Horse Care

Helpful Horse Care Basics & Hints that Will Keep Your Equine Healthy and Well Maintained

Aspects like age, breed, activity level, season and underlying health issues all affect the way an owner needs to care for a horse. Some equines are kept more like pets and are prone to weight gain and their diets will need adjustment for the decreased activity level. Other horses may be quite clumsy and get cast in their stall easily or will need you to keep a special eye on their self inflicted wounds.

As a responsible horse owner or handler you will need to keep you self updated on horse care information and basic guidelines to ensure your horse lives a long, happy life. Almost all horses will require a certain level of winterizing, stall cleanliness, vaccinations and several other items. We have touched on several horse care tips we hope will help.

Mistreated horses

BREEDS

ABACO BARB

Profile: The rare Abaco Barb, which is in great danger of extinction, is believed to have descended from Spanish horses that were in route aboard ships with early explorers to the New World. Many of these ships never reached their destination, and instead were shipwrecked or pirated in the Caribbean. It’s believed that some of the Spanish horses survived the ordeals and made it safely to the island of Great Abaco, where they have remained for centuries.

Characteristics: The Abaco Barbs share traits of other Spanish-lineage horses, such as low-set tails, convex faces and thick, long manes and tails. Their ears tend to be pointed, and they have broad foreheads that taper. The horses are small, about 13.2 to 14.2 hands, and are exceptionally strong.

AKHAL-TEKE

Profile: With its unusual, gazelle-like appearance, the Akhal-Teke (Ah-cull Tek-y) is an incredibly distinctive breed. Experts say the Akhal-Teke breed is at least 3,000 years old. The Akhal-Teke may be the last remaining strain of the Turkmene (a horse that has existed since 2400 B.C.). In the Middle Ages (500 to 1500 A.D.), Akhal-Tekes lived with nomadic tribesmen near the Kopet Dag Mountains in Turkmenistan. The nomads treated the horses as part of their families, tethering them near their shelters. In the early 1900s, Russians used Akhal-Tekes as cavalry horses. Today they excel in sport, particularly in racing, show jumping, dressage and endurance racing.

Characteristics: The Akhal-Teke’s coat has a metallic sheen, although some shimmer more than others. The unusually thin, yet flexible neck makes it seem ‘above the bit’ by modern standards, however, this flexibility is considered an asset. The Akhal-Teke developed in a rocky, flat desert so the breed evolved with a long narrow frame, which created a flat, gliding gait.

AMERICAN CREAM DRAFT

Profile: Nearly 98 percent of all American Cream Draft horses have the blood of an Iowan cream colored draft-type mare called Old Granny, who was born at the turn of the 20th century. Her beauty and unique coat coloring prompted breeders in the area to try to create a breed of cream-colored draft horses. Although Percheron, Shire and Belgian blood was later incorporated into the breed, blood typing has shown the Creams are a distinct group of horses and not simply a color breed. Although tractors have replaced horse power on the farm, the American Cream Draft and other draft horses are still used for hobby farming, logging, driving and hay rides. Some are also ridden.

Characteristics: All horses are cream colored with white manes and tails and other white markings, as well as pink skin. Foals are born with almost white eyes and as the animal ages the eyes become amber colored. Height ranges from 15.1 to 16.3 hands high.

AMERICAN PAINT

Profile: In 1519, the explorer Hernando Cortes carried two horses described as having pinto markings on his voyage. This is the first known description of such horses in America. By the early 1800s, horses with Paint coloring were well-populated throughout the West. A favorite among American Indians, the loud-colored Paint horses were particularly well-liked by the Comanche Indian tribe. Evidence of this is found in drawings painted on buffalo robes. Throughout the 1800s and into the late 1900s these painted horses were called pinto, paint, skewbald and piebald. In the early 1960s, interest grew in preserving and promoting horses with paint coloring and stock horse builds. In 1965 the American Paint Horse Association formed, and today, the American Paint Horse is extremely popular in traditional stock-horse western events as well as a variety of other riding disciplines.

Characteristics: American Paint Horses sport a combination of white and any other color of the equine spectrum: black, bay, brown, chestnut, dun, grullo, sorrel, palomino, buckskin, gray or roan. Markings come in any shape or size and can be located anywhere on the horse’s body. The variety of colors and markings appear in three specific coat patterns: overo, tobiano and tovero. American Paint Horses average 14.2 to 16.2 hands high.

FOR MORE BREEDS GO TO http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-breeds/all_landing.aspx

Evolution

LET’S  BEGIN  WHIT THE   EVOLUTION

Imagine a world in which horses of all colors, shapes, and sizes roamed the world, some barely larger than a small dog. That world no longer exists--but once it was real. Today's horses represent just one tiny twig on an immense family tree that spans millions of years. All the other branches of the horse family, known as Equidae, are now extinct. The earliest known horses evolved 55 million years ago and for much of this time, multiple horse species lived at the same time, often side by side, as seen in this diorama.

This small dog-sized animal is the oldest found horse ancestor that lived about 55 million years ago.  It had a primitive short face, with eye sockets in the middle and a short diastema (the space between the front teeth and the cheek teeth). Although it has low-crowned teeth, we see the beginnings of the characteristic horse-like ridges on the molars.

The earliest evidence of this “little horse” is found in the middle Eocene of Wyoming, about 2 million years after the first appearance of Hyracotherium.  The two genera coexisted during the Eocene, although Orohippus fossils are not as numerous or as geographically widespread as those of Hyracotherium. Fossils of Orohippus have been found in Eocene sediments in Wyoming and Oregon, dating from about 52-45 million years ago.

The "middle horse" earned its name.  Mesohippus is intermediate between the eohippus-like horses of the Eocene, (which don't look much like our familiar "horse") and more "modern" horses. Fossils of Mesohippus are found at many Oligocene localities in Colorado and the Great Plains of the US (like Nebraska and the Dakotas) and Canada.  This genus lived about37-32 million years ago.

Species of Miohippus gave rise to the first burst of diversity in the horse family.  UntilMiohippus, there were few side branches, but the descendants of Miohippus were numerous and distinct.  During the Miocene, over a dozen genera existed. Fossils of Miohippus are found at many Oligocene localities in the Great Plains, the western US and a few places in Florida. Species in this genus lived from about 32-25 million years ago.

Parahippus appears to be the evolutionary “link” between the old forest-dwelling horses and the modern plains-dwelling grazers.   It has 3 toes, like primitive horses, but the side toes are smaller.   They are "horse-faced," or long-headed with the eye socket well back from the middle of the skull. Fossils of Parahippus are found at many early Miocene localities in the Great Plains and Florida.   Species in this genus lived from 24-17 million years ago.

Merychippus represents a milestone in the evolution of horses.   Though it retained the primitive character of 3 toes, it looked like a modern horse.   Merychippus had a long face.   Its long legs allowed it to escape from predators and migrate long distances to feed.   It had high-crowned cheek teeth, making it the first known grazing horse and the ancestor of all later horse lineages.  Fossils of Merychippus are found at many late Miocene localities throughout the United States.   Species in this genus lived from 17-11 million years ago. 

"Grandfather" to the modern horse, Pliohippus appears to be the source of the latest radiation in the horse family.  It is believed to have given rise to Hippidion and Onohippidion, genera that thrived for a time in South American, and to Dinohippus which in turn led to Equus. Fossils ofPliohippus are found at many late Miocene localities in Colorado, the Great Plains of the US (Nebraska and the Dakotas) and Canada.  Species in this genus lived from 12-6 million yearsago.

 Dinohippus is believed to be the closest relative to Equus, the genus that includes the living horses, asses and zebras.  Dinohippus fossils are found in the Upper Miocene of North America and date from 13 - 5 million years ago.

 Equus is the only surviving genus in the once diverse family of horses.   Domesticated about 3,000 years ago, the horse had a profound impact on human history in areas such as migration, farming, warfare, sport, communication, and travel.  Species of Equus lived from 5 million years ago until the present.   Living species include horses, asses, and zebras.   Fossils of Equus are found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.