Horse Facts

Horse Facts:

There is so much we, as people don't know about the horse. We ride them, have them as pets and work animals.  Yet behind the scenes, how much do we

I have put together some horse facts about this wonderful animal for you to look at, and re-start your discovery about the horse that either you have, or just admire.

• A horse is related to a rhinoceros
• Horses sleep for less then 3 hours a day.
• Horses can not vomit.
• If there is an earthquake coming your horse will become skittish .
• A Falabella is the size of a large dog .

• Cayuse:  An Indian pony.

• It takes about three days for a horse to digest an oat.

• There are a total of about 75 million horses in the world.

• "The one great precept and practice in using a horse is this, never deal with him when you are in a fit of passion." Xenophon, The Art Of Horsemanship, 400 BC.

• The tallest documented mule is Apollo. He foaled in 1977, measures 19.1 hh, and is the offspring of a Belgian mare crossed with a mammoth jack.

• The smallest recorded horse was a stallion called Little Pumpkin; foaled on April 15, 1973; he stood 14 inches high and weighed just 20 pounds in 1975.

• The oldest horse recorded was Old Billy. Foaled in 1760, he died on November 27, 1822, having reached an incredible 62 years of age.

• The oldest Thoroughbred racehorse was Tango Duke. Foaled in 1935, he died on January 25, 1978 at the age of 42.

• The tallest documented horse was a Shire gelding called Sampson; foaled in 1846, he measured 21.2 hh in 1850 and weighed 3,360 pounds.

• The oldest horse to win a race was 18 year old Revenge, who won at Shrewsbury, England, in 1790.

• The fastest horse recorded was Big Racket, who reached an amazing 43.26 mph in a quarter mile race in Mexico City on February 5, 1945.

• The Thoroughbred Janus, who was imported to the USA in 1756, is considered to be one of the foundation sires of the Quarter Horse.

• Duplice corde, two hearts that beat as one and a single brain: the perfect combination of horse and rider.'  Alessandro Alvisi.

• Horses will generally begin to grow their winter coats in September, when the hair thickens and becomes coarser and dull. This gives rise to the saying, 'no horse looks well at blackberry time'.

• A 'war horse' is the term given to someone who has lived through many hardships and can always be relied upon.

• The earliest methods of harnessing animals always involved two animals, one on either side of a central shaft. The idea of harnessing one animal between two shafts did not appear to develop until the second century in China.

• The Great Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, kept a herd of approximately  10,000 pure white mares, along with pure white stallions, and these horses were treated as sacred.

• Koumiss is the name given to a drink made from fermented mare's milk that is a specialty among the nomadic Kazaks of Kazakhstan, Eurasia. The Kazaks believe that this drink can cure many diseases.

• Old horses will often grow white hairs around the face and their muzzle.

• Vaqueros is the name given to the Spanish cowboy; they were among the first cowboys in America.

• The first trams were horse-drawn, usually by one to four horses. They traveled at a speed of around 6-7 mph, and were still being used well into the last half of the 19th century.

• In the Persian epic Shah Namah, Book of Kings, the chief hero, Rustam, rode a horse called Rakush, who was reputed to be the best warhorse in the world.

• Mr. Ed, the talking equine star of the 1960s television series, was a golden palomino. He learned an enormous amount of tricks for his role, including answering a telephone, opening doors, writing notes with a pencil, and unplugging a light. Apparently, Mr. Ed would occasionally have a fit of temper, as befitting his star status, and would stand stock still, wheezing and refusing to move.

• When clipping a horse's coat, the first clip is usually done in October and the last clip should not be done any later than the last week of January. Clipping after this time will affect the spring coat growing through.

• The first American-bred and owned racehorse to win the Grand National was Battleship, son of Man O' War, who won the legendary race in 1938 while being ridden by a seventeen year old jockey.

• The Celts regarded the horse as a sacred animal in their beliefs.

• Horses' hooves grow approximately 0.25 in a month, and take nearly a year to grow from the coronet band to the ground.

• In the state of Arizona, it is illegal for cowboys to walk through a hotel lobby wearing their spurs.

• Feeding garlic to horses is believed to help combat some worms, repel flies, aid respiratory disorders, and have a cleansing effect of blood. There is, however, no scientific evidence to prove this, and it does cause halitosis (chronic bad breath).

• The amazing tomb of Qin Shi Huang, 259 BC to 210 BC, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty contains over 500 terracotta models of chariots horses, and 116 terracotta cavalry horses. The terracotta models show great detail, with the manes clipped and braided, and the horses standing around 17 hh.

• Han Kan was a famous artist of the T'ang Dynasty, 618-906 AD and was the court and horse painter to the Emperor Hsuan-Tsung, who is believed to have owned approximately 40,000 horses.

• Horses with lop ears are often said to have a kind temperament, but beware of the exception to the rule.

• At one time it was a Japanese custom to hang the head of a horse at the entrance to a farmhouse to act as a good luck talisman.

• During Oliver Cromwell's reign in England (1649-59) horse racing was illegal.

• A healthy adult horse should have a pulse of between 36 and 40 beats per minute while at rest.

• The highest prize money in horse racing in the world is the $2.4 million first prize for the Dubai World Cup.

• Arabians have one less rib, one less lumbar bone, and one or two fewer tail vertebrae than other horses.

• George Washington's favorite horse was named Lexington. Napoleon's favorite was Marengo. U.S. Grant had three favorite horses: Egypt, Cincinnati, and Jeff Davis.

• The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.

• The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.

• The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.

• A horse has 35 square feet of skin.

• A horse can sleep standing up.

• In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

• If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

• It only takes a male horse 14 seconds to copulate.

• A 1,200-pound horse eats about seven times it's own weight each year.

Being animals of flight, some of these horse facts relate to their inbuilt instinct to take flight at danger, and also their ability to run fast.

Sleeping on their feet for instance, sounds almost impossible to us. Which it is, as soon as we want to sleep, we must lay down in order to do so.

Yet these horse facts alone, only shows us the different abilities that the horse has different than our own.

These horse facts vary form history with man, to their own natural abilities. Facts are a powerful direct way of learning about something very quickly, and waists not time.

I am glad that I am able to put these horse facts on this site for you, and while doing so, I have also learnt things about the much loved horse myself.

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