About Horses

Further Reading: Horses

---

Horse Training ... Today, most horse training is geared toward making horses useful for a variety of recreational and sporting equestrian pursuits... Horses are also trained for specialized jobs from movie stunt work to police and crowd control activities, circus entertainment, and equine-assisted psychotherapy...

Trot (horse Gait) ... From the standpoint of the balance of the horse, the trot is a very stable gait, and the horse need not make major balancing motions with its head and neck. This is a common gait that the horse is worked in for dressage, due to its many variations...

Warmblood ... Studbook selection is the use of external evaluation - critiquing conformation and movement - of potential breeding stock to cull out unsuitable breeding horses and direct the evolution towards a particular goal...

Horse Breeding ... In some cases, most notably in the Thoroughbred breeding industry, American-bred horses may also be described by the state in which they are foaled...

Horse Markings ... On a gray horse, markings visible at birth may become hidden as the horse turns white with age, but markings can still be determined by trimming the horse's hair closely, then wetting down the coat to see where there is pink skin and black skin under the hair. Types of white markings Facial markings Facial markings are usually described by shape and location...

Horse Tack ... It is important that the saddle be comfortable for both the rider and the horse as an improperly fitting saddle may create pressure points on the horse's back muscle (Latissimus dorsi) and cause the horse pain and can lead to the horse, rider, or both getting injured. There are many types of saddle, each specially designed for its given task...

Canter ... However, just as people find it easier to write with one hand or the other, most horses have a "better side", on which they find it easier to lead at a canter...

Wild Horse ... The term "wild horse" is also used colloquially to refer to free roaming herds of feral horses such as the Mustang in the United States, the Brumby in Australia, and many others... These feral horses are untamed members of the domestic horse subspecies (Equus ferus caballus), and should not be confused with the two truly "wild" horse subspecies... However, other subspecies of Equus ferus may have existed and could have been the stock from which domesticated horses are descended...

Horse Behavior ... Nonetheless, because their physiology is also suited to a number of work- and entertainment-related tasks, humans domesticated horses thousands of years ago, and they have served humans ever since... Through selective breeding, some breeds of horses have been bred to be quite docile, particularly certain large draft horses...

Horses In Warfare ... Throughout history, mules and donkeys as well as horses played a crucial role in providing support to armies in the field... Horses were well suited to the warfare tactics of the nomadic cultures from the steppes of Central Asia... Europeans used several types of war horses in the Middle Ages, and the best-known heavy cavalry warrior of the period was the armoured knight...

Circulatory System Of The Horse ... Yellowish: a bright yellow tinge may occur if the horse has high levels of beta-carotene in his diet, such as horses that eat a good deal of alfalfa hay... The "X factor" The X factor is a gene found on the x-chromosome of horses that causes a larger than average heart...

List Of Horse Breeds ... Horse breeds Horses are members of Equus ferus caballus that generally mature to be 14.2 hands (58 inches (150 cm)) or taller, but many breed registries do accept animals under this height and classify them as "horses," as horse characteristics include factors other than height... A–C Abaco Barb, see Barb horse Abtenauer Abyssinian horse Aegidienberger Akhal-Teke Albanian horse Altai horse Altèr Real, see Lusitano American Cream Draft American Indian Horse American Paint Horse American Quarter Horse American Saddlebred American Warmblood Andalusian horse some bloodlines also called Pura Raza Española (PRE) or Pure Spanish-bred Andravida horse Anglo-Arabian Anglo-Arabo-Sardo, see Sardinian Anglo-Arab Anglo-Kabarda Appaloosa "Appendix," see American Quarter Horse AraAppaloosa, also called Ara-Appaloosa, Arappaloosa or Araloosa Arabian horse Ardennes horse, or Ardennais Arenberg-Nordkirchen Argentine Criollo, see Criollo...

Muscular System Of The Horse ... Moving a bone results in either flexing or extending a joint. Skeletal muscles are usually arranged in pairs so that they oppose each other (they are "antagonists"), with one flexing the joint (a flexor muscle) and the other extending it (extensor muscle)...

Horse Gait ... Another classification system, applicable to quadrupeds in general, uses the categories of 1) walking gaits (including ambling), 2) running or trotting gaits, and 3) leaping gaits. The British Horse Society Dressage Rules require competitors to perform 4 variations of the walk, 6 forms of the trot, 5 leaping gaits (all forms of the canter), halt, and rein back but not the gallop...

Horse Breed ... Horse breeds are groups of horses with distinctive characteristics that are transmitted consistently to their offspring, such as conformation, color, performance ability, or disposition... These inherited traits are usually the result of a combination of natural crosses and artificial selection methods aimed at producing horses for specific tasks... Some breeds have been developed through centuries of crossings with other breeds, while others, such as Tennessee Walking Horses and Morgans, developed from a single sire from which all current breed members descend...

Horse Care ... Horse management books and periodicals are nearly universal in stating that barbed wire should never be used to contain horses... However, even without sharp barbs, wire has the highest potential for horses to become tangled in the fence and injured... It is more difficult to install, and has some visibility issues, but horses are less likely to become tangled in it or be injured if they run into it...

Evolution Of The Horse ... This group of animals appears to have been originally specialized for life in tropical forests, but whereas tapirs and, to some extent, rhinoceroses, retained their jungle specializations, modern horses are adapted to life on drier land in the much-harsher climatic conditions of the steppes... History of research Indigenous modern horses died out in the New World at the end of the Pleistocene, about 12 000 years ago, and thus were absent until the Spanish brought domestic horses from Europe, beginning in 1493...

Gray Wolf ... Though once abundant over much of Eurasia, North Africa and North America, the gray wolf inhabits a reduced portion of its former range due to widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to population control or extermination as threats to livestock, people, and pets...

Oriental Horse ... Prior to these developments, the Four Foundations theory suggested the existence of four basic "proto" horses developed with adaptations to their environment prior to domestication by humans...

Respiratory System Of The Horse ... The nasal passages contain two conchae on either side, which help to increase the surface area to which the air is exposed. Additionally, the sinuses within the skull are able to drain through the nasal passage...

Equine Anatomy ... The reason horses must have their diets changed slowly is so the bacteria in the cecum are able to modify and adapt to the different chemical structure of new feedstuffs...

Equus (genus) ... The term equine refers to any member of this genus, including any horse. The word comes from Latin equus, "horse", cognate with Greek "ἵππος" (hippos), Ionic "ἴκκος" (ikkos), "horse" (the earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek i-qo, written in Linear B syllabic script)...

Ambling ... Though there are differences in footfall patterns and speed, historically these gaits were once collectively referred to as the "amble." Today, especially in the United States, horses that are able to do an ambling gait are referred to as "gaited horses." Some breeds naturally perform these gaits from birth, others can be trained to do them... History The amble was particularly prized in Horses in the Middle Ages due to the need for people to travel long distances on poor roads... As roads improved and carriage travel became more common, followed later by railroads, riding horses that trotted became more popular in Europe; the dominant uses of riding horses came to include light cavalry, fox hunting and other types of rapid travel across country, but of more limited duration, where the gallop could be used...

Farrier ... Horses with certain diseases or injuries may need remedial procedures for their hooves, or need special shoes...