Facts about Horse
The speed and ability to cover ground has made horses invaluable to people, and remains so today.
Once horses have been deterred from kicking and biting humans to secure dominance over them, a cooperative relationship can be maintained.
The ability of humans to work in cooperation with horses is based on the strong social bonds that horses have with each other.
Stefansson also observed that the Inuit were able to obtain the necessary vitamins from their traditional winter diet, which did not contain plant matter.
The first fossils of this tiny horse were found in England in 1841 by the famous paleontologist Richard Owen.
The walk is a "four-beat" lateral gait in which a horse must have three feet on the ground and only one foot in the air at any time.
Muscular and heavy draft horses are known as "coldbloods," as they have been bred to be workhorses and carriage horses with calm temperaments.
The horses thereby could transition from being primarily leaf-eating forest-dwellers to being grass-eating inhabitants of the Great Plains.
Ordinarily, horses tolerate some human misbehavior, but when the balance tips, a horse can become a deadly enemy.
The horse or domestic horse (Equus caballus) is a sizable ungulate ("hoofed") mammal of the family Equidae and the genus Equus.
Soldiers today still refer to the groups of machines that have replaced horses on the battlefield as "cavalry" units, and sometimes preserve traditional horse-oriented names for military units.
Horse showing or horse sport, as currently known, is generally defined as any activity involving horses in a competition other than racing.
Przewalski's Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) and the domestic horse are the only equids that can cross-breed and produce fertile offspring.
Draft horses originate mainly from northern Europe, and especially from Great Britain.
Horse racing has had ancient roots, as humans strived to know which horse (or horses) could move the fastest.
All horses move naturally with four basic gaits (manner of moving).
No other animal, domestic or wild, has had so great an impact on the history of civilization as has the horse.
Equine endeavor may be arranged into three main categories: horse racing, horse showing, and pleasure horses.
Abused horses can be very dangerous because they cease treating humans as members of their group; instead humans are treated as predators.
Contention for dominance can be risky since one well placed kick to a leg could cripple another horse to such an extent that it would be defenseless, exposed, and possibly unable to get to water.
The most popular breed in the United States, it is commonly believed to be the world's fastest horse, some having been clocked at 55 mph at the finish line in racing events.
Isolated feral populations of horses are often named for their geographic location.
Horse training principles are based upon having the horse accept a person as the dominant herd member, not through force, but by virtue of ability and confidence.
The best of their carriage or cavalry horses were bred to Arabian, Anglo-Arabian, and thoroughbred sires.
The horse's legs are long, slender, graceful, and, above all, swift.
Domestication may have occurred as early as 4500 B.C.E., although there is speculation that horses were extensively utilized by humans in Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and Eurasia as early as 5000 B.C.E.
Until the middle of the twentieth century, the horse was employed primarily in warfare and in lesser numbers for domestic transportation.
When a full specimen was discovered later, it was given the more fitting name Eohippus, or "dawn horse."
Horses and humans have lived and worked together for thousands of years; an extensive specialized vocabulary has arisen to describe virtually everything to do with equines.
The horse was an integral element in warfare and conquest, in transportation and travel, and in art and sport.
The evaluation of DNA and mitochondrial DNA is now being utilized to help in understanding better the family trees of horses.
Sporting competitions are described in the Iliad, one of the most important books of ancient Greek culture.
That means that horses must learn to neck rein, that is, to respond to light pressure of the slack rein against the horse's neck.
Today, we count flat racing (on tracks or on turf), steeplechasing (distance horse race with diverse fence and ditch obstacles), and harness racing as the three main forms of competitive racing.
True hotbloods usually offer greater riding rewards than do other horses.
The donkey (Equus asinus), also known as the burro or domestic ass, like the domestic horse, has many breeds.
Twelve families of odd-toed ungulates have been identified through fossil records, but today only three families survive: horses and their closest living relatives the tapirs and rhinoceroses.
Humankind raced horse-drawn chariots in early Mesopotamia, in the original Olympic games in Ancient Greece, and in the great Roman circus.
The cowboy must control the horse with one hand and use the lariat with the other hand.
Providing that they do not regard humans as they would regard predators, horses will treat humans in much the same way that they treat other horses.
Horse racing is considered the world's most popular spectator sport historically.
Humans who train horses teach that aggression towards humans will meet with sure but measured and appropriate retaliation.
The draft breeds can top 20 hands (80 inches or about 2 meters) while the smallest miniature horses can stand as low as 5.2 hands (22 inches or about 0.56 meters).
Rehabilitation of a horse that has been forced to aggressively defend itself against humans is very difficult and not without real risk.
One of the first true horse species was the tiny Hyracotherium, also known as Eohippus.
Currently, the warmblood name has become the term to specifically refer to the sporthorse breed registries that began in Europe.
Horses resist being separated from the herd, because to be alone is to be exposed to predators on all sides.
Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings, and a specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.
Thoroughbreds have a pre-eminent reputation as a racing breed, but Arabians, quarter horses, and Appaloosas also race on the flat in the United States.
Horse shows also include the Western disciplines; these originated in the western United States and include reining, rodeo, cow horses, cutting, and western pleasure, among others.
The walking horse will lift first a hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side, then the remaining hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side.
Horses, one of the most historically vital domesticated animals to humans, have played a central role in the lives of people for tens of thousands of years.
A horse that is afraid more than necessary will expend energy needlessly and may not be able to escape when the threat is real.
The Arabian horse, the world's oldest purebred breed, gained the title of a "hotblood" for its temperament.
Horse height is measured at the highest point of an animal's withers—the highest point on an animal's back, on the ridge between its shoulder blades.
Tack refers to the equipment worn by the horse, normally when being ridden for exercise.
Harnessing a horse to a carriage requires some level of trust in the horse to remain calm when restrained.
The Patagonian Fallabella, usually considered the smallest horse in the world, compares in size to a German shepherd dog.
Above the photosphere visible sunlight is free to propagate into space, and its energy escapes the Sun entirely.
Several populations of feral horses exist, including those in the western United States and Canada, often called mustangs.
Among the 10 living members of the Equus genus are zebras, donkeys, Przewalski's Horse (a rare Asian species), and hemionids (Onager or Equus hemionus).
Conquerors maintained countless numbers of horses in order to traverse vast tracts of land and territory.
Samuel (Larkin) … born Oct. 22, 1701; died Oct. 8, 1784, aged 83; he was a chairmaker, then a fisherman and had horses and a stable. He was the owner of “Brown Beauty,” the mare of Paul Revere's Ride made famous by the Longfellow poem.
The Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the subterfuge that the Greeks used to enter the independent city of Troy and win the war. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside.
They are used for riding and transport. They are also used for carrying things or pulling carts, or to help plow farmer's fields in agriculture. Today, horses are mostly used for entertainment and sports. They are also still used for work and transportation in some places.
Over time wild ancestors of the modern horse evolved for millions of years in north America. They then spread to other parts of the world by travelling southwards to south America by crossing land bridges that connected north America to Europe and Asia during the ice age.
Domesticated, or tamed, horses can live in almost any habitat, but wild horses prefer plains, prairies, and steppes for many reasons. Horses need wide open spaces for defense purposes, and they need some shelter, like trees or cliffs, to protect them from the elements.Aug 29, 2017
Due to domestication, they are found all over the world. Horses have lived on Earth for more than 50 million years, according the American Museum of Natural History. According to Scientific American, the first horses originated in North America and then spread to Asia and Europe.May 2, 2015
Horses are intelligent although some are undoubtedly more intelligent than others. They have the ability to learn but also the ability to work things out for themselves such as opening stable bolts, freeing themselves from accidents in the field, etc. A horse is a fast learner with correct and consistent training.
For treats, horses love to eat fruits and vegetables, such as apples and carrots. What animals hunt horses? Predators of the horse include humans, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes and even bears. The fact that horses are prey animals helps to explain some of their behaviors.