Aside from perhaps dogs and cattle, is there a single animal that has a stronger connection to our lives than the horse? Over the last thousands of years, horses have been paramount in our survival! We’ve used horses as necessary modes of transportation across any environment imaginable. We’ve used horses as tools of war! Horses have even been used to maintain agriculture and as forms of food! The horse has a long and storied history not only in America, but across the world. Interested in learning more about these creatures? Read below for some interesting pony wall art facts.
Breeds & Stomach
- Have you ever been curious to know how many breeds of horses there are across the world? Due to extensive breeding over the past several centuries, there are over 600 breeds of horses across our planet! Interesting, huh? According to scientists, all modern horses are actually descendants of two specific ancient horse breeds: the Arabian and Turkoman horses. Did you know that the Arabian horse still exists today? The Turkoman horse, however, is now extinct. All horse breeds fit into five categories: hot-blood, warmblood, cold-blood, pony and miniature.
- Did you know that horses don’t have the ability to either vomit or burp? Wondering why? Well, they have a strong ring of muscle called the cardiac sphincter located at the entrance of their stomachs. This structure makes it so that any food that enters the stomach can’t escape. Additionally, the vomiting reflex which is strong in many creatures is actually quite weak in horses. The only way for food to escape from a horse’s stomach is through a stomach rupture, which usually results in death. Since they can not expel toxins from their bodies on their own, it is extremely important that horse owners only feed their animals the best food possible. Read below for more pony wall art facts.
Age & Eyes
- Have you ever wondered how long the average horse lifespan is? It’s probably longer than you think! Now that veterinary care is so advanced, domestic horse are living very long lives. Although genetic, nutrition and environmental factors all limit the maximum ages that horses can reach, domestic ponies tend to live to the age of 40. Some horses from the Haflinger, Appaloosa, Icelandic and Arabian breeds can actually live even longer than that! Old Billy (1760-1822) holds the record as the oldest horse to ever live. He was a barge horse that lived on a farm in England. At the time of his death, he was 62 years old.
- Ever wondered how horses can kick something behind them, that they can’t even see? Well, the truth is that they can see what’s behind them! A little known fact about horses is that they have a nearly 360 degree visual range. Due to the position of their eyes, they can see about 55 to 65 degrees using both of them at the same time. However, using each eye separately, they have a visual field of range of about 190-230 degrees. Although this visual range does not allow them to have particularly good depth or detail perception, they are still able to see shapes at nearly every angle. Read below for more pony wall art facts.
Domestication & Sleep
- As previously stated, humans have been using horses for all sorts of activities and purposes for a long, long time. If you’re wondering when horses were first domesticated, scientists estimate that it first happened in mountainous regions of Eurasia around 6,000 years ago. Today, this area is known as Southwest Russia, Ukraine and West Kazakhstan. Scientists have also discovered that different types of wild horses were domesticated at different times; so domestication didn’t all happen at once. Did you know that this was actually a very “late” occurrence compared to the domestication of dogs? In fact, dogs were domesticated 9,000 years before horses!
- Most people know that horses sleep standing up, but they don’t know exactly why. Horses have a unique evolutionary adaptation called the “stay apparatus” that allows them to completely relax their body while standing. This apparatus is comprised of ligaments and tendons that connect the stifle to the hock, which locks all of them in place. Wondering why this even exists? It allows horses to quickly start running if they sense danger while resting. That said, horses can’t function without going into deep sleep in a similar way to humans. Occasionally, horses bodies require them to lay down for a full sleep cycle. This doesn’t happen often because laying down puts strain on a horse’s bones and internal organs. Did you enjoy these pony wall art facts?
Conclusion
Now that you know so much about horses, how do you feel about them? Do you feel a deeper sense of respect for this creature that has been closely connected to use for thousands of years? Do you feel like you can now understand how horses function? Are you interested in doing your own research to learn more about them? Whatever you feel, we hope you’ve learned something from reading this article. Thank you for reading these pony wall art facts!