Horses belong to the equus family. Equus comes from the ancient Greek word meaning quickness. Horses are mammals in the same family as zebras, mules and donkeys.
Did You Know?
a stallion is a male horse a mare is a female horse a foal is a baby horse a filly is a young female horse a colt is a young male horse a yearling is a foal after its first birthday a sire is the word used for the father of a horse a dam is the word used for the mother of a horse a pony is not a baby horse. It is a fully grown small horse a horse's height is measured in hands. One hand = 4"
Mare and Foal
The mother horse, or mare, is pregnant (or "in foal") for 11 months. Most mares give birth in the spring to a single baby (foal) although twins are not uncommon. Mares produce milk for their young and will feed them for several months. Within 1-2 hours of birth a foal is able to stand up and walk. When foals are born their legs are almost the same length as they are when they are fully grown - their legs are so long they find it difficult to reach down to the grass to eat! Foals can focus their eyes almost as soon as they are born and cut their first teeth within a week. They are fully grown by 3 - 4 years of age.
What do horses eat?
Horses love to eat short, juicy grass. They also eat hay (which is dried grass) especially in the winter or when they are stabled. Extra high energy food such as barley, oats, maize, chaff, bran or processed pony nuts are good for working horses. Horses have small stomachs for their size and need to eat little and often - if in a field, horses will graze for most of the day.
How long do horses live?
An average life span for a horse is around 20 -25 years, though they can live for up to 30 years. The oldest recorded horse was "Old Billy," an English barge horse, who lived to be 62 years old.
How many breeds of horses are there?
There are over 350 different breeds of horses and ponies. These fall into four main groups: "light" horses with small bones, thin legs and weighing less than 1300 pounds; e.g. Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Morgan horses and Arabians "heavy" or draft horses which can weigh up to 2000 pounds and are strong with large bones and sturdy legs; e.g. Percherons, Draft, Clydesdale and Shire horses ponies which are usually not more than 58 inches tall (14.2 hands and under), making them smaller than a horse; e.g.Shetland, Haflinger, and Caspian ponies feral horses which are wild or semi-wild horses. A mustang is a federal horse.
What are the different colours of horses and ponies?
Horses can be either the same colour all over (whole colours) or a mixture of colours (broken colours). There are thousands of different colour combinations for horses. The most commonly recognized whole colours are - bay, black, brown, chestnut, dun, cream, palomino, or grey. The broken colours include piebald (often called pinto), skewbald (also known as paint horses), roan and spotted (Appaloosa) horses.
Why does a horse have to wear shoes?
Horses that work or travel on hard roads need their feet (hooves) protected by metal shoes. Horses hooves, like our finger and toe nails, also grow continuously and need to be trimmed. To do this, the horses shoes need to be removed and their hooves trimmed every 4 -6 weeks. After trimming their hooves new shoes are fitted. The person who cares for a horse's feet is called a farrier or blacksmith.
What do they mean when they say a horse is so many "hands" high?
Horses are measured by the width of a human hand - 4 inches or 10 centimetres. Measurement is taken from the ground up to the withers, the highest point on the horse's shoulder. A light horse such as a Lipizzana measures between 15.1 and 16.2hh while a heavy horse such as a Shire is between 16.2 and 17.2hh. Ponies are under 14hh.
How can you tell how old a horse is by looking at their teeth?
It is possible to age a horse fairly accurately up to 10 years of age by their teeth. Whether they are first teeth, permanent teeth, the presence of incisor teeth, the length and slope of teeth all help indicate a horse's age. It is more difficult to age adult horses by their teeth.
What are the different paces of a horse?
The four natural paces for the horse are the walk, trot, canter and gallop.
The Tarpan ranged from Southern France and Spain eastward to central Russia. Cave drawings of Tarpan horses can be found in France and Spain, and artifacts showing this breed can be found in Southern Russia where this horse was domesticated by Scythian nomads in about 3000 B.C.
Is the Tarpan horse extinct?
The original wild Tarpan died out during the late 1800's. The last Tarpan horse died an a Ukranian game preserve at Askania Nova in 1876.
Why did they die out?
When their natural forest and steppe habitat was destroyed to make room for more people, they came into conflict with farmers who did not want the wild Tarpans eating their crops or stealing their tame mares. The farmers in Eastern Europe treated the Tarpan in much the same manner as mustangs and wild burros are treated in the United States today.
Did anyone try to save the Tarpan?
The Polish government created a preserve for animals descended from the wild Tarpan at a forest in Bialowieza. Over the years this herd has developed more and more Tarpan characteristics. Today this breed is sometimes referred to as the Polish Primitive Horse.
If the Tarpan is extinct, how can it exist today?
The modern Tarpan is a genetic recreation of the original wild breed.
Who recreated the Tarpan?
Heinz and Lutz Heck, two German zoologists working at the Tierpark Hellabrunn (Munich Zoo) in Germany.
How?
They believed that all living creatures were the result of their genetic make-up and that genes could be rearranged like the pieces of a puzzle to recreate certain vanished species. Only breeds that still had living descendants could be recreated because those living breeds would be a source for genetic material.
What breeds were used to recreate the Tarpan?
Several European pony breeds had descended from the prehistoric Tarpan. Primarily the Heck Brothers selected Polish Koniks, Icelandic Ponies, Swedish Gotlands and Polish Primitive Horses from the preserve in Bialowieza. Mares from these breeds were then mated to Przewalski stallions because the Heck brothers felt that the blood of the wild Przewalski would serve as a catalyst to draw out the latent Tarpan characteristics dormant in these more modern breeds.
When was the Tarpan bred back?
The first bred back Tarpan, a colt, was born May 22, 1933 at the Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich, Germany.
What does a Tarpan look like?
The Tarpan is mouse dun or grulla in color. This means that the body is a smoky gray color, with the face and legs being darker than the body. The mane and tail are flaxen, but dark in the center where the dorsal stripe passes through. They stand between 13 and 13.2 hands tall. The mane is semi-erect. The head is large, with massive jaws and thick neck. The back is short and strong, with very low withers. The hooves are dark and very tough, never requiring shoes.
What kind of temperament do they have?
The Tarpan has a very calm disposition. They are friendly, curious and affectionate. The Tarpan is extremely intelligent. They are independent and quite stubborn. The Tarpan, unlike the domesticated modern horse, has not surrendered its freedom to man in trade for food and care, and therefore tends to rely more on its own view of a situation rather than to allow its owner to make decisions for it.
Can they be ridden?
Yes, they seem to enjoy being ridden, but they do not like being told where to go. They do eventually respond to direction from the rider if patience is used. If the rider resorts to force rather than love, then the Tarpan may refuse to cooperate. Tarpan horses have a natural ability to jump and also seem to enjoy pulling a cart.
How many Tarpan horses are there?
There are about 50 Tarpans in North America, and perhaps only 100 in the world.
When was the first Tarpan imported into the United States?
In 1954 a stallion named Duke was imported by the Chicago Zoological Park in Illinois. In 1955 two mares were acquired by the Chicago Zoo. In 1962 the Ft. Worth Zoological Park in Texas imported a Tarpan mare. All of the Tarpans now in North America trace back to these six animal from Tierpark Hellabrunn in Germany.
Are most Tarpans in zoos?
Most of the Tarpans now in the United States are owned by private individuals.
What do the Tarpan owners do with their animals?
Most Tarpan owners are breeders who are trying to increase the population of this rare breed. A few are developing their Tarpans for riding. The Tarpan has the potential to excel in the field of endurance competition, in fact, several owners are now participating in N.A.T.R.C. sponsored Competitive Trail Rides on their little horses, and have found that Tarpans can successfully compete against larger breeds. They are extremely agile, and cover long distances without requiring horse shoes. Their calm disposition makes them excellent mounts for children. They are also presently being used in riding programs for physically and mentally handicapped riders. Tarpan horses enjoy working with cattle and other livestock.
What about their small size?
The sturdy conformation and strong legs of the Tarpan enable them to carry a large adult rider with ease. Riders who prefer a larger mount can cross the Tarpan with other breeds to obtain an animal with some Tarpan characteristics.
What breeds are usually crossed with Tarpans?
The most popular is to a Welsh-Arab. In fact, a new breed called the Canadian Rustic Pony was developed by Dr. Peter Neifeld of Manitoba, Canada using a combination of these three breeds. In Europe, Tarpans are being bred to Thoroughbred mares to produce hunters. Some pictures of Tarpan are given below;
A BREED The myth that surrounds the Morab most often is their status as a breed. A lot of people misunderstand and consider a Morab a part-bred while others have termed them half-breeds. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Morabs (the get of an Arabian/Morgan breeding) are not half-Morgans or half-Arabian horses. They are Morabs, a breed. The fact that Morabs have the proven ability to transmit their distinguishing characteristics with a high degree of certainty to their progeny puts this misnomer to rest. Only foundation stock or first generation Morabs possess both Morab registration and 1/2 Arab or 1/2 Morgan registries. Thus making them a triple registered animal. Succeeding generations are then bred Morab to Morab to ensure the growth of the breed.
But where did the Morab breed begin? There was a concern with the lack of documentation of the beginnings of the Morab breed as there was very limited material on the history of the Morab previous to the last 20 years. At that time I volunteered to take on the task of investigating and documenting the history of the Morab breed.
For five years I worked on this project. Being a history buff, it has been a very interesting and rewarding project for me. My research has revealed that Morab bloodlines were used as the cornerstone for the building of other American breeds. I started in the annals of our public library searching through horse books tracing the history of the Morgans, Arabians and their registries as well as the history of the horse industry in this country from colonial times. Every time I found another reference to the Morab, it was exciting.
ARABIAN REGISTRY: In my research I obtained a copy of the History of the Arabian Horse Registry written in the early 1900's. In reading the manuscript, I found a provision had been made for the get of the Arabian/Morgan crosses in the original registry. This was discontinued with the formation of the International Arabian Horse Association in the 1940's. Unfortunately, when I contacted the Arabian Horse Trust to obtain a copy of the horses registered in this division, I was disappointed to find that when the Arabian Registry changed its procedures and registered only purebreds, the earlier records I was seeking are now nowhere to be found. I was disappointed not to be able to obtain the material but I was elated to know Morgan/Arabian crosses were part of the first Arabian Registry.
MORGAN REGISTRY: My next milestone was the discovery of a book published and written in 1857 by Mr. D. C. Lindsley, the early Morgan historian. His book, an essay on Morgan Horses, discussed the needs of this country, as far as horse flesh was concerned. It was fascinating to learn how the horse industry was viewed over 120 years ago. According to Lindsley, in New England a person was rarely seen on horseback, preferring rather to drive. This was becoming the trend in the South as well, and with it the age of the light buggy was dawning. The buggy was fast becoming the favorite means of conveyance because of the many conveniences they offered. Protection from the elements, the facility for carrying light packages and personal baggage were some of the conveniences. These points, combined with a light carriage upon good roads, allowed a single horse to perform the work of two horses under saddle, making this mode of transportation very popular.
A major part of Mr. Lindsley's essay was concerned with perpetuating and improving the Morgan breed, using his essay as a forum to make recommendations. In his text he stated, "If the breed is to be perpetuated, it is evident it can never be by the use of Morgan stallions alone but combined with careful selection of the dams. He continued by stating where mares of Morgan blood cannot be obtained, mares possessing a strain of racing or Arabian blood may be considered. Lindsley specifically recommended 1/8 to 1/4 Arabian blood as suitable. This was my second documentation of the use of Morab bloodlines. It was an exciting revelation.
The discovery of the Lindsley's essay led me to the first volume of the Morgan Horse Registry written by Colonel Joseph Battell. Battell continued on the work started by Lindsley, but went one step further by taking on the task of documenting the Morgan breed and publishing the first Morgan Stud book which also contained a fairly complete history of the Morgan breed.
GOLDDUST: Battell's material turned out to give me some of the most exciting and best documentation of the existence of the Morab breed in the 1800's. In reading his Volume, I discovered an entire chapter devoted to a stallion named Golddust, a horse of great merit, whose bloodlines reveal he was a Morab registered as #69 in the Morgan registry. Golddust was foaled in 1855, (bred by Andrew Hoke near Louisville, Kentucky) and sold when a weanling for $100 to L. L. Dorsey, Eden Stock Farm. His sire was Vermont Morgan, his dam was the Hoke mare. She was said to be by Zilcaadi, a chestnut Arabian horse, presented by the Sultan to Mr. Rhind, United States consul and imported by him.
Golddust became an important sire of the time and was retained by Mr. Dorsey for his career. He is described as being pure gold in color, off hind ankle white, sixteen hands high and weighed 1 275 pounds. It should be noted that he was never defeated in the show ring at the trot or at the flat-footed walk. It is said at a flat walk he could cover six miles in an hour. No stallion of his day produced larger, handsomer, showy horses, or more winners in the show rings and trotting races of the era. His get were exhibited at all the prominent expositions and fairs with Goldsheen (his grandson) winning his classes at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
For trotting speed, Golddust himself, was the peer of anything bred before in Kentucky. Racing in 1861, Golddust defeated Iron Duke in a match race, best three out of five heats, for a purse of $10,000. Beside being an animal of great beauty and refinement, he was noted for endowing his offspring with extreme speed. Although his stud career was curtailed by the Civil War and his own untimely death, he sired 302 foals and left 44 trotters of record. In getting speed, he outranks even the great Hambletonian. In addition to their speed and racing quality, his get also illustrated the style and beauty of their Morgan and Arab lineage.
TIME MOVES ON: With the advent of the carriage horse, the country became very involved with speed. In my research I came to realize that horses at this time were not sold by pedigree but rather by their racing time. It seems time horses were not only raced on the tracks but in friendly matches on the country roads. It must have been a fascinating time in the history of our country. However, in the search for sheer racing speed, the Morgan blood, and unfortunately, that of the Morab disappeared into the new breed of Standardbreds. Couple this with the advent of the horseless carriage and in a very short period of time the entire horse industry in this country changed dramatically.
HEARST: For these reasons, my continuing research found very little until the 1920's. It was at this time that the famed William Randolph Hearst had a short-lived, but important Morgan breeding program and a program of breeding Morabs. Mr. Hearst is credited with having coined the word "Morab. " I discovered that some of Hearst's Morabs were registered as Morgans, with the "Piedmont" prefix, under the now extinct Rule 2 of the Morgan Horse Registry. Under Rule 2, horses would be -accepted if one of the parents was not a purebred provided that the parent met certain specifications. This was discontinued in 1948 when the Morgan Registry closed to outside blood. My research revealed that Hearst bred Morabs by crossing his Arabian stallions, Ksar and Ghazi, to Morgan mares. He found the produce were excellent for work on his San Simeon Ranch in California.
SWENSON: My investigation revealed another Morab breeding program of interest that was run by the Swenson Brothers near Stamford, Texas. The purchase of Morgan stud colts #6775 Red Bird and #5979 Gotch (sons of the Admiral), along with a band of broodmares marked the beginning of the SMS spread. Eventually, Arabian blood was added to the stock and fine cutting horses evolved from the cross. One example was a bay gelding, Rey Boy (#15,810), foaled at SMS in 1943 and owned by "Wild Bill" Elliott of Hollywood fame. Rey's sire was the Quarter horse Billy by King (P-234). His dam was a Morab sired by Niwad (Arabian) out of the daughter of an SMS Morgan stallion.
FULLER: The last chapter and a very significant one in my research centers around Martha Doyle Fuller of Clovis, California and her daughter. In the 1950's, in her attempt to breed a horse that could successfully compete on the open show circuit, Mrs. Fuller developed a Morab breeding program. The Morab was not the only breed she experimented with, however, the Morab was the only one in her opinion to fill the bill. It was from her successful breeding program that her daughter, M. Ilene Miller, started the first Morab registry in 1973.
It was because of Mrs. Miller's endeavor that the last 20 years have brought a reemergence and a new appreciation of the Morab breed for its own fine qualities. The Morab breed owes its current success to Mrs. Miller's dedication and belief in the breed. To many, she was known as Mrs. Morab. Having corresponded and spoken with her over a period of time, I will say her nickname was a well-deserved one. It was under her direction that two regional Morab Clubs were formed and her registry personally supported the breed at numerous horse fairs. I am sorry to say Mrs. Miller passed away in 1980 and with her passing the first registry seemed to fade away.
EPILOG: My project of researching the Morab breed is still ongoing as I never know when I will uncover yet another antique book or a magazine with a historical article to enable me to expand my research file. Yet I am even more excited about the history yet to be written by the Morabs of today. I look forward to a well-deserved bright future and recognition for the Morab breed, a breed that through the span of the last century and a half has done a great deal to either improve or help other breeds grow.
You make me feel so beautiful...
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You make me feel so beautiful, beautiful all over,
So loveable and so very special.
The way you look at me
Your warm gaze sends shivers down my spine.
You...
Basic Rabbit Facts
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Basic Rabbit Facts
Fact: A well cared for house rabbit that has been spayed or neutered early
in life has a life expectancy of 8 to 12 years of age.
Fact...
