The horse is a domestic animal that people have kept for 5,000–6,000 years, and today it is raised on farms, ranches, and racetracks across the United States. In the West, herds of free-roaming mustangs still live on public lands. A horse's side-set eyes let it see in almost every direction at once.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Height is measured in "hands" (1 hand = 4 in). Light riding horses stand about 14–16 hands and weigh about 840–1,200 lb (380–550 kg); heavy draft horses can reach 18 hands and 1,500–2,200 lb (700–1,000 kg).
Look-alikes
Donkeys have much longer ears for their size, many have a dark cross-shaped stripe over the back and shoulders, and they bray a loud "hee-haw" instead of neighing. A male donkey and a female horse produce a mule, which looks like a mix of the two and is usually sterile.
Why they get mixed upSmall horses and ponies can be about the same size as a donkey, and feral burros share some western rangelands with mustangs.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- pastures
- farms and ranches
- western rangelands
- Range
- Kept across the entire United States. Feral mustangs roam public rangelands in the West; about half of them live in Nevada, and other large herds are in California, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.
Behavior
- Diet
- A grazer that eats grass and hay. A 1,000-lb (450-kg) horse eats about 15–25 lb (7–11 kg) of food and drinks 10–12 gallons (38–45 L) of water a day. Horses cannot vomit, so digestive trouble (colic) is a serious danger.
- Activity
- A locking system in the legs lets horses doze standing up, but they must lie down for deep (REM) sleep. They sleep only about 3 hours a day in total.
- Social life
- Horses live in herds with a pecking order, often led by a dominant mare. They communicate with sounds, mutual grooming, and body language.
- Senses
- Eyes on the sides of the head give a field of view of more than 350°, but only a narrow band in front is seen with both eyes. Horses see color in a limited way, similar to red-green color blindness in people.
Life cycle
- Gestation
- About 11 months (around 340 days)
- Litter size
- Usually 1 foal; twins are rare
- Lifespan
- Typically 25–30 years
Name and classification
- About the name
- The domestic horse is treated either as its own species, Equus caballus, or as a subspecies of the wild horse, Equus ferus caballus.
- Varieties and forms
- There are more than 300 breeds worldwide. American mustangs descend mainly from Colonial Spanish horses, with other breeds mixed in later.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- Spanish horses reached the American mainland with Cortés in 1519, and a self-sustaining herd took hold in the Southwest after Juan de Oñate founded the Spanish colony of New Mexico in 1598.
- When Congress passed the 1971 law protecting them, it recognized the West's free-roaming horses as part of the region's historic and pioneer heritage.
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