Horse Facts
The horse is one of the most beloved of all animals and has a long history of partnership with humans. Here are some little known horse facts.
Horse Facts
Any discussion of interesting horse facts needs to start about 50 million years ago with a tiny ancestor of the modern horse called eohippus. This tiny precursor to the horse was about the size of a fox and had 4 padded toes on its front feet and three padded toes on its back feet. The word “eo” means dawn and “hippus” means horse. So, the eohippus was the dawn horse.
A horse has monocular vision. This means that it sees separately out of each eye. In other words, it can look two ways at once. Human eyes are binocular which means that the vision in both eyes combines to form a single image. The horse is actually binocular when it is looked directly over its nose. Once its eyes move away from dead center, however, the image will split into two distinct images. Also, the horse is usually looking in the direction its ears are pointing. The exception to this is when it is angry. In this case, the ears are usually pointed straight back. This does not mean the horse is looking backwards separately with each eye. It just means the horse is upset.
You measure the height of a horse with a special unit of measurement known as a “hand.” A hand is about four inches. So, if you were told a horse stood 10 hands tall, it would be about 40 inches in height. The tallest horse on record stood 21.2 hands high which would be about 7 feet 2 inches. This giant, aptly named Samson, was a Shire horse born in Toddington Mills, England in 1846.
Another interesting horse fact concerns birthdays. All horses share a common birthday. This is January 31st. This is a big day in a stable as every horse celebrates the passing of another year on this date. This would apply even to a foal born on December 31. Such a lucky horse would turn one year old on the very next day.
The horse has served mankind for many centuries as a workhorse and a warhorse. For much of human history, the horse was one of the main modes of transportation either ridden directly or pulling wagons. Although the horse has been replaced by other modes of transportation and motorized equipment, it still is enjoyed for its beauty and speed. It is ridden today, mostly for enjoyment and recreation.