1. The appearance of the horse

Horse different breeds of horse body size varies greatly. Heavy breeds weigh up to 1200 kilograms and are 200 centimeters tall; small breeds weigh less than 200 kilograms and are only 95 centimeters tall, and the so-called dwarf horses are only 60 centimeters tall.

The horse (herbivorous livestock) horse head face straight and long, short ears. Long limbs, solid bones, tendons and ligaments are well developed, with the remains of the palmar occiput attached to the cicadas (commonly known as the night eye), the hooves are hard, and can quickly run on hard ground. Hair color is complex, with bay, chestnut, brown, green and black predominant; fur is shed once in spring and once in fall. The sweat glands are well developed, which is conducive to the regulation of body temperature, and it is easy to adapt to new environments in spite of the cold and heat. The chest is deep and wide, the heart and lungs are developed, suitable for running and strong labor. The esophagus is narrow, the stomach is single, the large intestine, especially the cecum, is exceptionally developed, which helps to digest and absorb roughage. No gallbladder, bile ducts are well developed. Teeth strong chewing power, the space between incisors and molars is known as the recipient of the title part, saddled to put the articulator, in order to ride. Age can be determined according to the number and shape of the teeth and their degree of wear and tear, with a keen sense of hearing and smell. The distance between the two eyes is large, and the overlapping part of the visual field is only 30%, thus the judgment of distance is poor; at the same time, the eye's focus adjustment is weak, and only a fuzzy image can be formed for objects 500 meters away, while the shape of objects at close range can be well recognized. The head and neck are flexible, and the visual field of both eyes reaches 330° to 360°. There is a layer of illuminated membrane in the outer layer of the retina under the eyes, which is highly light-sensitive, and can also see the surrounding objects at night, and the horse sleeps standing up.

2. The horse's sense of smell

The horse's sense of smell is very sensitive horse's sense of smell is very developed, is a very strong organ of information perception, which makes it in the case of auditory or other organs of perception did not perceive the situation is easy to receive foreign kinds of information, and can quickly respond. The perfect combination of a well-developed sense of smell with an acute sense of hearing and fast, agile movements is the evolutionary success of the horse over millions of years, and is the main physiological trait that the horse has contributed to mankind.

(1). The horse recognizes external things mainly by smell:

The horse recognizes or identifies information about things, especially unfamiliar objects or animals in close proximity, and first shows the behavior of using the sense of smell. Sometimes will take the initiative to approach the object, nose flap, make short shallow breathing, trying to inhale more fresh odor information, strengthen the fresh things to identify or explore. Then, the horse will perform the corresponding resting or avoidance behaviors. Horses are able to recognize owner, sex, dam and foal, estrus, companion, road, stall and feed type based on olfactory information. For example, it has been shown that the odor of a mare in heat can attract a stallion from a distance, and, of course, a stallion can identify a mare in heat within a certain distance by his sense of smell. Stallions often have the behavior of rolling their lips and sniffing the sky when they encounter a mare in heat (sexual olfactory reflex).

(2). Horses rely on their sense of smell to adapt to their environment:

Groups of grazing or wild horses rely on their sense of smell to identify minute amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere, by which they can search for water and grass miles away. That's why wild herds of horses are able to survive in arid deserts. Horses can find companions and avoid fierce animals and natural predators based on the odor of their feces.

Horses are conditioned to respond differently to different olfactory information. Horses also emit a short snort (snorting) when they smell rusty or dangerous information as a warning and inform their companions of this information. Horses are extremely responsive to the odor of their companion's feces, and it has been observed that stallions are willing to urinate in locations where mares in heat have urinated before. A foal that smells fresh feces will be provoked into a high degree of excretory response, causing defecation and urination. Thus, the horse can alter its life and orientation activities in a herd based on olfactory information.

(3). Horses can rely on their sense of smell to identify sewage or noxious forage feed:

The horse's nasal cavity is large, and the subnasal sieve plate is connected to the soft palate to form a spacer effect. Therefore, foraging can still inhale the olfactory information through the nasal cavity, can choose food, but also alert to the enemy, the two do not interfere with each other. Horses can use the sense of smell to ingest nutrients that are in short supply in the body, and can identify poisonous plants or pasture grasses in the grassland, and horses seldom eat poisonous grass by mistake. Horses can rely on the sense of smell to identify contaminated water and feed and refuse to drink. In the daily management of horses, attention should be paid to the hygiene of water sources, material pools, water troughs and feeding troughs, which is very important to the health of horses.

(4). Horses are easy to receive things that are familiar to their sense of smell:

Therefore, when approaching a horse or conditioning a horse to learn new things, it is better to greet it with olfactory information first. For example, fitting a harness or saddle and letting the horse sniff it first will make the operation go more smoothly. Sometimes when it is necessary to find another mare to board an orphaned foal, anointing the foal with that mare's milk will increase the mare's receptivity to the orphaned foal. Changes in feed and barn environment are most easily felt by the horse and require gradual acclimatization. Management should pay attention to the hygiene of feed troughs, water sources, etc., which can reduce the adverse stimulation of the environment on the horse.

3. Horse's vision

The horse's vision is not very good The horse's behavior is its inherent physiological reflection, and it is according to the characteristics of the horse's behavior that we human beings to approach, control, train and adjust the horse, so that it can contribute to human beings. Only by understanding the horse's behavioral performance and psychological state, can we do the right feeding, control, adjustment, make, develop the horse's beneficial behavior, conditioning the performance of a good horse, and give full play to the horse's athletic performance.

The horse's vision is an organ with poor information perception ability, therefore, when approaching and using the horse, pay attention to the following aspects:

(1). Suddenly approaching the horse, do not think it has seen clearly who you are:

The horse's eyes are located on both sides of the head, the panoramic view surface up to 330 ~ 360 degrees, only the back of the Cirri Department is beyond its field of vision. As a result, the horse is able to feel something approaching it. However, the horse eyeball is flat oval, due to the poor length of the eye axis, the object is difficult to form a focus on the retina, look at the object can only form a fuzzy image. The horse recognizes its owner, but when suddenly approached, it cannot distinguish who you are. Therefore, you need to greet the horse with your voice and do not assume that it has seen clearly.

(2). Horses are easily frightened, is because of its poor vision:

The horse's visual perception of static objects is not as good as dynamic objects, the horse on the periphery of static animals such as snakes, rabbits, etc., often found not, when these critters suddenly appeared, often caused by the horse's sense of shock, especially the stallion, sometimes sudden stress behavior, such as a small hide, shocked at the group, sometimes resulting in injuries to personnel. Horses due to poor vision, sometimes form a strong sense of terror, resulting in the herd horse bombing group, service horse scared car and ride horse out of control. When the horse in a different place, complex ground conditions and night action, to constantly use the sound to be stabilized.

(3). Very poor vision also makes the horse's sense of distance relatively weak:

The horse's eyes are located on both sides of the head, and the overlap of the field of vision in the center is very narrow, only about 30 degrees, less than one-third of that of a carnivore. Therefore, what the horse sees is mainly a flat image, lack of three-dimensional sense, the ability to judge the distance is weak. Fear of obstacles often occurs when jumping over trenches or obstacles, and fear of jumping occurs. Therefore, it takes a long time to train over obstacles, and it should be repeated and strengthened frequently. It is best to give the rider other appropriate assistance to help him judge the distance during the training of jumping over obstacles. In addition to the horse's own qualities, the rider's timely and accurate instructions are also very important to a good jumping horse. The horse is incapable of judging distance when backing up, so special vigilance should be exercised over the hind limbs when harnessing and controlling the horse.

(4). Although the horse's vision is poor, but the night vision can be stronger than human:

The outer layer of the retina at the bottom of the horse's eye has a layer of illuminated membrane (people do not have illuminated membrane), which can return the excess light that passes through the retina to the retinal receptor, and thus the optic nerve's receptivity can be more than twice as large as the original light. In low light conditions, the reflection of the photoreceptor makes the object clearer. Therefore, the horse can clearly recognize the night road and night animals at night. When riding at night, the horse often snorts, indicating that it has discovered the animal or foreign object that travels at night, and warns by snorting.

(5). The hue and intensity of the light, the horse is able to feel:

Strong light on the horse is a kind of adversity stimulus, often cause the horse's uneasiness. Therefore, do not have strong light during transportation. Horses react strongly to the stimulation of red light, conditioning, make service should pay attention to red objects, to prevent the horse panic; horses have a certain sense of good and bad for the color of the hair, similar hair color tends to gather together. Horses to common colors will also produce conditioned reflexes, such as the veterinarian dressed in white or sperm collector will occur when the corresponding reflection.

4. The horse's sense of taste

(1). The horse's taste perception ability is general, so the foraging surface is very wide

The horse relies on the sense of taste for biting and chewing exploratory sphincter, the horse's mouth and tongue are distributed with taste receptors, also called taste buds. These taste buds are concentrated in the contour papillae, myxomatous papillae and lobular papillae.

The horse's sense of taste is not sensitive, so the horse collects food from a wide range of sources, and the horse is one of the easiest animals to feed. Many of the feed horses can adapt to, and some are even rougher and less palatable feed. In the northern pastoral areas of China, horses in winter mainly feed on grass withered grass, sometimes even twigs and fallen leaves, supplementary feeding is limited. Some of the straw in agricultural areas are also eaten by horses, cut guillotine and properly crushed better. A wide range of forage is also a major feature of the horse's adaptability. Of course, even with a wide range of food, always giving the horse a good quality, palatable forage feed is a must.

(2). Horses have strong taste preferences

Horses have a preference for flavors in their food, even though they gather a wide range. Horses are insensitive to bitter flavors and have a stronger sense of sweet and sour flavors. Horses prefer sweet flavors and reject sour ones. Sweet-tasting forages such as carrots, green corn, alfalfa grass, and molasses are favorites of the horse and can be used as food bait or as a reward in conditioning to reinforce certain after-effects of the behavior. Forages with an acidic flavor require an acclimation process before they are gradually adapted.

5. Hearing

The horse's sense of hearing is very well developed, and it is an organ with a high capacity to perceive information, which has evolved over a long period of time. A well-developed sense of hearing is a physiological compensation for the horse's poor vision, which is very necessary for the survival of the horse in the primitive state. Because the horse in the natural world to survive the key issue is to avoid predator attacks, and the horse to avoid predator attacks is the ability to escape and limited counterattack.

6. Sleeping patterns

The horse doesn't necessarily sleep at night, let alone all night long. If no one disturbs it, it can sleep anywhere, anytime, standing, lying down, or lying on its back. A large horse can sleep eight or nine times a day, adding up to almost six hours. The horse sleeps best in the two hours before dawn. Horses sleep standing up inheriting the wild horse's habits. Wild horses live in the endless desert grassland area, in the original ancient period is both human hunting objects, but also jackals, wolves and other carnivores delicious food. It is not like cattle and sheep can fight with the enemy with horns, the only way, only by running to escape from the enemy. And jackals, wolves and other carnivores are nocturnal, it is in the daytime in the hidden bushes and grasses or earth and rock caves in the body, out at night to feed. Wild horses in order to quickly and timely escape from the enemy, in the night do not dare to sleep high on the ground. Even in the daytime, it also had to stand and snooze, to maintain a high degree of vigilance, in case of trouble. Although the domestic horse is not as wild horses will encounter natural enemies and man-made injuries, but they are domesticated from the wild horse, so the wild horse standing and sleeping habits, is still retained. In addition to horses, donkeys also have the habit of sleeping standing up, because their ancestors' living environment is very similar to that of wild horses. Horse experts firmly believe that in a herd or a stable there may be a part of the horse lying down to sleep, but it will never happen that all the horses lie down to sleep at the same time, there will always be a horse will stand there "sentinel".