| Horse reproduction and growth:
In horses, the pregnancy period extends up to 335 - 340 days (11 months). Usually, the mare gives birth to one, or in rare cases, two foals. Usually, male foals are born 2 - 7 days later than the female foals. The foal is born with sight and after several minutes after birth, it can stand up and walk; it sucks it's mother's milk for 4 - 6 months, during which, appear, after 8 - 14 days of birth, a middle pair of deciduous teeth, the next appear after 2-3 weeks; outer teeth appear after 5 - 6 months after birth. The central incisors are replaced around 2 ˝ yrs, intermediate incisors appear around 3 ˝ yrs, the corner appear around 4 ˝, canines also appear along with incisors; further age is determined according to hollows in the incisors; the hollows on the internal pair of incisors of the bottom jaw get worn at the age of 5 - 6 yrs, at the age of 7 on the intermediate incisors and at 8 - on the outer incisors; then, in the same sequence, hollows are worn on the incisors of the upper jaw and from 11-12 yrs, it is very difficult to determine the age of horse when the hollows disappear on all the incisors. At the age of 3, the horse can start reproduction.
Physiology of the horse:
The body temperature of a healthy horse ranges from 37.5 to 38.5 °C. The horse is made up of 212 bones (according to various sources, the number of bones vary from 205 to 252). The collarbone is not found in horses, due to which, the horse can take a huge leap with its fore limbs. The lung volume of a horse can reach 50 litres. While idling, a horse breathes approximately 8 - 16 times per minute. During a quick gallop or other load, the breathing rate increases by 5 - 7 times. On an average, a horse's heart weighs 4 - 5 kg, in some cases, the weight of the heart can be up to 8 kg. While resting, the pulse rate of a horse is 30 - 40 per minute. During huge leaps, the pulse rate increases up to 120 - 130 per minute, in this case, up to 150 litres of blood flows through the heart.
The teeth system consists of 3/ 3 incisors, 1/1 canines (can be absent), 6/6 or 7/7 molars; incisors with an even chewing surface and the surface has lateral oval hollow; the canine teeth are small and blunt and conical shaped; the molar teeth are long, tetrahedral, prism shaped with 4 twisted enamel folds on the chewing surface; besides these, the upper teeth have an additional internal column of enamel substance.
Sometimes, female horses (mares) have canine teeth. Secondary premolars - "wolf" - are found not in all horses. They obstruct the use of iron for controlling the horse, since their contact with bits induce severe pain. The practice of removing the wolfs (premolars) through surgery exists.
Nature, temperament:
The temperament of horses is conditioned by the type of its higher nervous activity. HNA type is by birth in horses and cannot change with age. The HNA are of four types:
• Strong counterbalanced mobile (corresponds to Sanguine);
• Strong counterbalanced inert (phlegmatic);
• Strong unbalanced (choleric);
• Weak (corresponds to melancholic);
The HNA types do not depend on colour and are a result of inherited (genotypic) and individually acquired (phenotypic) features.
The HNA type of horses, the condition of the nervous system and the constitution determine its working qualities and ability to obey humans. It is better when the horse is calm, even phlegmatic, than hot and impetus. If the nature of a horse can change depending on the conditions of care and also the nature of the owner and also with age, then the HNA remains unchanged.
Relationship with other animals:
In rural settings and farmsteads, during winter horses are kept together with cows and sheep, separated only by light wooden partitions. These animals also graze together on the meadows side by side without any problem, owing to the fact that the grass and vegetation consumed by them are different: horses prefer juicy vegetation, while goats and sheep like to eat grass with spines. They are also habitual of eating grass at different heights.
Horses in stables are also prone to attacks by weasels, which very much like horse sweat. They just tickle and poke horses, driving them to exhaustion, so they are covered with lather and their manes and tails are entangled in mats. It becomes imperative to save horses from this nuisance and it is done by the age old proven method of keeping a goat in the stable, as weasels don’t like its smell. There are many benefits of keeping a cat in the stable, as it keeps away rodents that can spoil horse grain fodder and carry infection; also the stable is free of rodent noises that frighten horses, there is no unpleasant and characteristic odor either.
Dogs have long been used for the protection of horses. They are particularly useful in South and Central America as people and domestic animals, including horses, are attacked by bats in the night. Bats bite their prey and suck blood from wounds, besides making them prone to infection of rabies and several other virulent diseases. Dogs, owing to their ability to hear the ultrasound emitted by these bats even while sleeping, can drive them away in time.
Hunting on horseback is the best example of coordination between domestic animals. A horse well trained for hunting is not just used for riding only, but upon the first signal of the rider (and sometimes by itself) rushes and follows the dog running towards the beast. The animals that have been trained are capable of working in great coordination. In Central Asia, “hunting from the saddle” is still prevalent: the hunter takes the dog with himself on the back of horse so that it doesn’t get tired. From that height, the dog overlooks the surroundings and upon seeing the prey, it just jumps down and chases it. |
