Wikipedia

Portal:Horses

Portal topics
Activities
Culture
Geography
Health
History
Mathematics
Nature
People
Philosophy
Religion
Society
Technology
Random portal
edit 

The Horses Portal

Horse and foal

The horse (Equus ferus caballus) is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, close to Eohippus, into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, which are horses that never have been domesticated and historically linked to the megafauna category of species. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior.

Horses are adapted to run, allowing them to quickly escape predators, and possess a good sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight response. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down, with younger horses tending to sleep significantly more than adults. Female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under a saddle or in a harness between the ages of two and four. They reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

Horse breeds are loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament: spirited "hot bloods" with speed and endurance; "cold bloods", such as draft horses and some ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and "warmbloods", developed from crosses between hot bloods and cold bloods, often focusing on creating breeds for specific riding purposes, particularly in Europe. There are more than 300 breeds of horse in the world today, developed for many different uses. (Full article...)

Selected article - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Poco Pine (1954–1974) was an American Quarter Horse stallion and breeding stallion. He earned 50 Grand Championships in his showing career and after his death was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association's (or AQHA) AQHA Hall of Fame in 2010. Two of his descendants have also been inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. 37 of his offspring earned an AQHA Championship during their own showing careers. (Full article...)
edit 

Selected image

Credit: Carole A.

A shepherd in Kazakhstan, who uses a horse and dogs in his trade.

Gallery
edit 

Latest updates

Article alerts for WikiProject Equine

Articles for deletion

Proposed deletions

  • 18 Sep 2024 – Megane Moissonnier (talk · edit · hist) was PRODed by Nayyn (t · c): I don't think this person qualifies under WP:ANYBIO at this time. They have one win at a Grand Prix show. This individual does not qualify under WP:SPORTSPERSON

Categories for discussion

Redirects for discussion

Good article nominees

Articles to be merged

Updated daily by bot
edit 

More did you know?

edit 

Selected breed - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Icelandic horse performing the tölt

The Icelandic horse (Icelandic: íslenski hesturinn [ˈistlɛnscɪ ˈhɛstʏrɪn]), or Icelandic, is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Although the horses are smaller (at times pony-sized) compared to other breeds, most registries for the Icelandic refer to it as a horse. The breed is long-lived and hardy, owing to the ruggedness of its home country. In their native Iceland they have few afflictions or diseases, thus national laws are in place preventing foreign-born horses from being imported into the country, while exported animals are not permitted to return. In addition to the gaits of walk, trot, and canter/gallop, typical of other horse breeds, many Icelandic horses can also do the tölt (ambling gait) and the flying pace. The only breed of horse in Iceland, the Icelandic is also popular internationally, and sizable populations exist in Europe and North America. The breed is still used for traditional sheepherding work in its native country, as well as for leisure, showing, and racing.

Developed from ponies brought to Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries, the breed is mentioned in various documents from throughout Icelandic history; an early reference to a named-horse appears in the 12th century. Horses were venerated in Germanic religion, a custom brought to Iceland by the country's earliest settlers. Centuries of selective breeding have developed the Icelandic horse into its modern physical form, with natural selection having also played a role in overall hardiness and disease resistance; the harsh Icelandic climate likely eliminated many weaker horses early on due to exposure and malnourishment, with the strongest passing on their genes. In the 1780s, much of the breed was wiped out in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption at Laki. The first breed society for the Icelandic horse was created in Iceland in 1904, and the breed is represented by organizations in 22 different nations as of 2024, organised under a parent association, the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated)

General images

The following are images from various horse-related articles on Wikipedia.
edit 

Topics

edit 

Subcategories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
Horses
Horses by country
Horse behavior
Horse breeds
Horse coat colors
Equine genetics
Equine therapies
Equine welfare
Horse history and evolution
Horse gaits
Horse health
Horses and humans
Individual horses
Lists of horses
Ponies
Horse subspecies
Types of horse
Horse stubs

New articles

This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2024-09-21 20:15 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.

edit 

WikiProjects

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Horses&oldid=1142107224"