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The Horse (Equus caballus) is a large ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus. It has long played an important role in transportation; whether ridden, or when pulling a chariot, carriage, horse-drawn boat, stagecoach, tram, also as plough horse, as well as for food. The most common date of domestication of the horse and its first use as a means of transport is circa 2000 BC. Until the mid 20th century, armies used horses extensively in warfare: soldiers still call the groups of machines that now take the place of the horse on the battlefield "cavalry" units, sometimes keeping traditional names (Lord Strathcona's Horse, etc.)
Evolution of the horseIn comparison to our understanding of the development of most animals, evolutionists have a good grasp on the evolution of the horse from the very early (around 55 million years ago) Hyracotherium or eohippus to the wild equids listed below. By natural selection, the toes of early horse ancestors reduced to the single central toe which forms the hoof of the modern equine. (Compare animals with 'cloven' hooves (2 toes), like cows, pigs and sheep.) Vestiges of other toes remain as the splint bones, the callus-like "chestnuts" on the inner sides of all four legs, and the "ergots" hidden in the hair of the underside of the fetlock joint. In his 1983 book Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (ISBN 0393311031), the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould cited rare instances of modern horses with true extra toes as evidence that minor genetic mutations can reintroduce ancestral features. In nature, horses function as prey animals. They have a natural tendency to flee from danger, though they will fight if cornered. Their eyes lie to the side of the head, giving them a wide view while grazing (slightly less than 180 degrees to each side, overlapped in front and leaving a blind spot in the rear). Even domesticated horses startle easily and must, for the safety of riders, undergo careful introductions to strange objects and situations. Horses live in family groups in primarily grassland habitats. These normally consist of a mature stallion, his harem of about one to ten mares, and the mares' offspring. Once young males reach breeding age and begin to attempt to breed with mares or to challenge the herd stallion, the latter drives them out of the herd to form "bachelor bands" with other young stallions. Usually not until a stallion reaches 7 or 8 years old does he stand a real chance of acquiring mares, eventually becoming, if successful in the attempt, a "band stallion", i.e. having a harem of his own, having separated female equids from another stallion's band.  An alpha mare dictates the direction in which a family herd travels, while the stallion brings up the rear, "herding" his family. Recently, researchers have observed that a form of democracy appears to exist among horses. For instance, if the majority of the herd wants to stop and eat, the whole herd follows suit. Domestication of the horse and surviving wild speciesThe earliest evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from Central Asia and dates to about 3,000 BCE. Competing theories exist about the time and place of domestication. However, wild species continued into historic times, including the Forest Horse, Equus caballus silvaticus (also called the Diluvial Horse); it is thought to have evolved into Equus caballus germanicus, and may have contributed to the development of the heavy horses of northern Europe, such as the Ardennais. The Tarpan, Equus caballus gmelini, became extinct in 1880. Its genetic line is lost, but a substitute has been recreated by "breeding back", crossing living domesticated horses that had features selected as primitive, thanks to the efforts of the brothers Lutz Heck (director of the Berlin zoo) and Heinz Heck (director of Tierpark Munich Hellabrunn). The resulting animal is more properly called the Wild Polish Horse or Konik. Only one true wild-horse species survives: Przewalski's Horse, Equus caballus przewalskii przewalskii Polaikov, a rare Asian species. Mongolians know it as the taki, while the Kirghiz people call it a kirtag. Wild populations exist in Mongolia; see: http://www.treemail.nl/takh/. Wild vs. feral horsesOne can distinguish between wild animals, whose ancestors have never undergone domestication, and feral animals, who had domesticated ancestors but who now live in the wild. Several populations of feral horses exist, including those in the West of the United States (often called "mustangs") and in parts of Australia (called "brumbies") and in New Zealand called "Kaimanawa horses". These feral horses may provide useful insights into the behavior of their ancestral wild horses. The Icelandic horse (pony-sized but called a horse) offers an interesting breed from a historic and behavioural point of view. Introduced by the Vikings into Iceland, Icelandic horses missed out on the intensive selective breeding that took place in Europe from the middle ages onwards, giving us a picture of what horses looked like and behaved like in those times. The Icelandic horse has a four-beat gait called the "tölt", which equates to the rack exhibited by several American gaited breeds. Other equidsOther members of the horse family include zebras, donkeys, and hemionids. The Donkey, Burro or Domestic Ass, Equus asinus, like the horse, has many breeds. A mule is a hybrid of a male ass and a mare and is infertile. A hinny is the less common hybrid of a female ass and a stallion. Recently breeders have begun crossing various species of zebra with mares or female asses to produce "zebra mules"—zorses and zedonks. This will probably remain a novelty hybrid as these individuals tend to inherit some of the nervous, difficult nature of their zebra parent. As foodMain article: Taboo meat In 2001, people consumed an estimated 153,000 tonnes of horse meat worldwide. Meat from (injured) horses that vets have put down with a lethal injection is not used for consumption: the carcasses of such animals are cremated. In Europe, horses are raised just for their meat, these horses run wild and are not trained as carriage animals. Specialized vocabularyThe English-speaking world measures the height of horses in hands. One hand equals 4 inches, or about 0.10 meter (10 centimeters). Adult horses can range in size from 5 hands (a very small miniature horse or falabella) to over 18 hands. By convention, 15.2 hh means 15 hands, 2 inches in height, measured at the highest point of the withers. Usually, size alone marks the difference between horses and ponies: a horse stands 14.2 hh (58 inches, 1.47 meters) or higher; whereas an adult equine less than 14.2 hh ranks as a pony. Thus normal variations can mean that a horse stallion and horse mare can become the parents of an adult pony. However, a distinct set of characteristic pony traits, developed in northwest Europe and further evolved in the British Isles, muddies the issue of whether we use the word "pony" to describe a size or a type. Many people consider the Shetland pony as the archetypical pony, with its proportions very different from horses. Several small breeds appear as "horses" or "ponies" interchangeably, including the Icelandic, Fjord, and Caspian. Breeders of miniature horses favor that name because they strive to reproduce horse-like conformation in a very small size, even though their animals undeniably descend from ponies. Words for gaitsAll horses move naturally in four basic gaits:
Trainers have developed various artificial gaits for reasons such as appearance, and to improve the riding or driving quality. For details, see Horse gaits. Words relating to horses
In horse-racing the definitions of colt, filly, mare, and horse differ from those given above. Thoroughbred racing defines a colt as a male horse less than five years old and a filly as a female horse less than five years old; harness racing defines colts and fillies as less than four years old. Horses older than colts and fillies become known as horses and mares respectively. Words relating to horse anatomy
Horse coat colors and markings Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings, and a specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them. In fact, one will often refer to a horse in the field by his or her coat color rather than by breed or by gender. Coat colors include:
Markings include: On the face:
On the legs:
Elsewhere:
The origin of modern horse breedsHorses come in various sizes and shapes. The draft breeds can top 20 hands (80 inches, 2.03 meters) while the smallest miniature horses can stand as low as 5.2 hands (22 inches, 0.56 meters). The Patagonian Fallabella, usually considered the smallest horse in the world, compares in size to a German Shepherd Dog. These differences relate to breed, not to species: the individuals could interbreed. Several schools of thought exist to explain how this range of size and shape came about. These schools grew up reasoning from the type of dentition and from the horses' outward appearance. One school, which we can call the "Four Foundations", suggests that the modern horse evolved from two types of early domesticated pony and two types of early domesticated horse; the differences between these types account for the differences in type of the modern breeds. A second school -- the "Single Foundation" -- holds only one breed of horse underwent domestication, and it diverged in form after domestication through human selective breeding (or in the case of feral horses, through ecological pressures). Finally, certain geneticists have started evaluating the DNA and mitochondrial DNA to construct family trees. See: Domestication of the horse Breeds, studbooks, purebreds and landracesThe idea of a "purebred" animal gained importance in Europe during the 19th century but selective breeding has occurred almost everywhere man has kept horses. The Arabs had a reputation for breeding their prize mares to only the most worthy stallions, and kept extensive pedigrees of their "asil" (purebred) horses. During the late middle ages the Carthusian monks of southern Spain, themselves forbidden to ride, bred horses which nobles throughout Europe prized; the lineage survives to this day in the Andalusian or caballo de pura raza español. The modern landscape of breed designation presents a complicated picture. Some breeds have closed studbooks; a registered Thoroughbred or Arabian must have two registered parents of the same breed, and no other criteria for registration apply. Other breeds tolerate limited infusions from other breeds—the modern Appaloosa for instance must have at least one Appaloosa parent but may also have a Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred, or Arabian parent and must also exhibit spotted coloration to gain full registration. Still other breeds, such as most of the warmblood sporthorses, require individual judging of an individual animal's quality before registration or breeding approval. Hotbloods, warmbloods, and coldbloodsThe Arabian horses, whether originating on the Arabian peninsula or from the European studs (breeding establishments) of the 18th and 19th centuries, gained the title of "hotbloods", for their fiery temperaments. (Some include the thoroughbred in the "hotblood" category.) The slow, heavy draft horses class as "coldbloods", as they usually possess a quite calm temperament. The term "warmbloods" covers everything else, but the term also specifically refers to the European breeds, such as the Hanoverian, that have dominated dressage and show jumping since the 1950s. True warmbloods usually offer greater riding challenges than other horses, especially the coldblood. They show more excitability, and often more dominance; and the longer you ride them, the more excited they become, instead of merely getting tired (although any breed of horse can succumb to fatigue). The list of horse breeds provides a partial alphabetical list of breeds of horse extant today, plus a discussion of rare breeds' conservation. Horses today The invention of the internal combustion engine, the tractor, motorcycle and the ATV reduced the utility of the horse in agriculture in some countries. However, working draught teams still exist, particularly in specialty forestry, and many people ride horses to work on farms and, in company with pack horses, for treking. Mounted police still use working horses as a mainstay in riot control. Horses in sport todayRacing in all its formsHumans have always had a desire to know which horse (or horses) could move the fastest, horse-racing has ancient roots. Today, several categories of racing exist: Races subject to formal gamblingUnder saddle:
In harness:
Amateur races without gambling
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. Quarter Horses traditionally raced for a quarter mile, hence the name. Steeplechasing involves racing on a track where the horses also jump over obstacles. It occurs most commonly in the United Kingdom. Standardbred trotters and pacers race in harness with a sulky or racing bike. In France they also race under saddle. Racing External Links
Quarter Horse Racing (http://www.aqha.com/racing/index.html) Show SportsThe traditional competitions of EuropeThe three following count as Olympic disciplines:
Found in the United States
Western ridingDressage, jumping and cross-country offer forms of what Americans refer to as 'English riding'. Western riding evolved stylistically from traditions brought to the Americas by the Spanish, and its skills stem from the working needs of the cowboy in the American West. A main differentiating factor comes from the need of the cowboy to rope cattle with a lariat (or lasso). The cowboy must control the horse with one hand and use the lariat with the other hand. 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. Once the cowboy has twirled the lariat and thrown its loop over a cow's head, he must snub the rope to the horn of his saddle. For roping calves, the horse learns to pull back against the calf, which falls to the ground, while the cowboy dismounts and ties the calf's feet together so that he can be brand it, treat it for disease, and so on. Working with half-wild cattle, frequently in terrain where one cannot see what lurks behind the next bush, means the ever-present very great danger of becoming unseated in an accident miles from home and friends. These multiple work needs mean that cowboys require different tack, most notably a curb bit (usually with longer bars than an English equitation curb or pelham bit would have) which works by leverage, long split reins (the ends of which can serve as an impromptu quirt) and a special kind of saddle. The Western saddle has a very much more substantial frame (traditionally made of wood) to absorb the shock of roping, a prominent pommel surmounted by a horn (a big knob for snubbing the lasso after roping an animal), and, frequently, tapaderos ("taps") covering the front of the stirrups to prevent the cowboy's foot from slipping through the stirrup in an accident and resulting in a frightened horse draggin him behind it. The cowboy's boots, which have high heels of an uncommon shape, also feature a specific design to prevent the cowboy's foot from slipping through the stirrup. Technically, fewer differences between 'English' and Western riding exist than most people think. The outfit of the competition Western rider differs from that of the dressage or 'English' rider. In dressage all riders wear the same to prevent distraction from the riding itself. But show -- in the form of outfit (and silver ornaments on saddle and tack) -- forms part of Western riding. The riders must wear cowboy boots, jeans, a shirt with long sleeves, and a cowboy hat. Riders can choose any color, and optionally accoutrements such as bolo ties, belt buckles, and (shiny) spurs. Competitions exist in the following forms:
Other horse sports
Authoritative sources of informationBook of Horses: A Complete Medical Reference Guide for Horses and Foals, edited by Mordecai Siegal. (By members of the faculty and staff, University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.) Harper Collins, 1996. See also
MiscellaneousThe horse features in the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. See: Horse (Zodiac). External links
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