A Little Horse History & Evolution

Fifty-five million years ago...

Horses actually resembled a dog-sized deer with four toes on each foot. Over time, they grew in size and all but one of their toes faded away.

That's right, a horse's hoof is just one very large toe!

Modern-day horse relatives include donkeys and zebras, but horses also share a distant genetic connection to rhinos and tapirs.
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The first horses were believed to have been domesticated in the modern-day Ukraine and Kazakhstan regions more than 6,000 years ago.

It can be argued that the domestication of the horse helped advance humanity itself.

How else would we have been able to travel long distances in shorter amounts of time, plow large fields, and even engage in warfare if it weren’t for the horse? Although other “beasts of burden” exist, such as camels and cows, horses proved to be the most versatile, and they’ve been part of our history for a long time.

In fact, it’s only been in the last century that horses have transitioned from working animals to recreational animals. Now, many horses are kept as pets and, apart from putting up with our competitive whims, really aren’t expected to put in a hard day’s work.

We doubt many of them are complaining! Especially when we blanket them. LOL

​Kristen O'Conner