Horses should be taken care of by a knowledgeable horse person. Please if your considering buy a horse take a look at the hard work it takes to build a partnership with an animal, the endless chores of taking care of one, and the money it will cost to support all of there needs. Now don't get me wrong I'm not trying to scare anyone off from this wonderful sport and hobby but its best to know what it takes before you're in over your head, and lets just say its not like taking car of a big dog. This is why I created this site, for your benefit.
So lets get right into all the facts:
Horses are flight animals and are considered prey in the wild. This means that a horse's natural instinct is to run from the "danger" and then decide whether it really would have hurt them later; after they are safe from the so called "danger."
All horses need general care. They need to be fed either once or twice a day with grain or bran depending upon where you live and the conditions of your pasture. They also need to have a steady amount of water available at all times and will have to have their feet trimmed every 6-8 weeks. Also, they need shots, coggins(test showing they are negative to diseases and that you are the owner of that horse. You have to have them to trailer your horse anywhere), and teeth floatings(horse's teeth are cleaned and files, otherwise they can not eat properly
Horses also need forms of exercise. This keeps their hooves, muscles, bones, and organs healthy. Exercise can come from riding and lunging. Horses also depend on and need a since of partnership with their owner. Its best to form a relationship with your horse by grooming them, feeding them, and just spending time out with them and in their environment.
These are some random yet important horse facts for you:
- A horse is generally over 14.2 hh (hands high).
- Anything under 14.2 hh is a pony.
- There are over 200 breeds of horses in the world.
- A horse's gestation period (time between breeding and birth) is about 11 months, but can be anywhere from 10-12 months.
- Horses usually live to be 20-25 years old. The oldest horse lived to be 62.
- A father horse is called a sire.
- A mother horse is called a dam.
- The scientific name for the horse is equus caballus.
- A full grown horse that weighs about 1,000 pounds contains approximately 13.2 gallons of blood.
- Horses have about 175 bones in their body.
- A horse's hoof grows at a rate of about 1 cm per month.
- A horse's leg joints are not fully fused (grown) until around the age of 3 1/2..
- Horses can see in two directions at once.
- Horses can see everywhere, except directly in front or behind them.
- Horses make 8 basic sounds- snort, squeal, greeting nicker, courtship nicker, maternal nicker, neigh, roar, blow.
- It is almost impossible for a horse to vomit-- if they do, their stomachs usually rupture soon after.
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