|
|
Equine
Facts
Basic Horse Facts
- A horse is considered
adult at age four.
- A female horse over
4 years old is called a mare.
- A male horse over 4
years old is called a stallion.
- Horses are measured
in hands.
- A hand is four inches.
- A horse is generaly
over 14.2 hh (hands high).
- Anything under 14.2
hh is a pony.
- There are over 200
breeds of horses in the world.
- A horse's gestation
period (time between breeding and birth) is about 11 months, but
can be anywhere from 10-12 months.
- Horses usualy live to
be 20-25 years old. The oldest horse lived to be 62.
- A father horse is called
a sire.
- A mother horse is called
a dam.
- The scientific name
for the horse is equus caballus.
Scientific Classification
of the Horse
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Horse Superstitions
- Horshoes are supposed
to be lucky.
- The luckiest horse
shoe of all is one off the hind leg of a gray mare.
- If you hang a horseshoe
upside down, the luck runs out.
- Gray horses are supposed
to be lucky, while piebalds are unlucky.
- According to superstition
in Lincolnshire, England, if you see a white dog, you should stay
silent until you see a white horse.
Horse Anatomy Facts
- A full grown horse
that weighs about 1,000 pounds contains approximately 13.2 gallons
of blood.
- Horses have about 175
bones in their body.
- A horse's hoof grows
at a rate of about 1 cm per month.
- A horse's leg joints
are not fully fused (grown) until around the age of 3 1/2.
- Most horse breeds have
18 ribs.
- The Arabian has 17
ribs.
- Most horses have 6 lumbar
bones.
- The Arabian has 5 lumbar
bones.
- Most horses have 18
tail vertabrea.
- The Arabian has 16 tail
vertabrea.
- Horses can see in two
directions at once.
- Horses can see everywhere,
except directly in front or behind them.
- Horses make 8 basic
sounds- snort, squeal, greeting nicker, courtship nicker, maternal
nicker, neigh, roar, blow.
- It is almost impossible
for a horse to vomit-- if they do, their stomachs usually rupture
soon after.
Foals and Foaling
- A newborn foal's legs
are already 90% of the length they will be when full grown.
- A foal is able to stand
just one hour after birth.
- A foal can walk, trot,
and run just two hours after birth!
- The first milk the mare
makes is called colostrum. This is a rich milk and it is very
important for the foal, because it helps protect it against disease.
- Most foals will start
to nurse less than two hours after being born.
- A female foal is called
a filly.
- A male foal is called
a colt.
- More foals are born
between April 15- May 15 than any other time.
- Mares usualy foal at
night.
- Mares don't like to
be watched when they foal. If someone is watching, they might
stop foaling and wait till the the person goes away.
- A mare may give birth
in as little as 15 minutes, but no longer than an hour. If she
is still straining after an hour has passed, something is seriously
wrong.
- If you have to help
pull a foal out, NEVER pull up! Always pull down, toward the horse's
feet.
Strange Facts
- Horses like classical
music.
- The oldest horse was
named Old Billy. He was a cross breed, he was born in 1760 and
he lived to be 62.
- The World's Largest
Horse was a Shire gelding named Samson, bred by Thomas Cleaver
of Toddington Mills, England. Foaled in 1846, this horse measured
21.2 1/2 hand high in 1850, and weighed 3,360 pounds.
Did you know....
Here are some words that are derived from the latin word for horse,
equus, and the Greek word for horse, hippos. From the American
Heritage Dictionary:
- e·quine adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic
of a horse. 2. Of or belonging to the family Equidae, which
includes the horses, asses, and zebras.
- e·ques·tri·an adj. 1. Of or relating to
horseback riding or horseback riders. 2. Depicted or represented
on horseback: an equestrian statue of a famous monarch. --e·ques·tri·an
n. One who rides a horse or performs on horseback. [From Latin
equester, equestr-, from eques, horseman, from equus, horse.
eq·ui·ta·tion n. The art and practice of riding a horse. [Latin
equitatio, equitation-, from equitare, to ride horseback.
See EQUITANT.]
- eq·ui·tant adj. Overlapping at the base
to form a flat, fanlike arrangement in two ranks, as the leaves
of some irises. [Latin equitans, equitant-, present participle
of equitare, to ride horseback, from eques, equit-, horseman,
from equus, horse.
- eq·ui·se·tum n., pl. eq·ui·se·tums or eq·ui·se·ta.
See horsetail.
horse·tail n. Any of various nonflowering plants of the genus
Equisetum, having a jointed, hollow stem and narrow, sometimes
much reduced leaves. Also called equisetum.
- e·o·hip·pus n. A
small, herbivorous, extinct mammal of the genus Hyracotherium
(or Eohippus) from the Eocene Epoch of the western United
States, having four-toed front feet and three-toed hind feet
and related ancestrally to the horse. [New Latin : eo- + Greek
hippos, horse]
|
|
