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Haven Rogers

Mrs. DeBock

English IV Honors

23 February, 2017

Essential Question: How do swirls on horses affect their personalities?

Working Thesis: Swirlology is an effective way to predict a horses personality.

Refined Thesis: Different positions, shapes, and amounts of swirls have direct effects on the way

a horse thinks, reacts, and learns.

Annotated Bibliography

Cannon, Charlotte. "Swirlology." Fox Point Farm. N.p., 9 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

In a second article by Charlotte she gives more of an insight to the theory of swirls.

Energy flows through a horses body but as energy flows through the whorl it is caught and

redirected exactly the way the whorl appears, like water flowing around a rock. She explains the

importance of balance between swirls. Body swirls work best in pairs to create an even flow of

energy throughout the body. She explains the difference between high, level, and low swirls and

thinking patterns, effects of mouth, cheek, ear whorls, neck, belly, and flank swirls. Lastly she

gives words of warning how unique swirls can excel or become a debacle in the wrong hands.

This article will be a great resource to give background information about how swirls affect the

horses body and why they cause a difference in personality.

Cannon, Charlotte. "Whorlology." Horsemanship Journal. Horsemanship Journal, 11 Feb. 2017.

Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

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In this article Charlotte describes ways that trichoglyphs or face whorls can offer

important clues into the way horses think, learn, and perform. She explains how swirls may

indicate a challenging horse that can excel under certain trainers and disciplines. She gives

personal experiences of how she first learned about the power of swirls. A trainer named Jerry

Stanford changed the way she saw potential in performance horses. She gives information about

each placement of a swirl and how the shape, amount, and placement can affect the potential

performance of each horse. I chose this article because it is a great way to support my thesis of

effectiveness of predictive swirls.

Gendal, Lila. "Swirlology: Whats in a Whorl?" Horse Nation. Smartpak, 3 Apr. 2014. Web.

22 Feb. 2017.

Lila begins the article detailing how there are several theories on swirlology and states

that she does not support just one. Lila explains how the research she did on different swirlology

theories and summarized all of them to support certain explanations to the effects of position of

swirls. The different positions explained are high, low, left, right, and amount of whorls. The

article gives information on what kind of personalities they are likely to have. She explains what

a whorl is and the possible places that one can be found. She ends with a brief explanation of her

history in equestrianism and current and hopeful future involvement in equestrian sports. I chose

this article to provide information in my paper about different placements of swirls and what

they mean in regards of personality traits.

Grecka, A., et al. "Heritability Of Hair Whorl Position On The Forehead In Konik Horses."
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Journal Of Animal Breeding & Genetics 123.6 (2006): 396-398. Academic Search

Complete. Web. 22 Feb. 2017

This article provides information about the heritability of specific swirls among horses

and bovines. The studies proved heritability of swirl placement was highly likely. The author

provides a warning saying that hair whorls and morphological traits being linked to personality

needs to have more research and must interpreted with caution. In the study, 362 horses were

divided into five main groups; above the eye line, on top of the eye line, level with the eye line,

on the bottom eye line, and below the eye line. Results of this study shows that whorl positions

are highly likely to be passed down from dam to foal. I will use this article in my research paper

to provide details about how and why horses swirls form the way they do. I can use this article as

proof that horses do not get their swirls by chance.

Meyer, Jennifer Forsberg. "What's in a Whorl? (Cover Story)." Horse & Rider, vol. 47, no. 6,

June 2008, p. 46. EBSCOhost,

This article provides the history of swirlology from centuries ago up until studies done in

the 1960s. A horsewoman conducted a questionnaire for horse owners about their horses swirls

and personality traits. She was then able to breakdown the information to analyze the

relationship between swirl patterns and personality traits of 1500 horses. The article then gives

more information about studies conducted. A scientist named Temple Grandin became interested

in the swirlology study and opted to work with cattle. Her studies concluded that the higher the

forehead swirl on a cow, the more high strung and willing to fight they were. The author also

gives quotes from skeptics of the swirl theory and provides a counter argument. She gives
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information about human whorls linked to mental disabilities, rat breeding for temperament, and

foxes hair color giving signs of personality and temperament. I can use this article to give extra

information about whorl effectiveness on animals other than horses and also provide evidence to

the reliability of using swirls to predict personalities in horses.

"Whorlology (try Saying That 10 times Faster)." Saddles and Bridles. Myself & My Horse, 10

Apr. 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

The article begins by defining what a swirl is, how it is formed and why the forehead

swirl is the most important swirl. The difference between high, low, tight, loose, and double

swirls all have an effect on horses. She describes what type of swirl is seen most in the higher

level competitions such as the olympics. Places such as temples, ears, cheeks, mouth, and poll

have important changes in the way a horse thinks, for better or worse. Signs of ruin or prosperity

can be predicted by certain swirls. She ends by explaining her horses swirls and how accurate

they are. I will use this article to define what a swirl is and how it can be used in my introductory

paragraph.

Wylie, Leslie. "Whats in a Swirl?" Horse Nation. Smartpak, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

She begins with a quote from Callie Rae King that states how she was exposed to the idea of

swirlology as an old wives tale and never gave it a second thought until a group of people

persuaded her to look into the matter. She conducted a personal study with the personal horses

she had been working with. Then she gives information about the swirl theory and what an ideal

set of swirls would be on a horse. She provides pictures of common swirl patterns on horses
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foreheads and how each defines their personality. Different body swirls can cause uneven stride,

balance issues, and stiffness. I can use this information provided in the article to detail what an

ideal set of swirls would be and how to choose potential horse.