Quarter marks are a type of ornamentation on a horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 seen in certain types of exhibition or competition. Typically, these marks are found on the croup

Rump (animal)

The rump or croup, in the external morphology of an animal, is the portion of the posterior dorsum that is posterior to the loins and anterior to the tail. Anatomically, the rump corresponds to the sacrum....

 of the animal and are created by combing its hair

Hair

Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

 in different directions, creating contrasting areas. The classic design was created by hand-creating each square with a small brush or comb. However, in modern times, they can also be created quite quickly by use of a stencil

Stencil

A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

 lain on a given area with the exposed hair brushed in a different direction than other growth. Hair spray

Hair spray

Hair spray is a common cosmetic product that is sprayed onto hair to keep it stiff or in a certain style...

 or setting gel is often used to help the pattern stay in place.

Commonly, quarter marks are made in a checkerboard

Checkerboard

A checkerboard or chequerboard is a board of chequered pattern on which English draughts is played. It is an 8×8 board and the 64 squares are of alternating dark and light color, often red and black....

 pattern, but many variations exist. In addition to highlighting the shine and health of the horse's coat

Coat (animal)

Coat, or the nature and quality of a show mammal's pelage, is important to the animal fancy in the judging of the animal, particularly at conformation dog shows, cat shows and horse shows...

, some designs are intended to help define the musculature of the horse or simply as an identifying or fun mark. Use of modern stencils allows for creation of fanciful shapes such as stars or hearts. Quarter marks tend to go in and out of style in the horse show

Horse show

A Horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and...

 ring and are seen more in certain regions than others.

Quarter marks are frequently seen on police horses when performing ceremonial duties. One well-known example is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

, who, on ceremonial occasions, decorate the hindquarters of the animals with a maple leaf shaped design.