Portal:Horses

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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, originally in North America. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE in Central Asia, 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, which are 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, and possess a good sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight response. Related to this ability to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down, with younger horses tending to sleep significantly more than adults. Female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under a saddle or in a harness between the ages of two and four. They reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

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. There are more than 300 breeds of horse in the world today, developed for many different uses. (Full article...)

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The Calgary Stampede (French: Stampede de Calgary) is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing, and First Nations exhibitions. In 2008, the Calgary Stampede was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. In 1912, American promoter Guy Weadick organized his first rodeo and festival, known as the Stampede. He returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour of soldiers returning from World War I. Weadick's festival became an annual event in 1923 when it merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition to create the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. (Full article...)

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Credit: Cardozo, Christopher (2000). Sacred Legacy , 192pp, Simon and Schuster.

A 1900 photograph of three Piegan (Blackfeet) Indian chiefs. When Iberian horses were obtained from the Spanish, the Plains tribes rapidly integrated them into their daily lives. By the early 18th century some tribes had fully adopted a horse culture.

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05 Jul 2026 – Ancient Greek Horsemanship (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Edward056686 (t · c); see discussion

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02 Jul 2026 – Category:Fictional equines (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by Johnpacklambert (t · c); see discussion
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... that although the Quarter Horse Lightning Bar is known as a racehorse and father of racehorses, he won a roping contest once?
... that before the Quarter Horse Barbara L became a racehorse, she demonstrated horse trailers for her owner, a trailer salesman?
... that Calcutta Polo Club which was established in 1862 is considered as the oldest polo club of the world which is still in existence?
... that dominant white, a collection of related genetic conditions, causes horses to be born with no skin pigmentation and completely or partly white coats?

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The Heck horse is a horse breed that is claimed to resemble the tarpan (Equus ferus ferus), an extinct wild equine. The breed was created by the German zoologist brothers Heinz Heck and Lutz Heck in an attempt to breed back the tarpan. Although unsuccessful at creating a genetic copy of the extinct species, they developed a look-alike breed with grullo coloration and primitive markings. Heck horses were subsequently exported to the United States, where a breed association was created in the 1960s. (Full article...)

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... that in a 17th-century painting, the emperor Shah Jahan is depicted in profile, as painting him head-on was viewed as disrespectful?
... that Max Whitlock is the most successful gymnast on the pommel horse at the Olympics, with two golds and a bronze?
... that the stone men, horses, &c. of Japan's kofun may have been inspired by the spirit paths of China?
... that Japanese businessman Yasuyoshi Kato used embezzled funds to support his wife, who bought twenty Arabian horses, several emus, llamas, potbellied pigs, miniature cattle, and nurse sharks?
... that the seventeen known species of the prehistoric horse relative Plagiolophus ranged in weight from 10 kg (22 lb) to more than 150 kg (330 lb)?
... that John Kinloch Anderson tested ancient Greek horse riding techniques?

General images

The following are images from various horse-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mounted skeleton of Hagerman horse (Equus simplicidens) (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 2Merychippus, an effective grazer and runner (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 3A horse painting from a cave in Lascaux (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 4Hoof anatomy (from Equine anatomy)
Image 5Pliohippus pernix (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 6Relief depicting Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in a chariot, inspecting booty and prisoners from Babylon (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 7The early stages of domestication were marked by a rapid increase in coat colour variation. (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 8Terracotta urn in the shape of a horse (Iran, 1000 BCE) at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 9The Uffington White Horse, a British Bronze Age chalk-carved figure associated with the construction of a nearby hill fort. (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 10Restoration of Phenacodus (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 11Skull of a giant extinct horse, Equus eisenmannae (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 12Reconstruction of possible ancestral coat colors. (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 13Equus caballus germanicus front leg, teeth and upper jaw at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 14In China, Tang dynasty tomb figures include pottery figures of horses. (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 15Protohippus simus (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 16Fossil Megahippus mckennai (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 17Drawing of a horse, a mammoth, and a rhinoceros in the Shulgan-Tash Cave, 25-10 thousand years B.C. (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 18Equine colon (from Equine anatomy)
Image 19A dehydrated anatomical specimen of a foal (from Equine anatomy)
Image 20Eohippus, with left forefoot (third metacarpal colored) and tooth (a, enamel; b, dentin; c, cement) detailed (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 21A horse's skeleton (from Equine anatomy)
Image 22Chariots of Ramesses II and the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh, 1274 BCE. Modern interpretation of a relief on the walls of the Ramesseum (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 23Diagram of digestive system (from Equine anatomy)
Image 24Skeletal evolution (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 25Restoration of Eurohippus parvulus, a mid- to late Eocene equid of Europe (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin) (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 26alt=Muscles of the Horse Torso (from Equine anatomy)
Image 27The dispersal of the DOM2 genetic lineage, believed to be the ancestor of all modern domesticated horses, is linked with the populations which preceded the Sintashta culture and their expansions. (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 28This image shows a representative sequence, but should not be construed to represent a "straight-line" evolution of the horse. Reconstruction, left forefoot skeleton (third digit emphasized yellow) and longitudinal section of molars of selected prehistoric horses (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 29Points of a horse (from Equine anatomy)
Image 30Surroundings of the Shirenzigou archaeological site in Barkol County. (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 31A Luristan bronze horse bit (from Domestication of the horse)
Image 32The ears can rotate (from Equine anatomy)
Image 33Restoration of Mesohippus (from Evolution of the horse)
Image 34Extinct equids restored to scale. Left to right: Mesohippus, Neohipparion, Eohippus, Equus scotti and Hypohippus. (from Evolution of the horse)

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Topics

Horse • Pony • Asinus • Equus (genus) • Equidae • Zebra • Glossary of equestrian terms • List of horse breeds • Evolution of the horse • Domestication of the horse • Horse care • Stable • Horse training • Equestrianism • Horse tack • Saddle • Equine nutrition • Equine anatomy • Equine conformation • Equine coat color • Equine coat color genetics • Horse markings • Equine vision • Horse hoof • Horseshoe • Horse gait • Horse behavior • Horse breeding • Breed registry • Equine infectious anemia • Horse colic • Lameness • Laminitis • Horse slaughter • Horses in warfare • Arabian horse • Thoroughbred

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