Horses Flashcards
Around when were horses domesticated? What year?
5000 to 6000 years ago
Around 4000 BC.
What does the domestication time mean for horses?
We only domesticated them after we settled.
True or false: Horses are one of the newer mammals.
False! They are believed to be one of the oldest mammals. But, they have changed a lot!
How have horses changed from their ancient ancestors?
Remember biology.
They used to be very very small forest creatures that had toes.
During the late pleistocene era, what was there?
A wild horse and donkey like creature. Not a mule.
A long long long time ago, explain where and how wild horses were.
In the south eastern part of africa was zebras.
In the northern part of africa was asses.
in the middle east area was half-asses.
In the European area was horses.
Why are horses a little bit different than our other animals in terms of ancestory?
We are not really sure what horse or horse like animal was the foundation stock of our modern domesticated horses.
What two races of wild horses are represented in our modern horse breeds?
Przewalski horse
and
Tarpan.
What was the range of the Przewalski horse?
Mongolia. (Located above China, below Russia. On the east.)
What is an interesting fact about przewalski horses?
Up until about 20 years ago, there was believed to still be a wild herd of Przewalski horses.
What was the Tarpan’s home range?
Southern Russia, now Ukraine.
Why were horses domesticated?
Transportation and food.
True or false: The same as other animals we have discussed, horses were brought to North/south America via European and Asian explorers.
Kind of!!
Some horses were most likely already in the Americans when explorers arrived!
This is very different than the other animals we have discussed.
How do we believe horses got to the Americas?
Some wild horses crossed the Siberian Ice bridge out of Europe and asia.
The ones in America were the descendants of these.
When was the first bit used?
4000 BC.
What was the first bit made out of?
Femur bone with rope or twine around the ends.
Why is it pretty easy to figure out if certain bones are horse remains?
They would find horse equipment with it! Saddles and bits.
When was the first saddle with stirrups used?
3000 BC.
WHat was the first saddle made of?
Wood
When was military use of horses prevalent?
1000 AD
How did dressage affect domestication?
Horses had to be able to respond to seat and leg movements so hands of the rider were free for combat.
Where does dressage originate?
Military in origin. (Lipizzan, Spanish riding school.)
Horses were the first in what modern day management practice?
A.I breeding!
Oldest recorded use of AI in domesticated animals we believe.
When was AI first used? Where? Describe.
Arabic texts in 1322 describe the collection of semen from stallions to breed mares.
In the middle ages, they say they collected the sperm of the fastest and boldest horses to breed the mares.