Jump to content

Portal:Horses

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portal topics
Activities
Culture
Geography
Health
History
Mathematics
Nature
People
Philosophy
Religion
Society
Technology
Random portal
edit 

The Horses Portal

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 a good 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...)

Selected article - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Go Man Go (1953–1983) was an American Quarter Horse stallion and race horse. He was named World Champion Quarter Running Horse three times in a row, one of only two horses to achieve that distinction. Go Man Go was considered to be of difficult temperament. While waiting in the starting gate for his first race, he threw his jockey, broke down the gate, and ran alone around the track; he was eventually caught and went on to win the race. During his five years of competition until he retired from racing in 1960 he had 27 wins, earning more than $86,000 (equivalent to $935,000 in 2023).

Neither of Go Man Go's parents raced. His sire (father), the Thoroughbred stallion Top Deck, was bred by the King Ranch. His dam (mother) hailed from Louisiana; Go Man Go is thought to have gained his swiftness on the track from her. For the first years of Go Man Go's racing career, his owner faced difficulty in registering him with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), a matter that remained unresolved until 1958. (Full article...)
edit 

Selected image

Credit: Michael Gäbler

The Noriker horse, also historically known as the Pinzgauer horse, is a moderately heavy Austrian draught horse breed. It is considered indigenous to the central Alpine region of Europe, and is believed to have originated around the highest mountain of Austria, the Grossglockner. The Kufenstechenis an event that takes place at Feistritz an der Gail in Carinthia, Austria during the annual Kermesse on Whit Monday. The task of young unmarried men, riding bareback on Noriker horses, is to smash a wooden barrel with an iron. The men have to ride past several times before the barrel is destroyed. Finally, when it is broken, the winner receives a wreath of flowers which he puts on his wrist. Afterwards, the winner begins the traditional dance under the lime tree, joined by other unmarried couples, wearing the traditional Gailtaler folk costumes. The dance is accompanied by traditional songs.

Gallery
edit 

Latest updates

Article alerts for WikiProject Equine

Did you know

Proposed deletions

Categories for discussion

Good article nominees

Articles to be merged

Articles for creation

Updated daily by bot
edit 

More did you know?

edit 

Related portals

Selected breed - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
An Arabian mare

The Arabian or Arab horse (Arabic: الحصان العربي [alħisˤaːn alʕarabijj], DMG al-ḥiṣān al-ʿarabī) is a breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest modern breeds. Although modern DNA cannot trace breed purity in the modern population beyond 200 years, there is archaeological evidence of horses in the Middle East with landrace characteristics that resemble modern Arabians dating back 3,500 years. Throughout history, Arabian horses have spread around the world by both war and trade, used to improve other breeds by adding speed, refinement, endurance, and strong bone. Today, Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.

The Arabian developed in a desert climate and was prized by the nomadic Bedouin people, often being brought inside the family tent for shelter and protection from theft. Selective breeding for traits, including an ability to form a cooperative relationship with humans, created a horse breed that is good-natured, quick to learn, and willing to please. The Arabian also developed the high spirit and alertness needed in a horse used for raiding and war. This combination of willingness and sensitivity requires modern Arabian horse owners to handle their horses with competence and respect. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated)

General images

The following are images from various horse-related articles on Wikipedia.
edit 

Topics

edit 

Subcategories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
Horses
Horses by country
Horse behavior
Horse breeds
Horse coat colors
Equine genetics
Equine therapies
Equine welfare
Horse history and evolution
Horse gaits
Horse health
Horses and humans
Individual horses
Lists of horses
Ponies
Horse subspecies
Types of horse
Horse stubs

New articles

This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2024-07-14 20:18 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.

edit 

WikiProjects

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Horses&oldid=1142107224"