Portal:Horses

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Horse and foal

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, close to Eohippus, into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE, 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 never have been domesticated and historically linked to the megafauna category of species. 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 an excellent sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight response. Related to this need 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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Bruce Davidson and Cruise Lion at the 2009 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** awards ceremony

Bruce Oram Davidson (born December 31, 1949, in Rome, New York) is an American equestrian who competes in the sport of eventing. He grew up in a family uninterested in horses, but began to compete in Pony Club events after a family friend introduced him to riding. He began college at Iowa State University, but left in his third year to train full-time with the United States Equestrian Team. In 1974, he married, and his two children were born in 1976 and 1977. His son, Bruce Davidson Jr., has followed in his footsteps to become a top eventing rider.

At 18, Davidson tried out for the United States eventing team and was accepted. He won his first medal as a member of the silver-medal-winning US team at the 1972 Summer Olympics. After that, Davidson went to win gold at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics and silver in 1996, participating unsuccessfully in 1988. He has also competed repeatedly at both the World Equestrian Games and the Pan American Games, winning medals at both, as well as winning repeatedly at the top-level Badminton Horse Trials and Rolex Kentucky Three Day events. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Davidson was a consistently top-level rider on both the American and international eventing scenes. He is also known for his horse breeding and training abilities. (Full article...)

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Thoroughbred horse racing in Germany on a turf race course

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Two young horses

The Nokota horse is a feral and semi-feral horse breed located in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota in the United States. The breed developed in the 19th century from foundation bloodstock consisting of ranch-bred horses produced from the horses of local Native Americans mixed with Spanish horses, Thoroughbreds, harness horses and related breeds. The Nokota was almost wiped out during the early 20th century when ranchers, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, worked together to reduce competition for livestock grazing. However, when Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created in the 1940s, a few bands were inadvertently trapped inside, and thus were preserved.

In 1986, the park sold off many horses, including herd stallions, and released several stallions with outside bloodlines into the herds. At this point, brothers Leo and Frank Kuntz began purchasing the horses with the aim of preserving the breed, and founded the Nokota Horse Conservancy in 1999, later beginning a breed registry through the same organization. Later, a second, short-lived, registry was begun by another organization in Minnesota. In 2009, the North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry was created, which registers the slightly different type of horses which have been removed from the park in recent years. Today, the park conducts regular thinning of the herd to keep numbers between 70 and 110, and the excess horses are sold off. (Full article...)

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