459 articles · page 2 of 39
Horse Basics
Horseology
Can Horses Recognize Their Owners? What the Research Says
Yes. In controlled experiments horses have matched familiar people’s voices to their faces, picked out a keeper’s photograph after six months apart, and remembered whether a person looked angry or happy earlier in the day.
Horse Basics
Horse Teeth Can Tell Their Age: How to Estimate Age by Teeth
A horse's front teeth change on a fairly reliable schedule until about five, and less reliably after that. Here is how to read eruption, cups, dental stars, Galvayne's groove and the angle of the bite, and how far to trust them.
Horse Basics
How Much Does a Horse Cost Per Month? A Brutally Honest Breakdown
In the United States a horse costs roughly $700 to $2,200 a month all-in, and owners routinely underestimate it. Here is a line-by-line monthly budget in US dollars, including the costs people forget.
Horse Basics
How Much Weight Can a Horse Carry? Rider Weight Guide by Breed
Most guidance puts a horse's load, rider and tack together, at 15 to 20 percent of its body weight. Here is where that figure comes from, what the studies found, what changes it, and worked examples by breed.
Horseplay
Things Horses Are Weirdly Afraid Of: A Field Guide to Plastic Bags, Puddles and That One Rock
A field guide to the plastic bags, puddles and suspicious rocks that terrify a half-ton animal, with the real reasons behind it: prey-animal eyesight, the startle response, and how to desensitise safely.
Horse Basics
Horse Breeds for Beginners: 12 Calm, Forgiving Breeds That Won’t Judge Your Posting Trot
The best horse breeds for beginners are the steady, sensible ones: Quarter Horses, Haflingers, Fjords, cobs and friends. Here are twelve, with honest notes on each and the one thing that matters more than breed.
Horse Basics
How Long Do Horses Live? Lifespan by Breed
Most horses live 25 to 30 years. Ponies and small hardy breeds often go well beyond that, big draught horses usually don’t, and the oldest horse on record reached 62.
Horse Basics
First Horse Checklist: Everything You Need Before Bringing Them Home
A practical checklist for first-time horse owners: the vetting, the paperwork, where the horse will live, feed, tack, a first-aid kit, the professionals to book and how to handle the first week.
Horseology
Gentle Giants: The Biggest Horse Breeds on Earth
The Shire is the largest horse breed in the world and holds the record for the tallest horse ever measured. Here are the giants by height, the record holders old and new, and what it takes to keep a ton of horse.
Horseology
Why Do Horses Do the Flehmen Response? The Science Behind the Silly Lip Curl
That curled top lip is not a laugh. It is the flehmen response, a way of sending an interesting smell to a second scent organ in the nose. Here is how it works, who does it most, and when it can mean pain.
Horse Basics
How to Read Horse Body Language: Ears, Tail and Eyes Explained
What a horse's ears, eyes, muzzle, tail and feet are telling you, and how to put them together to recognise a horse that is relaxed, alert, anxious, in pain or angry.
Horseology
Tiny but Mighty: The World’s Smallest Horse Breeds
The smallest horse breed in the world is the Falabella of Argentina, at about seven hands. Here are the rest of the little ones by height, plus the record-holding individuals, one of them shorter than a greyhound.