All About Horses

 The horse (Equus caballus) is a hoofed herbivorous mammal belonging to the Equidae family. It is made up of a single species, Equus caballus, which has various variants referred to as breeds. Prior to the invention of mechanical vehicles, the horse was extensively used as a draft animal, and horseback riding was a primary mode of transportation.

Typical characteristics

The wild horse was probably originally hunted for sustenance in prehistoric times. Domestication, according to research, occurred roughly 6,000 years ago. The horse is believed to have been invented by an Indo-European tribe that lived in the steppes north of the chain of mountains that separates the Black and Caspian seas. The horse swiftly evolved into its current shape as a result of environment, food, and humans.

The horse's interaction with humans has always been unusual. The horse is both a companion and a buddy. It has plowed fields and harvested crops, carted goods and transported passengers, tracked game and herded livestock, and transported fighters into battle and adventurers to undiscovered regions. It has provided recreational opportunities through jousting, tournaments, carousels, and the riding sport. In the English language, the horse's impact is represented in phrases such as chivalry and cavalier, which connote honor, respect, excellent manners, and straightforwardness.

According to French biologist Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, the horse is Man's "proudest conquest." It was buried alongside its master in the graves of the Scythian kings or in the pharaohs' tombs. Numerous early human cultures were centered on horse ownership. Superstition imbued the horse's colors with meaning, and a horse's head draped near a cemetery or sanctuary, or on the gables of a home, bestowed magical abilities on the location. The Centaur is the most evident representation of the horse and rider's oneness in Greek mythology. White stallions were considered the ultimate sacrifice to the gods, and the Greek general Xenophon noted that "gods and heroes are shown on well-trained horses." In ancient Greece, a beautiful and well-trained horse was thus a prestige symbol. Kings, generals, and statesmen had to be riders by necessity. The names of famous horses are inextricably tied to the riders who rode them: Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's charger; Incitatus, once believed to have been appointed a senator by the Roman emperor Caligula (see Researcher's Note); El Morzillo, Hernán Cortés's favorite horse, to whom the Indians erected a statue; Roan Barbery, Richard II's stallion, as mentioned in Shakespeare; and Copenhagen, the duke of Wellington's horse, which was buried with military honors.

In the domain of art, the horse has long held a special place. From Stone Age paintings to the magnificence of the Parthenon frieze, from Chinese Tang dynasty tomb sculptures to Leonardo da Vinci's sketches and Andrea del Verrocchio's Colleoni, from the Qur'an to contemporary literature, the horse has inspired artists of all periods and from all corners of the globe.

In life, the horse has aided mankind after their travels, conflicts, and labors, and in death, the horse has provided numerous goods. Horses were hunted for their flesh long before they were domesticated, and horsemeat is still consumed by people in parts of Europe and Iceland, and is incorporated in a variety of pet feeds. Glue is made from horse bones and cartilage. Tetanus antitoxin is isolated from the serum of horses that have previously been inoculated with tetanus toxoid. Numerous products, notably elegant shoes and belts, are crafted from horsehide. Cordovan leather was initially produced from horsehide by the Moors in Córdoba, Spain. Fur coats are manufactured from the foal's smooth coats. Horsehair is widely used in upholstery, mattresses, and stiff linings for jackets and suits; fine horsehair, typically white, is used to make violin bows. The Scythians used horse excrement as fuel, which is now used to cultivate mushrooms. The Scythians, Mongols, and Arabs drank mare's milk.

Both in appearance and function

A mature male horse is referred to as a stallion, whereas a mature female horse is referred to as a mare. A stud is a stallion that is utilized for breeding purposes. A castrated stallion is frequently referred to as a gelding. Stallions were formerly used as riding horses, whereas mares were kept solely for breeding purposes. Geldings were ridden by ladies and used for labour. However, geldings have largely supplanted stallions as riding horses in recent years. Foals are young horses; male foals are referred to as colts, while female foals are referred to as fillies.

Adaptations to the human anatomy

At the withers, the highest point on the back at the base of the neck, the primordial horse probably stood 12 hands (approximately 120 cm, or 48 inches [1 hand = 10 cm, or 4 inches]) tall and was dun colored (typically brownish to dark gray). Domestic horses that have gone wild, such as the mustangs of western North America, tend to revert to their primitive characteristics when randomly mated: they are generally slightly taller (about 15 hands [152.4 cm, or 60 inches]), gray, dun, or brownish in color, and move in herds led by a stallion.

The horse's general form is characteristic of a fast animal: the long leg bones pivot on pulley-like joints that limit movement to the fore and aft, the limbs are levered to muscle masses in order to maximize energy efficiency, and the compact body is permanently supported on the tips of the toes, allowing for greater limb extension during running.

The rounded skull protects a vast and sophisticated brain that is highly developed in areas responsible for muscular coordination. While the horse is intelligent in comparison to other nonhuman animals, it is safe to assume that the horse is more concerned with the operation of its acute sensory reception and musculature than with cerebral processes. Though much has been published about "learned" horses that appear to be able to spell and count, it is generally accepted that such animals are extremely observant and reacting to their human trainer's instructions. However, this skill is extraordinary in and of itself, as cues are frequently sent unknowingly, and detecting such subtle signals takes highly acute perception.

The horse, like other grazing herbivores, has typical adaptations for plant eating: a pair of powerful, high-crowned teeth for grinding grasses and other tough food, and a relatively long digestive tract, the majority of which is gut devoted to digesting plant cellulose. Horses in their infancy have milk (or baby) teeth, which they shed around the age of two and a half. Permanent teeth, which total 36 to 40, are fully grown by the age of four to five years. On the upper and lower jaws of the stallion, these teeth are positioned as follows: 12 incisors that cut and pull at grasses; 4 canines that serve no purpose in the modern horse and are typically absent in females; 12 premolars and 12 molars, which are high prisms that continue to grow out of the jaw to replace the surfaces worn away by food grinding.

The horse has evolved into three distinct varieties since domestication, based on its size and build: Draft horses are large-limbed and can reach a height of 20 hands (200 cm, or 80 inches); ponies are smaller than 14.2 hands (approximately 147 cm, or 58 inches); and light horses are in the middle size range. Domestic horses are more nearsighted, less resilient, and frequently high-strung than their forefathers, particularly Thoroughbreds, whose intense breeding has emphasized speed at the expense of other attributes. Due to the stomach's small size and the amount of plants required to maintain essential functions, foraging is practically continual under normal conditions. Domestic animals are fed multiple (at least three) times daily in amounts determined by the horse's exertion.

Senses

The enormous eyes set far back on the elongated skull are ideal for the horse's primary form of defense: flight. The horse's long neck and high-set eyes, which cover a far greater range than a human's eyes, enable it to detect a potential threat even while eating low grasses. The horse's vision, like that of humans, is binocular, but only in the restricted area directly front. The evidence implies that a horse's vision is color-blind; horses can distinguish yellow and blue but not red or green. While visual acuity is excellent, the eyes lack changeable focus, and objects at varying distances register on distinct parts of the retina, necessitating head tilting movements. The senses of smell and hearing appear to be more acute than those of humans.