How Judges Score Dressage Horses In Competition

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...

Horseshoe ... The fitting of horseshoes is a professional occupation, conducted by a farrier, who specializes in the preparation of feet, assessing potential lameness issues, and fitting appropriate shoes, including remedial features where required. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, horseshoeing is legally restricted to only people with specific qualifications and experience...

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...

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...

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)...

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...

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...

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...

Equine Coat Color Genetics ... Chestnut, black, and bay are considered the three "base" colors that all remaining coat color genes act upon. There are a number of dilution genes that lighten these three colors in a variety of ways, sometimes affecting skin and eyes as well as hair coat...

Equine Nutrition ... Horses are non-ruminant herbivores of a type known as a "hindgut fermenter." This means that horses have only one stomach, as do humans... Therefore, unlike ruminants, which digest fiber in plant matter by use of a multichambered stomach, horses use microbial fermentation in a part of the digestive system known as the cecum (or caecum) to break down the cellulose... In practical terms, horses prefer to eat small amounts of food steadily throughout the day, as they do in nature when grazing on pasture...

Skeletal System Of The Horse ... Ligaments of the upper body include: Nuchal and supraspinous ligaments: the nuchal ligament attaches to the dorsal surface of the cervical vertebrae. Its dorsal section extends from the occipital protuberance of the skull (the poll) to the withers, then narrows to become the supraspinous ligament...

Draft Horse ... Draft horses and draft crossbreds are versatile breeds used today for a multitude of purposes, including farming, show, logging, recreation, and other uses... They are also commonly used for crossbreeding, especially to light riding breeds such as the Thoroughbred for the purpose of creating sport horses... While most draft horses are used for driving, they can be ridden and some of the lighter draft breeds are capable performers under saddle...

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...

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...

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 ... Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down... Horse breeds are loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament: spirited "hot bloods" with speed and endurance; "cold bloods", such as draft horses and some ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and "warmbloods", developed from crosses between hot bloods and cold bloods, often focusing on creating breeds for specific riding purposes, particularly in Europe...

Stable Vices ... Rather than refer to the behavior as abnormal, it has been suggested that it be described as "behavior indicative of an abnormal environment." It was once thought that stable vices may be learned by observing other horses who already have the habit, but studies on the topic to date have failed to establish this as a cause... Box stall designs that keep the horse from reaching its head out prevent harm to other animals, but some horses may attempt to bite a handler when the person enters the stall...

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...