The Skinny On Skin Conditions of 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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

Horse Racing ... There are three major types of racing: flat racing, steeplechasing (racing over jumps), and harness racing, where horses trot or pace while pulling a driver in a sulky... Harness racing is dominated by Standardbred horses in Australia, New Zealand and North America, but several other breeds, such as the Russian Trotter and Finnhorse, are seen in Europe...

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...

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...

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...

Equine Coat Color ... While most horses remain the same color throughout life, a few, over the course of several years, will develop a different coat color from that with which they were born... Basic coat colors Genetically, all horses start out as either chestnut, called "red" by geneticists, represented by the absence of the extension gene ("e"); or black based on the presence of the extension gene ("E")...

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...

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...

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 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 Hoof ... The recent barefoot movement claims that such a strength can be almost completely restored to domesticated horses, when appropriate trimming and living conditions are applied, to such an extent that horseshoes are no longer necessary in almost any horse. If true, it would undermine the belief that "the horseshoe is a necessary evil." The barefoot management system has not, however, gained a foothold among serious equine professionals, due to the increased strain placed on the hoof in sports, such as eventing and endurance riding...

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...