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Horse Facts and Interesting Horse Trivia
We have some fun facts about horses! Below are facts
about horse vision, teeth, height, records, horse terms, and more.
Horse Vision
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Most of the time, a horse has "monocular" vision. This means a different
image is seen by each eye so that a horse is seeing two different pictures at
the same time. A horse can also have "binocular" vision. Binocular vision is
when both eyes work together to see one picture (humans have binocular vision).
A horse only has binocular vision when it is looking down its nose.
- A horse has a wide range of vision. A horse can see completely around its
entire body except for small blind spots directly in front of its face,
underneath its head, and directly behind itself.
This is why it's very important not to walk up right behind a horse - you are in
its blind spot and if you startle it you may get kicked.
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The areas with a #1 shows where a horse has monocular vision.
The area with a #2 shows where a horse has binocular vision. |
- Most of the time, wherever a horse's ear is pointing is where the horse is
looking with the eye on the same side. If the ears are pointing in different directions, the horse is looking
at two different things at the same time. There are exceptions to this. For
example, if a horse has its ears pinned back against its neck in anger, this
does not mean it is looking backwards with both eyes.
- A horse can see better at night than a human. However, it takes a horse's
eyes longer to adjust from light to dark and from dark to light than a human's.
A Horse Is A Horse When...
- A horse is usually not considered to be a "horse"
until it is 5 years old. Before that, males are known as colts and females
are known as fillies. However, it is still acceptable to call a colt or
filly a horse.
- A foal is a very young horse and can be either male or female.
Horse Facts: Height
- Horses height is measured in units known as
"hands." One hand is equal to 4 inches.
- A horse is usually considered to be 14.2 (14 hands, 2 inches) or taller
when mature.
- Anything under 14.2 when mature is usually considered to be a pony.
- We have a more detailed article on
horse height here.
Horse Facts: Teeth
- Adult female horses (mares) usually have 36 teeth.
A mare may have up to 40 teeth if she happens to have any canine teeth,
which is possible but less common. Adult males have between 40 and 44 teeth.
(These figures do not include wolf teeth.)
- "Wolf teeth" in horses are teeth that are vestigial premolars.
"Vestigial"
means something that has lost most or all of its original function through
evolution. Wolf teeth are usually just on the upper jaw but are sometimes
found on the
lower jaw, too. Wolf teeth can be a serious nuisance and most horsemen have
them removed. Since wolf teeth typically have poorly developed roots, they are
usually quickly and easily removed.
- Wolf teeth cannot always be seen. They can remain below the surface
of the gum where they are called "unerrupted" or "blind" wolf teeth.
However, they can usually be felt as little bumps in the gum. Blind wolf
teeth often cause a horse a great deal of soreness in the mouth so they
should be removed the same as wolf teeth that have erupted above the gum line. Be
careful if you decide to feel for blind wolf teeth in a horse's mouth -
a horse may react suddenly and violently if you touch a sore spot on its
gum.
- "Floating" a horse's teeth means to file or rasp their teeth. This is done
to make the chewing surfaces relatively flat or smooth, and to prevent sharp
edges from forming and cutting the inside of the horse's mouth. The type of file
used for this is called a "float," which is where the procedure gets its name. We have more information on
floating a
horse's teeth here.
In the photo to the right you can see a horse getting its teeth floated. A
dental wedge
(on the right side of the photo) has been placed between the back teeth on one
side of this mare's mouth to keep her mouth open. On the left side of the photo
you can see the arms of the veterinarian as he is floating the teeth. He will
file, or float, the teeth on the upper and lower jaws on both sides.
At right: A horse getting its teeth
floated |
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- Adult horses have teeth that are several inches long. Most of the tooth
cannot be seen because it is below the gum line. Little by little the
teeth erupt through the gum to replace the surface of the teeth as they are
worn down.
- This is one of the reasons why a horse's teeth should be checked to see
if they need floated at least once a year: As the teeth erupt their formerly smooth
and even surface can become uneven and sharp.
- A horse's upper jaw is wider than its lower jaw. During normal chewing
sharp edges or points frequently form along the outside edge of the upper
teeth and the inside edge of the lower teeth due to the uneven grinding
surface created by the different width of the jaws.
- A horse's age can usually be accurately determined by its teeth until
the horse is about 9 years old. After that, a horse is known as "smooth
mouthed" or "aged" and it becomes far more difficult or impossible to tell its age by
its teeth.
- The "interdental space" is an area in a horse's mouth, both on the upper
and lower jaws, where there is not any teeth. This area is between the front
teeth (the incisors) and the back teeth (the molars). When a horse is
bridled, the interdental space is where the bit rests. On the bottom jaw,
most horsemen refer to this area of bare gums as the "bars." In the photo
at right,
the yellow arrows are pointing to the interdental space.
At right: The interdental space |
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Horse Terms
- Colt - A young male horse, 4 years old or younger
- Filly - A young female horse, 4 years old or younger
- Foal - A newborn or very young horse, male or female
- Gelding - A male horse that has been castrated, or gelded
- Mare - A mature female horse
- Stallion - A male horse that has not been castrated
- Dam - The term give to a mare when she becomes a mother
- Sire - The term given to a stallion when he becomes a father
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Inside A Horse
- The horse has one stomach. In contrast, cattle, sheep, goats,
bison, deer, elk, caribou, moose, and camels are "ruminants" which means
(among other things) they have four digestive chambers instead of just one
stomach.
- The horse is an herbivore, which means it feeds mostly on plants.
- The normal horse’s small intestine is about 70 feet long.
- The normal horse's large intestine is about 12 feet long.
- The average horse's heart weighs approximately 9 or 10 pounds. The great New Zealand
/ Australian racehorse, Phar Lap, had a heart
that weighed 14 pounds. The great American racehorse Secretariat had a heart
estimated during his autopsy to weigh 21 pounds, though the heart was not
weighed.
- Horses produce approximately 10 gallons of
saliva a day.
Horse Records
- The tallest horse on record was a Shire named Samson. He was 21.2
hands (7 feet, 2 inches) tall. He was born in 1846 in Toddington Mills,
England.
- The oldest horse on record is "Old Billy," an English barge horse. He
was 62 years old when he died, living from 1760 to 1822.
- The record for the highest jump made by a horse is held by a horse named
Huaso who jumped 8 feet, 1 and 1/4 inches on February 5th, 1949 in Vina del
Mar, Chile. He was ridden by Captain Alberto Larraguibel.
- The record for the longest jump over water is held by a horse named
Something who jumped 27 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches on April 25, 1975 in
Johannesburg, South Africa. He was ridden by Andre Ferreira.
When A Horse Isn't A Horse
- A mule is a cross between a male donkey (called a jack) and a female horse
(called a mare). Mules are usually sterile.
- A hinny is a cross between a male horse (called a stallion) and a female donkey
(called a jenny). Hinnies are usually sterile.
- The pretty little foal to the right is about 12 hours old. She has a horse for a mother and a
donkey for a father, which makes her a mule. Mules are known for having very
long ears.
At right: A baby mule and its horse mother |
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And More...
- Horses cannot breathe through their mouths.
- Horses have a prehensile upper lip. Prehensile means "adapted for
seizing, grasping, or taking hold of something." Their upper lips are very
sensitive and capable of feeling the smallest of differences in objects.
At right: A horse's nostrils and upper lip.
- All horses, regardless of when they were actually born, are considered to
have a common birthday of January 1. This is one of the reasons most horsemen
don't like their foals to be born late in the year: Even if a foal is born on
December 31st he or she will have their first birthday the very next day.
- Scientists believe that the first known ancestor of the horse lived
about 50 million years ago. This prehistoric horse is called Eohippus and had
four padded toes on the front legs and three padded toes on the back legs. Eo means "dawn" and hippus means "horse," so Eohippus is "dawn horse."
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- A horse's splint bones are thought to be remnants of toes from
prehistoric horses. The splint bones are small bones (about the size of a pencil
at the top and tapering down to be much smaller) found on each side of
the cannon bone.
In the photo to the right the red arrow is pointing to a small bulge that is
a splint bone that has "popped." This happens when the splint bone becomes detached
from the cannon bone. A splint might become detached due to a nutritional
imbalance or trauma. It is usually not a cause for concern. In most cases a popped
splint will cause mild pain to the horse but when the splint has "set" or
healed it is completely pain free and is not a health or soundness concern.
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