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T H E
HOR SE
E N C Y C L O P E D I A
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CONTENTS
DK LONDON
Senior Designer Ina Stradins
Project Editor Miezan van Zyl
Project Art Editor Francis Wong
Editors Gill Pitts, Kaiya Shang
Jacket Designer Mark Cavanagh
Jacket Editor Claire Gell
Jacket Design Development Manager Sophia Tampakopoulos
Producer, Pre-Production Andy Hilliard
Producer Mary Slater 1I NTRODUCTION
Managing Art Editor Michael Duffy
Managing Editor Angeles Gavira
Art Director Karen Self TO HORSES
Associate Publishing Director Liz Wheeler
Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf
Consultant Editor Kim Dennis-Bryan
Project Management Amanda Lunn, Jo Weeks
The horse family 8
DK INDIA
Senior Editor Anita Kakar
Asses, donkeys, mules, and hinnies 12
Project Art Editor Vaibhav Rastogi
Editor Arpita Dasgupta
Art Editors Karan Chaudhary, Yashashvi Choudhary, The skeleton 14
Debjyoti Mukherjee
Assistant Art Editor Sonakshi Singh Muscle structure 16
Picture Researcher Sakshi Saluja
Jacket Art Editor Dhirendra Singh
Gaits 18
Senior Jacket DTP Designer Harish Aggarwal
DTP Designers Rajesh Singh Adhikari, Syed Md Farhan,
Anita Yadav Body systems 20
Managing Editor Rohan Sinha
Managing Art Editor Anjana Nair Markings and coat colours 22
Manager Picture Research Taiyaba Khatoon
Managing Jackets Editor Saloni Singh
The senses 24
Pre-production Manager Balwant Singh
Production Manager Pankaj Sharma
Behaviour and communication 26
Original text by Elwyn Hartley Edwards taken from Ultimate Horse and
The Encyclopedia of the Horse copyright © Mary Hartley Edwards 1991, 1994
Reproduction 28
First published in Great Britain in 2016
by Dorling Kindersley Limited, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL
Copyright © 2016 Dorling Kindersley Limited
A Penguin Random House Company
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001 – 291450 – Sep/16
2 H ORSES
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
prior permission of the copyright owner. AND HUMANS
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-2412-4978-9
Printed and bound in China.
Domestication 32
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
The horse in war 36
WWW.DK.COM
Riding as art 38
Disclaimer
Neither the publishers or the authors accept any legal responsibility for any personal
injury or injuries to horses or other damage or loss arising from the reliance on any Horses in legend and culture 40
advice in this book. If your horse is ill or has behavioural problems, please seek the
advice of a qualified professional, such as a vet or behavioural expert.
The working horse 42
Developing breeds and types 44
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3 C ATALOGUE OF BREEDS
AND TYPES
Heavy horses 48
Lighter horses 90
Ponies 244
4 C ARE AND
MANAGEMENT
A balanced diet 330
Pasture management 334
Stables and stable management 336
Grooming and care 340
Signs of good health 344
Equine health 346
GLOSSARY 348
INDEX 352
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 358
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CHAPTER 1
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INTRODUCTION TO HORSES | THE HORSE FAMILY
The horse family
The only surviving members of the horse family (Equidae) belong to a single genus, Equus.
There are seven species, two of which are domestic (the horse and donkey). The wild species,
most of which are now endangered, comprise Przewalski’s horse, the Asian and African
wild asses, and the zebras. During the last 56 million years, however, there have been up
to 12 different equid genera living at one time, often of quite varying appearance.
For many years, the evolution of the lived in open woodland areas ate leaves, small hoof. Sifrippus, which was similar in
horse was thought to have been a gradual while those on open plains fed on grass. There form to Hyracotherium, fluctuated in size
progression: the horse increased in size as the were others that ate less discriminately and – during a 175,000-year period of global
number of toes it possessed decreased, and its could live in either habitat. warming, it shrank by about 30 per cent to
teeth gradually altered from being suited to the size of a cat. When temperatures fell
eating leaves and woodland plants to eating EARLY EQUIDS again, it became larger, attaining a shoulder
grass. Today, the fossil record, though Unlike the equids of the present day, the height of about 50 cm (19½ in). Fossil teeth
incomplete, reflects a different story of rapid early “horses” were polydactyl (several toed), and bones once attributed to Hyracotherium
diversification and extinctions. It is now browsing animals that lived in forests. Genera are now thought to be a mixture of species,
known that, at times, albeit in different such as Sifrippus and Hyracotherium had some of which have equine features and
habitats, equids with one and three relatively short faces, low-crowned teeth and others that do not. Scientists consider only
weight-bearing toes coexisted. Those that three weight-bearing toes, each ending in a the former to be equids.
Early fossil horses
Like wild equids
The feet and teeth of these three extinct equids today, it is likely the
differ considerably from those of present-day mane was upright
horses. The change in diet, number of
weight-bearing digits, and size is thought at
least in part to be related to the different
environments in which these equids lived.
MERYCHIPPUS
MESOHIPPUS
HYRACOTHERIUM
Hyracotherium Mesophippus
Relatively This early equid lived in forests, In Oligocene times, the climate
short face where it browsed soft plant material, Skull longer became drier. This opened up
such as leaves and twigs, using its woodland areas, and equids such
below eyes
low-crowned unspecialized teeth. as Mesohippus appeared. They had
Because it was small and could longer legs and were fleeter than
Four-toed easily hide among the trees and the forest species. They also had
Three-toed
forefeet undergrowth, Hyracotherium didn’t HEIGHT forefoot broader cheek teeth to cope HEIGHT
need to be fast. 35 cm (14 in) with coarser vegetation. 45 cm (18 in)
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THE HORSE FAMILY
INTERIM HORSES For a time, the plains of North America in grass. Longer legs, along with fusion of
Mesohippus lived in North America about were occupied by both single and multi-toed the radius and ulna (see pp.14–15), gave them
37 million years ago (MYA). Its name, grazers and browsers. However, only those more energy-efficient speed and endurance,
“middle horse”, is derived from the fact with diets and hooves like those of modern which helped them to escape capture by the
that it possessed features of both early horses survived to modern times. newly evolving plains predators.
and modern equids. Merychippus was one of the first grazing Stilt-legged horses, such as Hipparion,
During Miocene times, about 20 MYA, horses. It lived 17–11 MYA, stood around appeared at the start of the Miocene period.
the climate became drier, forests declined 122 cm (10.2 hh) high at the withers, and Although polydactyl, these grazers also had
and grasslands expanded. As a result, the had a long face, which, like that of modern only one weight-bearing toe. They were a
equids rapidly diversified, some of the new equids, housed a battery of cheek teeth. remarkably successful group of equids,
species becoming larger and others smaller. Later equids had even longer faces with surviving some 22 million years, and
Equids were most diverse towards the end of larger brains and deeper jaws that contained colonizing Europe and Asia when the
the Miocene period (5.3 MYA) when there continually growing teeth that could opportunity arose. However, they were
were more than 12 different equid genera. compensate for the abrasive action of silica unable to survive the development of
modern equids and predation by hunters,
such as cave hyenas.
About 12 MYA ago Dinohippus, a
Around 122 cm
(10.2 hh) in height single-hooved equid resembling a modern
horse, appeared in North America. It was
another 8 million years before the first
Equus species appeared but when it did,
rapid diversification followed. When
temperatures plummeted during the Late
Pliocene to Pleistocene, they, like other
equids, crossed to the Old World using
temporary land bridges created by the fall
in sea levels. At some point after that – and
for reasons as yet unknown – all species of
equid died out in North America. No equids
would be seen there again until modern
horses were introduced by Europeans in
the 16th century.
MERYCHIPPUS
Merychippus
A grazing horse with body
proportions not unlike those
of a modern horse, Merychippus Human contact
lived in the open plains. Here there After crossing from North America to Europe,
Broad,
was no hiding from predators and equids continued to diversify and spread across
high-crowned
cheek teeth speed was essential for survival. Europe. Cave paintings at Lascaux, France,
Browsing many-toed equids still HEIGHT showing representations of horse-like animals,
Single weight- lived in the wetter wooded areas. 120 cm (47 in) were made before horses were domesticated.
bearing toe
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INTRODUCTION TO HORSES | THE HORSE FAMILY
MODERN EQUIDS Wild asses are found in northern Africa, The tarpan and the domestic horse are
The surviving members of the genus Asia, and the Middle East. Those from genetically more similar to each other than
Equus can be divided into two groups – north Africa are critically endangered with either is to Przewalski’s horse. They both
the non-caballine zebras and asses, only about 200 adults remaining. There are have 64 chromosomes (strands of DNA)
and the caballine horses (see opposite). only two surviving subspecies – the Nubian whereas Przewalski’s horse has 66.
All are grazers with one functional toe and wild ass and the Somali wild ass. It is from Horses were first domesticated about
high-crowned teeth that grow throughout these African asses that the domestic donkey 6,000 years ago (see pp.32–35). Since then,
life. Probably the best known of the (see pp.12–13) is derived. The Asian asses humans have cross bred them with donkeys
non-caballine equids are the zebras. There comprise the onagers, of which there are to produce mules and hinnies, created
are three species – Grevy’s, mountain, and four subspecies or races, and the Kiang. breeds and types for different purposes,
plains – which are easily recognized by their Sadly, their numbers too are in decline due and transported them all over the world.
black-and-white-striped coats. Grevy’s zebra to human activities. In some places, this has led to thriving feral
is the largest and has the narrowest stripes. Of the caballines, only Przewalski’s populations of horses and donkeys (burros)
The smaller mountain zebra from southern horse lives in the wild in its original in areas where they never previously existed.
Africa is unique in having a dewlap (fold of range. Following disappearance of the last
skin under the throat). The plains zebra has truly wild individuals in 1969, it has been
Maintaining wild populations
six subspecies or races, each with a different successfully reintroduced using captive-bred Herds of the Przewalski’s horse survive in the
pattern of stripes, depending on where in animals. Another wild form, the tarpan, equine’s original ranges thanks to a programme
to introduce horses bred in captivity, such as the
Africa it comes from. became extinct in the 19th century. two shown here, into the wild.
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