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Horse

''This page is about ungulate mammals, for other meanings, see Horse (disambiguation)

Domestic Horse
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#redirect : Animalia #redirect : Chordata #redirect : Mammalia #redirect : Perissodactyla #redirect : Equidae #redirect : Equus #redirect : caballus
Binomial name
Equus caballus

Table of contents

1 Evolution of the Horse 2 Domestication of the Horse and Surviving Wild Species 2.1 Wild vs. Feral Horses 2.2 Other Equids 3 As Food 3.3 Use 4 Specialized vocabulary 4.4 Words for gaits 4.5 Words relating to horses 4.6 Words relating to horse anatomy 5 Horse Coat Colors and Markings 6 The Origin of Modern Horse Breeds 6.7 Breeds, Studbooks, Purebreds and Landraces 6.8 Hotbloods, Warmbloods, and Coldbloods 6.9 Horses today 7 Horses in Sport today 7.10 Racing in all its forms 7.11 The Traditional European Competitions 7.12 Western riding 7.13 Other Horse Sports 7.14 Authoritative sources of information 8 See also: 9 Miscellaneous 10 External links

Evolution of the Horse

The evolution of the horse from the very early (around 55 million years ago) Hyracotherium or eohippus to the wild equids listed below, is well understood in comparison to our understanding of the evolutionary succession of most animals. By natural selection, the toes of early horse ancestors reduced to the single central toe which forms the hoof of the modern equine. The opposite being animals with 'cloven' hooves (2 toes), like cows, pigs and sheep. Vestiges of other toes remain as the splint bones, the callous-like "chestnuts" on the inner sides of all four legs, and the "ergots" hidden in the hair of the underside of the fetlock joint. Rare instances of modern horses with true extra toes have been cited by evolutionary biologist

In nature, horses are prey animals. Their natural tendency is to flee from danger, though they'll fight if cornered. Their eyes are placed 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 are easily startled and must be carefully introduced to strange objects and situations to be able to ride them safely.

Horses live in family groups in primarily grassland habitats. These normally consist of a mature stallion, his harem of mares, and the mares' offspring. Once young males reach breeding age and begin to attempt to breed mares or challenge the herd stallion, they are driven out of the herd and form "bachelor bands" with other young stallions. It's usually not until a stallion reaches 7 or 8 years old that he stands a real chance at 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 there seems to be a form of democracy among horses. For instance, if the majority of the herd decides it's time to stop and eat, the whole herd will stop and eat.

Domestication of the Horse and Surviving Wild Species

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 Tierpark Munich Hellabrunn). The resulting animal is more properly called the Wild Polish Horse or ''Konik.

recreated Tarpan, foal, Biskupin, Poland

The only true surviving wild-horse species is Przewalski's Horse, Equus caballus przewalskii przewalskii Polaikov, a rare Asian species. In Mongolia it is known as the taki, while the Kirghiz people call it a kirtag. There are wild populations in Mongolia, see: http://www.treemail.nl/takh/.

Wild vs. Feral Horses

The Icelandic horse (which is pony-sized but is referred to as a horse) is an interesting breed from a historic and behavioural point of view. Introduced by the Vikings into Iceland, they have not been subject to the selective breeding that has taken place in Europe from the middle ages until now, 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 Tolt, which equates to the Rack exhibited by several American gaited breeds.

Other Equids

As Food

Horses are rarely bred for use as food, but the meat of old, injured or discarded animals is used in many places. Meat from (injured) horses that are put down with a lethal injection is not used for consumption. The carcasses of such animals are cremated. In 2001, an estimated 153,000 tonnes of horse meat were consumed worldwide. In France horsemeat is sold by specialized butcher shops (boucheries chevalines) as ordinary butcher shops are not allowed to sell horse meat. The eating of horse meat is a food taboo and abhorrent to some people in some parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom and the US, and sometimes even illegal. In other parts of the world, horse meat has the stigma of being something poor people eat and is seen as a cheap substitute.

In the late palaeolithic (Magdalenien) wild horses formed an important source of food.

Horse meat is often of very good quality. It is tender, low in fat and high in protein, something that has led to its being popular among body builders. Horse meat has a slightly sweet taste that some find distasteful, but that can be disguised with seasoning and spices.

Horse was commonly eaten in many countries in pre-Christian Europe, but not in Islamic or Jewish countries, since under Mosaic Law, horse meat is unclean because the horse is not cloven-hoofed or cud-chewing. In pre-Christian times, horse meat was eaten in northern Europe as part of Teutonic religious ceremonies, particularly those associated with the worship of Odin.

In 732 A.D., Pope Gregory III began an effort to stop the pagan practice of horse eating, calling it "abominable", and it has been said that the people of Iceland were reluctant to embrace Christianity for some time largely over the issue of giving up horse meat. In some countries the effects of this prohibition by the Catholic Church have lingered, and horse meat prejudices have progressed from taboos to avoidance to abhorrence.

The French appetite for horse meat supposedly dates from the Battle of Eylau in 1807, when the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, advised the starving troops to eat the flesh of dead battlefield horses. The cavalry used breastplates as cooking pans and gunpowder as seasoning, and thus founded a tradition. Today many European countries, including Italy, Romania and Belgium, produce and consume horse meat.

During WWII the sale of horse meat was legalized in New Jersey, due to low supply and high price of beef. At war's end, the sale was again prohibited, some say due to pressure from the beef lobby.

According to the anthropologist Marvin Harris, horsemeat is taboo because it converts grass into meat more inefficiently than other beasts, since horses are not ruminants. When breeding cattle for meat, a cow or a sheep will produce more meat if fed with the same amount of grass.

Although horse meat is rarely eaten in the US, many horses from the US are sold for slaughter and consumption in Europe, Mexico or Japan. A Food Standards Agency (FSA) 2003 investigation has revealed that salami and chorizo on sale in the UK sometimes contains horse and donkey meat, without being mentioned on the food label—something that is required.

Much of the horse produced in the US is sold to zoos for carnivore feeding.

Brigitte Bardot has spent her latter years crusading against the eating of horse meat.

Global Appetites for Horse Meat
U.S.D.A. Promotes Horse & Goat Meat
Americans squeamish over horse meat

Mare milk is used by peoples with large horse herds, like Mongols. They may let it ferment to produce kumys. However, mares produce a much lower yield of milk than do cows.

Use

Those preparing sandwiches with horse meat usually use it smoked and salted. Horse meat forms an ingredient in several traditional recipes of salami, and in Kazakhstan it's used in hazy (horse sausage).

Japanese call raw horse meat basashi and serve it in thin slices: either with rice as sushi or without as sashimi.

In Switzerland horse meat may be used in Fondue bourguignonne. In Belgium, the traditional french fries were cooked in horse fat, although since the replacement of horses with automobiles, other types of fat, considered inferior by many, are often used instead.

In Italy it is used in recipes such as Pezzetti di cavallo. In Chile it is used in charqui.

Specialized vocabulary

Horses are usually distinguished from ponies purely according to size: a horse stands 14.2 hh (58 inches, 1.47 meters) or higher, a pony is an adult equine less than 14.2 hh. Thus, normal variations can mean that a horse stallion and horse mare can become the parents of an adult pony. There is however a distinct set of characteristic pony traits that evolved in northwest Europe and further evolved in the British Isles, muddying the issue of whether "pony" should be used to describe a size or a type. Shetland ponies are considered by many as the archetypical pony, with its proportions very different from horses. Several small breeds are called 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 are undeniably descended from ponies.

Words for gaits

There are four basic gaits that all horses move in naturally:

• The walk - a "four beat" gait in which a horse must have three feet on the ground and only one foot in the air at any time. Progression is either hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side, then the oposite hind leg, then the remaining foreleg.
• The trot - a "two beat" gait in which a foreleg and opposite hindleg touch the ground at the same time. These are often called diagonals. In this gait, each leg bears weight separately, making it ideal to check for lameness, or stiffness in the joints.
• The canter - A "three beat" gait in which a foreleg and opposite hindleg strike the ground together, and the other two legs strike separately. Progression is one foreleg, then a period of suspension, then the opposite hind leg strikes, then the oppposite two legs. When cantering in a straight line, it does not usually matter which foreleg (or leading leg) goes first, but both should be given equal time as the horse may become "one-sided" or develop a reluctance to canter on a specific leg. In an enclosed area, the inside leg (the one nearest to the middle of the area) should lead, as this prevents the horse from "falling in".
• The gallop - Another "four beat" gait which follows a similar progression to the canter, except the two paired legs land separately, the hind leg landing slightly before the foreleg. The gallop can also have a leading leg, and the same rule applies in that each leg must be given equal time to lead.

For details, see Horse gaits.

Words relating to horses

• horse - adult equine of either sex over 14.2 hh (58 inches, 1.47 meters)
• pony - equine 14.2 hh or less (58 inches, 1.47 meters)
• mare - adult female horse
• stallion - adult, uncastrated male horse
• gelding - adult, castrated male horse
• foal - infant horse of either sex
• filly - female horse from birth to sexual maturity (about 24 months)
• colt - male horse from birth to sexual maturity (about 24 months)
• cob - any short-legged, stout variety, intended for heavy riders
• garron - small and disdained horse
• hack or hackney - a horse, especially an old and tired one, used for driving or riding
• nag - small horse or pony used for riding (uncomplimentary term)

Words relating to horse anatomy

• withers - the highest point of the shoulder seen best with horse standing square and head slightly lowered. The withers are formed by the tops of the two shoulder blades and the space between them.
• mane and forelock - long and relatively coarse hair growing from the dorsal ridge of the neck, lying on either the left or right side of the neck, and the continuation of that hair on the top of the head, where it generally hangs forward. (See illustration)
• Dock- the point where the tail connects to the rear of the horse.
• Flank- Where the hind legs and the stomach of the horse meet.
• Pastern- Kind of like the ankle of the horse.
• Fetlock- The connection between the coronet and the pastern.
• Coronet- The part of the hoof that connects the hoof to the fetlock.
• Cannon- Kind of like the shin of the horse.

• Albino (white with pink eyes--very rare)
• Appaloosa (a breed, but usually a white horse with small dark spots, or a dark horse with a large white area over the haunches)
• Bay (dark red to deep brown)
• Brown (black with brown muzzle)
• Black
• Buckskin
• Chestnut
• Dapple (not a color but a pattern of shiny circles on the horse's coat, usually signifying peak health)
• Dun
• Fleabitten (not a color, but refers to usually red hairs flecked in the coat of a gray horse)
• Gray
• Grullo
• Paint (both tobiano and overo; also tovero)
• Oddbald
• Palomino
• Piebald
• Roan (often classified with gray; classically refers to a mixture of chestnut and white hairs, while a gray is a mixture of brown and white hairs)
• Skewbald
• Sorrel (in some registries this term is used to indicate a light chestnut)

On Face:

• Star
• Snip
• Stripe
• Blaze
• White Face (sometimes called Bald Face)

• Coronet
• Pastern
• Sock
• Stocking

• Cowlicks (hair whorls)--can occur on any part of the animal

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 accounts 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: Source | Copyright