Cute Photos
Horse Facts
Tue Dec 25
- Weird Horse Facts
- 1. Horses cannot burp or vomit.
- 2. Horses with pink skin can get a sunburn. (Source: The Equinest)
- 3. It takes 9-12 months to re-grow an entire horse hoof.
- 4. You can tell if a horse is cold by feeling behind their ears.
- 5. When horses look like they’re laughing, they’re engaging in a special nose-enhancing technique known as “flehmen”.
- 6. A horse's teeth take up more space in their head than their brain. (Source: LiveScience).
- 7. An adult horse’s brain weighs 22 oz.
- 8. Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up.
- 9. Horses in a herd (especially wild horses) will not lie down simultaneously.
- 10. Vocalizations are highly important to horses.
- 11. The first cloned horse was a Haflinger mare in Italy in 2003.
- 12. Horses produce approximately 10 gallons of saliva a day.
- 13. Most of the time, wherever a horse's ear is pointing is where the horse is looking with the eye on the same side.
- 14. Horses with typical anatomy are “obligate nasal breathers” which means they must breathe through their nostrils and cannot breathe through their mouths.
- Funny Horse Facts
- 15. Horses have a sense of humor.
- 16. Horses use their ears, eyes, and nostrils to express their mood.
- 17. Most horses have 205 bones in their bodies, while humans have 206.
- 18. Horses like sweet flavors and will usually reject anything sour or bitter. (Source: The Equinest)
- 19. Most horses are born at night.
- 20. The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 88 kph (55 mph).
- Cool Horse Facts
- 21. Newborn horses can stand, walk, and trot shortly after birth.
- 22. The gestation period of a foal is two months longer than a human.
- 23. You can generally tell the difference between male and female horses by their number of teeth.
- 24. Horses have very large eyes.
- 25. Compared to other animals, horses have good vision.
- 26. Because of the position of the horse’s eyes, they can see roughly 350 degrees around themselves.
- 27. Horses still hold a place of honor in many cultures, often linked to heroic exploits in war.
- 28. A horse can see better at night than a human.
- 29. On the underside of a horse's hoof is a triangular shaped area called the “frog," which has multiple functions.
- 30. The average horse's heart weighs approximately 9 or 10 pounds whereas a human heart weighs only 10-12 ounces (0.28-0.34 kg) on average.
- 31. Scientists believe that the first known ancestor of the horse lived about 50 million years ago.
- 32. Horses have 16 muscles in each ear.
- 33. Horses remember a lot.
- Just Plain Random Horse Facts
- 34. At one time, people thought horses were colorblind.
- 35. Horse hooves are made from the same protein – called keratin - that comprises human hair and fingernails.
- 36. The most expensive horse ever sold* was Fusaichi Pegasus. He was purchased for a staggering $70 million in 2000 by Coolmore Stud in Ireland.
- 37. The horse trailer (“horse box”) was invented by Lord George Bentinck, a U.K. man who needed a more effective transport for getting his prize horse “Elis” from one racetrack to another.
- 38. In 1872, Leland Stanford (1824-1893) made a bet that at some point in the gallop, all four of a horse’s legs were off the ground at the same time.
- 39. Horses are more secure and comfortable when traveling in a horse trailer if they can face the rear, but they prefer openings.
- 40. A nineteenth-century horse named ‘Old Billy’ reportedly lived 62 years (1760-1822) in England.
- 41. It is thought that the Przewalski horse is the only truly wild horse species still in existence.
- 42. Approximately 4.6 million Americans work in the horse industry in one way or another.
- 43. There are approximately 58 to 60 million horses in the world.
- 44. There is only one species of domestic horse, but around 600 different breeds that specialize in everything from pulling wagons to racing.
- 45. All existing horse breeds fit into five categories: hot-blooded, warm-blooded, cold-blooded/draft, pony, and miniature.
- 46. Wild horses generally gather in groups of 3 to 20 animals.
- 47. A horse’s height is measured in units known as "hands."
- 48. The record for the longest jump over water is held by a horse named Something who jumped 27 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches on April 25, 1975, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 49. The record for the highest jump made by a horse is held by a horse named Huaso who jumped 8 feet, 1 and 1/4 inches on February 5th, 1949, in Vina del Mar, Chile.
- 50. Horses drink at least 25 gallons of water a day on average.
- 51. A zebroid is a cross between a zebra and any other member of the family Equidae (which, besides zebras, includes donkeys, ponies, and horses).
- 52. If a horse has a red ribbon on its tail, it kicks.
- 53. Horses are social animals and will get lonely if kept alone.
