Horses

• The modern form of horse evolved from small dog like animals that first appeared 60 million years ago.

•  Over time wild ancestors of the modern horse evolved for millions of years in northAmerica. They then spread to other parts of the world by travelling southwards to south America by crossing land bridges that connected north America to Europe and Asia during the ice age.

• Horses vanished from both north and south America in a wave of extinction that occurred at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, about 15,000 years ago.

•  Horses nearly became extinct in the rest ofthe world as well, by about 7000 years ago the worlds only horses were confined to a small area in the still open grasslands steppes of Ukraine and central Asia. 

•  They were not seen in theAmericas again until 1494, when Italian explorer Christopher Columbus transported them on ships from Spain on his second voyage to the new world.

•  Przewalski's horse , which is believed to bethe only truly wild horse to survive to modern times, probably became extinct in the wild in Mongolia  in the 1960's.

•  All thoroughbreds are descendants of three Arabian stallions that werebrought to England in the late 1600s and early 1700s and bred with native European mares.

 Quarter horses were developed in America from crosses between thoroughbreds and descendents of Spanishhorses.



For example, the "hot-bloods", such as many race horses, exhibit more sensitivity and energy,[87] while the "cold-bloods", such as most draft breeds, are quieter and calmer.[88] Sometimes"hot-bloods" are classified as "light horses" or "riding horses",[89] with the "cold-bloods" classified as "draft horses" or "work horses".[90]



"Hot blooded" breeds include "oriental horses"such as the Akhal-Teke, Arabian horse, Barb and now-extinct Turkoman horse, as well as the Thoroughbred, a breed developed in England from the older oriental breeds.[87] Hot bloods tend to be...