How to Take Care of Horses

I really like horses and I wanted to learn about them. I get books at the library and look at them and read them every day. This is some of the stuff I learned.



People used to hunt for horses and eat them until they learned they could teach the horses how to pull so they they did. When the horses could pull things they had them carry their food for them like treats and stuff. When people rode them to war and stuff it was easier to do it because they were fighting someone else on foot.

They had horses plow their crops, they rode them and they had them pull carriages. It was easier for them to go places because horses were faster than walking on foot. Today there are three sizes of horses. The littlest horse is called a pony. The next biggest horse is a light horse. The third size is a draft horse. Draft means he can carry more things than a light horse can.

A jumping horse is called a holstering. The fastest a horse can go is a gallup. They can also walk, trot and canter. You don't just start a horse with a gallop you have to start off slow and then go to gallop.

Horses have molar and incisors. The molars grind the food and the incisors cut the food into smaller pieces. Sometimes horses teeth develop sharp points on them so the vet might have to file them down once a year so the horses can grind their food correctly. You should never feed a horse a whole apple because they can choke on it. You can feed them any kind of vegetable you want like broccoli, carrots and celery. Their favorite food is oats. If you take them a treat every time you go out to see them they will start nibbling you for a treat so don't give them a treat every time.

A horse gets all it's air from breathing through it's nostrils. It doesn't breath through it's mouth like other animals do. It has really large nostrils so it can take in big amounts of air into its big lungs. This helps them to run better than people.

A father horse is called a sire. A mother horse is called a dam. A female foal is called a philly. A male foal is called a colt.

You don't measure horses by feet, you measure them by hands. You count them from their withers down to the ground. Their withers is a bump where their neck starts.

When you look at a horses hoof, the dark brown part is called a frog. The outside is called the wall. That's where you put the horseshoe. The sole is the very middle.

Did you know that horses are the only animal with one toe? Horses used to have four toes and they didn't even look like horses look now. I'm thinking every year they lost one toe. The reason why I'm saying "I'm thinking" is because it doesn't say how often they lost a toe. After they lost their toes they only kept one toe and that is a big hoof. A hoof is actually one toe!