The Gentle Horses of the Gypsies - Breed History

For hundreds of years, the nomadic people known as gypsies have traveled the roads of Europe and the U.K. in beautifully carved and decorated living wagons. To maintain this wandering way of life, they created an extraordinary breed of horse, with enough endurance and strength to pull a heavy wagon all day, the ability to subsist on whatever grazing it could find on the side of the road, and an extremely calm temperament, since a moment's panic could quite literally result in the destruction of its master's home. The result, after hundreds of years of selective breeding, is a beautiful, powerful and supremely gentle animal-the Gypsy Horse.

The word "Cob" in the UK

Many people have asked why the term “Cob”  is used for the Gypsy Horse in the United Kingdom.
The word “cob” defines a type of horse, rather than a breed. It comes from an archaic English word meaning a solid, rounded mass, and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a powerfully built, short-legged horse.”