Basic introduction to the class Mammalia, the order Perissodactyla, the order Equus, and the horse is a herbivorous domestic animal.

Horses were the main driving force in agricultural production, transportation and military activities in ancient times.

With the invention and widespread application of power machinery, the service value of horses has significantly declined in some industrially developed countries. Field work has almost all been replaced by tractors. Horses are mainly used for equestrian sports and milk production, and the number of animals raised has been greatly reduced.

However, in some developing countries and regions, horses are still mainly used for draft purposes and are an important source of draft power.

Origin and Domestication The genus Equus originated 60 million years ago in the early Tertiary Period of the Cenozoic Era. Its most primitive ancestor was a protoungulate animal with a short body and five toes on all four limbs, with the middle toe being more developed.

Eozoinma, or Eohorse, lived in the early Eocene of the Tertiary Period 58 million years ago, with a body height of about 40 centimeters.

The forelimbs are low and have 4 toes; the hind limbs are high and have 3 toes.

The teeth are simple and suitable for life in tropical forests.

After entering the Miocene, dry grasslands replaced moist shrublands, and the functions and structures of Equus animals changed significantly: their bodies increased, their limbs became longer, and they became single-toed; their teeth became harder and more complex.

After evolving through the evolutionary stages of Oligocene, Mesozoic, and Upper Neogene, it was not until the Quaternary Pleistocene that it became a single-hoofed horse with a raised head and tall body.

Domestic horses are domesticated from wild horses.

China is one of the first countries to domesticate horses. Relics from the Dawenkou Culture Period and Yangshao Culture Period sites in Shandong, the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and Jiangsu and other places prove that several varieties of wild horses were domesticated around 6,000 years ago.

for domestic animals.

Horses were domesticated later than dogs and cattle.

Biological Characteristics Horse physiques of different breeds vary greatly in size.

The heavy breed weighs up to 1,200 kilograms and is 200 centimeters tall; the small breed weighs less than 200 kilograms and is only 95 centimeters tall. The so-called pocket pony is only 60 centimeters tall.

The head and face are straight and long, with short ears.

The limbs are long, the bones are solid, the tendons and ligaments are well developed, and the cicadas (commonly known as night eyes) are attached with the remains of palm pillows. The hooves are hard and can run quickly on hard ground.

The coat color is complex, with mostly rooster, chestnut, green and black; the coat sheds once in spring and autumn.

Well-developed sweat glands help regulate body temperature, and are not afraid of severe cold or heat, making it easy to adapt to new environments.

The chest is deep and wide, the heart and lungs are developed, and it is suitable for running and intense labor.

The esophagus is narrow, the stomach is single, and the large intestine, especially the cecum, is abnormally developed, which helps digest and absorb roughage.

There is no gallbladder and the bile ducts are well developed.

The teeth have strong chewing power, and the space between the incisors and molars is called the bit-receiving part. When installing, the bit-piece is placed for easy control.

The age can be determined based on the number, shape and degree of wear of the teeth (Figure 3), and the sense of hearing and smell is sharp.

The distance between the two eyes is large, and the overlap of field of view is only 30%, so the judgment of distance is poor; at the same time, the focus adjustment ability of the eyes is weak, and it can only form blurry images of objects 500 meters away, but can only form blurry images of objects at close range.

Identify its shape and color.

The head and neck are flexible, and the visual surface of the two eyes reaches 330°~360°.

There is a film on the outer layer of the retina at the fundus of the eye, which has strong photosensitivity and allows the surrounding objects to be seen at night.

Horses are easy to train.

Strong memories can be formed through sense organs such as hearing, smell and sight.

The average life span is 30 to 35 years old, and the longest life span can be more than 60 years old.

The service age ranges from 3 to 15 years old, and some can reach 20 years old.

Types There are about 200 horse breeds in the world, and there are more than 30 in China.

It can be mainly divided into small local varieties, riding type, quick-stepping type, heavy-drawing type, and both pulling and riding type.

Feeding and management methods mainly include group grazing management, house feeding management and foal training and training.

Mongolian horse Mongolian horse is one of the older horse breeds in China and even the world. It is mainly produced in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and is a typical grassland horse breed.

Mongolian horses are not big, with an average height of 120 to 135 centimeters and a weight of 267 to 370 kilograms.

The body is stout, the limbs are solid and powerful, the physique is rough and strong, the head is large and the forehead is wide, the chest is deep and long, the legs are short, and the joints and tendons are well developed.

The coat is dense and complex in color.

It is hardy, not afraid of cold, can adapt to extremely extensive feeding and management, has strong vitality, and can survive in harsh and harsh conditions.

It takes about 8 hours to cover a distance of about 60 kilometers.

The tamed Mongolian horse is neither frightened nor deceptive on the battlefield, and is extremely brave. It has always been a good military horse.

Kazakh Horse The Kazakh horse produced in Xinjiang is also a grassland horse breed.

Its morphological characteristics are: medium-large head, delicate and short ears.

The neck is slender and slightly raised, the armor is high, the chest pin is narrow, and the hind limbs are often knife-shaped.

The present-day Yili Kazakh Prefecture is the Wusun Kingdom in the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty.

Two thousand years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian three times to the Western Regions in search of good horses. The horses he obtained may be the predecessor of Kazakh horses.

By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, Uighurs were selling horses to the Tang Dynasty, as many as 100,000 horses per year.

Many of them belong to Kazakh horses.

Therefore, most of the horse breeds in northwest China have some blood relationship with Kazakh horses.

Hequ Horse Hequ Horse is also an ancient and excellent local horse breed in China. It was often used as tribute in history.

It is native to the grasslands at the junction of the three provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Because it is located in the winding Yellow River, it is named Hequ horse.

It is the largest and most outstanding horse among the local breeds in China.

Its average body height is 132 to 139 centimeters and its weight is 350 to 450 kilograms.

The Hequ horse's head is slightly longer, the bridge of the nose is slightly raised and looks like a rabbit's head, the neck is wide and thick, the torso is straight, the chest is deep and broad, and the body is thick, which has the absolute advantage of being a draft horse.