane has fine hair and is either short or medium in length, but the tail grows long.

Performance metrics:
The following are the: range, average, (SD), and MOE of performance metrics of ordered Zante Horses in Horse Isle (not bred ones). In rare cases, horses might have metrics outside of the range. Breeders can produce horses that are beyond this range.

Speed: 14.9-16.2, 15.5 (0.3), 0.05.
Sprint: 48-60, 54 (3), 0.51.

Accel: 1.00-1.19, 1.08 (0.04), 0.01.
Decel: 0.86-1.03, 0.96 (0.03), 0.01.

Jump: 4.83-5.14, 5.02 (0.06), 0.01.
Pull: 1.70-2.19, 1.96 (0.11), 0.02.

Turning: 53.06-68.68, 61.04 (3.15), 0.62.
Reverse: 2.5-3.3, 2.8 (0.1), 0.03.

Stamina: 45.54-49.61, 47.48 (0.90), 0.18.
Reaction: 0.79-0.87, 0.84 (0.02), 0.00.

Coats & Height:
Colors: always black.

Additionals: sooty. The coat is always solid, and although it can have white markings they are uncommon and small in size.

No other colors/patterns? the real Zante Horse is still being developed as a breed, and other colors might crop up from time to time. However, the breeding aim is to breed horses with a solid, black coat, which is why, in Horse Isle, the Zante comes only in solid black.

Height:14.1hh to 15.1hh.