Horses Forever Stamps, 2024 Sheet – Greeting Cards and Letters

The selvage showcases a chestnut horse with a black muzzle and mane peering out of a Dutch barn window. Three of the horses featured on the stamps appear in their natural environments against a background of green foliage: a gray-maned dappled white mare; a horse with a russet coat, a copper mane, and white facial markings; and a golden chestnut with a chalky white mane. A horse with a brown spotted coat and light-colored mane is standing against a snowy wooded background. A chestnut horse with a white blaze is photographed against a simple black background.  

As the United States developed into a modern nation, horses played critical roles in transportation, farming, manufacturing, and mining. The mass production of the automobile, however, brought major changes to how horses were utilized in transportation. Mechanization and electrification further spurred the disintegration of the horse industry and by the early 1960s, the horse population had dwindled to a low of approximately three million. The number of horses in the U.S. has more than doubled since then. Along with horse racing and riding, horses today are used in law enforcement, forestry, entertainment, equine therapy, and cattle ranching