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Horses
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, '' Eohippus'', into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Horses in the subspecies ''caballus'' are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, as this term is used to describe horses that have never been domesticated. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior. Horses are adapted to run, allowing them to quickly escape predators ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domestication Of The Horse
A number of hypotheses exist on many of the key issues regarding the domestication of the horse. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. How and when horses became domesticated has been disputed. The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c. 2000 BCE. However, an increasing amount of evidence began to support the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes in approximately 3500 BCE. Discoveries in the context of the Botai culture had suggested that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse. Warmouth et al. (2012) pointed to horses having been domesticated around 3,000 BC in what is now Ukraine and Western Kazakhstan. Genetic evidence indicates that domestication of the modern horse's ancestors likely occurred in an area known as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equestrianism
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting. This broad description includes the use of horses for practical working animal, working purposes, transportation, recreational activities, artistic or cultural exercises, and animals in sport, competitive sport. Overview of equestrian activities Horses are horse training, trained and ridden for practical working purposes, such as in Mounted police, police work or for controlling herd animals on a ranch. They are also used in Horse#Sport, competitive sports including dressage, endurance riding, eventing, reining, show jumping, tent pegging, equestrian vaulting, vaulting, polo, horse racing, driving (horse), driving, and rodeo (see additional equestrian sports listed later in this article for more examples). Some popular forms of competi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolution Of The Horse
The evolution of the horse, a mammal of the family Equidae, occurred over a geologic time scale of 50 million years, transforming the small, dog-sized, forest-dwelling '' Eohippus'' into the modern horse. Paleozoologists have been able to piece together a more complete outline of the evolutionary lineage of the modern horse than of any other animal. Much of this evolution took place in North America, where horses originated but became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The horse belongs to the order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), the members of which all share hooved feet and an odd number of toes on each foot, as well as mobile upper lips and a similar tooth structure. This means that horses share a common ancestry with tapirs and rhinoceroses. The perissodactyls arose in the late Paleocene, less than 10 million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. This group of animals appears to have been originally specialized for life in tropical forests, but whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feral Horse
A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated stock. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses. Feral horses are descended from domestic horses that strayed, escaped, or were deliberately released into the wild and remained to survive and reproduce there. Away from humans, over time, these animals' patterns of behavior revert to behavior more closely resembling that of wild horses. Some horses that live in a feral state but may be occasionally handled or managed by humans, particularly if privately owned, are referred to as " semi-feral". Feral horses live in groups called a ''herd'', ''band'', ''harem,'' or ''mob''. Feral horse herds, like those of wild horses, are usually made up of small harems led by a dominant mare, containing additional mares, their foals, and immature horses o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Horse
The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii''). The European wild horse known as the tarpan that went extinct in the late 1800s has previously been classified as a subspecies of wild horse (''Equus ferus ferus''), but more recent studies have cast doubt on whether those horses were truly wild or if they actually were feral horses or hybrids.Tadeusz Jezierski, Zbigniew Jaworski: ''Das Polnische Konik. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Bd. 658'', Westarp Wissenschaften, Hohenwarsleben 2008, Przewalski's horse had reached the brink of extinction but was reintroduced successfully into the wild. The tarpan became extinct in the 19th century but is theorized to have been present on the steppes of Eurasia at the time of domestication. However, other subspecies of ''Equus ferus'' may have existed and could ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Draft Horse
A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK) or dray horse (from the Old English ''dragan'' meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch ''dragen'' and German ''tragen'' meaning "to carry" and Danish ''drage'' meaning "to draw" or "to fare"), less often called a carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal doing hard tasks such as plowing and other farm labor. There are a number of breeds, with varying characteristics, but all share common traits of strength, patience, and a docile temperament which made them indispensable to generations of pre-industrial farmers. Draft horses and draft crossbreds are versatile breeds used today for a multitude of purposes, including farming, draft horse showing, 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 of warmblood type. While most draft horses are used for driving, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equine Coat Color
Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them. 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. Most white markings are present at birth, and the underlying skin color of a healthy horse does not change. Some Equine coat colors are also related to the breed of horse, like the Friesian breed for instance. The basic outline of equine coat color genetics has largely been resolved, and DNA tests to determine the likelihood that a horse will have offspring of a given color have been developed for some colors. Discussion, research, and even controversy continues about some of the details, particularly those surrounding spotting patterns, color sub-shades such as " sooty" or " flaxen", and markings. Basic coat colors The two basic pigment colors of horse hairs are pheomelanin ("red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mounted Police
Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in the UK for crime prevention and high visibility policing roles. The added height and visibility that the horses give their riders allows officers to observe a wider area, and it also allows people in the wider area to see the officers, which helps deter crime and helps people find officers when they need them. When employed for crowd control, there is a risk that some people may be trampled (resulting in injuries or death). Due to this, authoritarian regimes often use mounted police to supress protests, as the public generally does not view these "accidental" deaths as resulting from a deliberate use of deadly force. In at least one case this has resulted in the police officer riding the horse (that caused the injury) to be sued. Mounted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pony
A pony is a type of small horse (''Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared to a larger horse, a pony may have a thicker coat, mane and tail, with proportionally shorter legs, a wider barrel, heavier bone, a thicker neck and a shorter, broader head. The word ''pony'' derives from the old French ''poulenet'', meaning foal, a young, immature horse. Small horses and ponies were traditionally used for riding, driving and as pack beasts. During the Industrial Revolution, particularly in Great Britain, many were used as pit ponies, hauling loads of coal in the mines. In the modern era they may be kept as children's mounts, for recreational or competitive riding or driving, or for cultural or conservation reasons. Ponies are generally considered intelligent and friendly. They are sometimes also described as stubborn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Breed
A horse breed is a selectively bred population of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a broader sense to define landrace animals of a common phenotype located within a limited geographic region, or even feral "breeds" that are naturally selected. Depending on definition, hundreds of "breeds" exist today, developed for many different uses. 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. Horse breeds are groups of horses with distinctive characteristics that are transmitted consistently to their offspring, such as conformation, color, performance ability, or disposition. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odd-toed Ungulate
Odd-toed ungulates, mammals which constitute the taxonomic order Perissodactyla (, ), are animals—ungulates—who have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three (rhinoceroses and tapirs, with tapirs still using four toes on the front legs) or one (equines, third toe) of the five original toes. The non-weight-bearing toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or positioned posteriorly. By contrast, the even-toed ungulates bear most of their weight equally on four or two (an even number) of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. Another difference between the two is that odd-toed ungulates digest plant cellulose in their intestines rather than in one or more stomach chambers as even-toed ungulates, with the exception of Suina, do. The order includes about 17 species divided into three families: Equidae (horses, asses, and zebras), Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tapiridae (tapirs). Despite their very different appearances, they were recognized as related families ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Gait
Horses can use various gaits (patterns of leg movement) during locomotion across solid ground, either naturally or as a result of specialized training by humans.Ensminger, M. E. ''Horses and Horsemanship'' 6th edition USA: Interstate Publishers 1990 pp. 65–66 Classification Gaits are typically categorized into two groups: the "natural" gaits that most horses will use without special training, and the " ambling" gaits that are various smooth-riding four-beat footfall patterns that may appear naturally in some individuals. Special training is often required before a horse will perform an ambling gait in response to a rider's command. Another system of classification that applies to quadrupeds uses three categories: walking and ambling gaits, running or trotting gaits, and leaping gaits.Tristan David Martin Roberts (1995) ''Understanding Balance: The Mechanics of Posture and Locomotion'', Nelson Thornes, The British Horse Society Dressage Rules require competitors to pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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