HORSES

By Varvara Kalakona C1

The horse is an odd-toed ungulate quadruped mammal of the family

of equidae, used since ancient times as a means of travel and was a
key factor for wagons and was also a useful tool in wars as in sport
competitions. It also helped the expansion of people to new areas,
and migration of entire peoples. It was tamed by man around 4500
BC. In ancient Greek, the name was ippos.

The horse is a tall animal, (there are 1,000 breeds of horses, their
height starting from 50 cm up to 180 cm) known for its proud
appearance. It gives birth to one baby, rarely two, the female breastfeeds the babies for 6-7 months and in nature until the age of one.
Horses have dense pelage (fur) consisting of short and soft bristles.
They live many years and the average life expectancy reaches up to
25-30 years. Even if it is believed that they are not particularly
intelligent, as shown by its name, it has proved that they possess
intelligence that has to do with learning tasks, memory and problemsolving.

Today its use as means of transport in Europe has virtually

disappeared. But it remains in many countries of Asia and Latin
America. To ride a horse, one must behave nicely towards it, that is
talk to it in a nice way, not hit it and not scare it. The horse originated
from the ioippo, a small quadruped mammal of the Eocene era,
before 55 million years ago. Their food can be dried greens or
roughage. An illness that horses can have is colic wringing of the
intestine. This is caused because horses do not vomit, their stomach
is small in relation to their bodies and because their intestine is long.