Laws
-In Arizona, it's illegal for cowboys to walk through hotel lobbies wearing their spurs.
-In Arizona, it's illegal to let your donkey sleep in bathtub (however, the donkey may stand awake in the tub).
-In Georgia, it's illegal to keep a donkey in a bathtub.
-In Oklahoma, it's illegal to have a sleeping donkey in your bathtub after 7 PM.
-In New York, it's also illegal to let a donkey sleep in a bathtub.
-In South Carolina, it's illegal to hold a horse in a bathtub.
-Bull fighting on horseback is a popular sport in Spain and Mexico, but it is illegal in the United States due to the belief it's cruel to animals. So, California came up with the idea of Bloodless Bull Fighting where rather than the bull being speared, the horseback rider hooks a harmless lance onto Velcro attached to the bull's back.
History
-White horses were sometimes drowned in sacrifice to Poseidon, the god of the sea and horses.
-Three Day Eventing was originally designed as a test for horses to see if they were ready/in shape enough to fight in the Civil War.
-The reason you're taught to mount/dismount, saddle, and bridle a horse from the left side is because back in the medieval days, the sword was on the left hip, so this kept the knights from stabbing their mounts!
-One of the first horses was called a Hyracotherium.
-The Hyracotherium lived about 50 million years ago, was the size of a fox, and had toes. Had it not been hunted to extinction in North America, scientists say it wouldn't have evolved much, thus giving us an indoor "horse" pet as well as our modern day horse!
-Unicorns weren't always the sweet creatures they're depicted as today. Originally, they could only be caught by a pure virgin woman with a beautiful singing voice. Anyone else who dared approach would have their heart stabbed by its horn.They also didn't look like white horses with horns.
-Rodeo originated from cowboys at the end of cattle drives competing and betting with each other on who was the best bronco buster, roper, cutter, etc. It gave them prestige among each other as well as job opportunities for employers who wanted that particular skill. Eventually, it became regulated competition rather than ranch yard fun.
World Records
-The oldest horse in history was a horse named Old Billy, and English barge horse who lived to be 62 yo.
-The longest horse mane was 18 feet long. The longest tail was 12.5 feet.
-The most expensive property in the United States is estimated to be worth $175 million dollars. It's a 52 stall equestrian farm that now specializes in cutting horses.
-The best dressage score in history was 92.3% out of 100% by Moorland Totilas ridden by Edward Gal. Video of the amazing, record setting test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eet-Vbg-YJ4
-The fastest barrel race time in history was set by Brandie Halls at round 8 in the 2006 NFR in Las Vegas. The run was only 13.52 seconds.
-The most expensive horse in history is reported to be Green Monkey, a thoroughbred race horse auctioned off for $16,000,000.
-Nearly 71 year old Hiroshi Hoketsu recently qualified to ride Dressage in the Olympics in London, 2012!
-The top grossing horse movie of all time is Seabiscuit, bringing in $120,277,854!
-The oldest horse that ever gave birth was a 42 yo Australian brood mare. (that's like a 115.5 yo woman giving birth)
Industry
-Nowadays, movies use as many as thirty horses to fill the part of one horse. One horse that rears on cue, one horse that eats Popsicles, etc. In the show Mr. Ed, they only ever used one horse to play Mr. Ed. He had to learn hundreds of tricks!
-Mr. Ed's real name was Bamboo Harvester.
-The horse industry's contribution to the U.S. GDP is greater than the motion picture services, railroad transportation, furniture and fixtures manufacturing and tobacco product manufacturing industries. It is only slightly smaller than the apparel and other textile products manufacturing industry.
-About 7.1 million Americans are involved in the horse industry in some way.
Health
-Horses have better memories than elephants.
-Horses generally don't like the smell of pigs.
-Horse's aren't colorblind. They have more trouble with purples and violets, but they can, in fact, see colors.
-The average horse weighs about half a ton, but its brain is the size of a potato.
-Horses produce about ten gallons of a saliva a day
-Horses can't vomit.
-A horse's front legs aren't connected by a joint. Instead, the only thing connecting them to the rest of the body is muscle and skin!
-A different image is seen by each horse's eye, so horses see two different pictures at the same time.
-A horse's ears generally point in the direction it's looking.
-Either a horse's left or right legs are slightly shorter than the opposite side.
-A horse's mane will naturally fall on whichever side has shorter legs.
-Horses under 4 years old can only focus up to 10-15 minutes at a time.
-Horses are measured in "hands" A hand is generally the average man's hand across the fingers, generalized to be four inches. So, when a horse is 16.2 hands high, they are sixteen four-inch hands plus two one-inch fingers tall.
-Horses, on average, drink 10-15 gallons of water a day.
-A male horse is called a Stallion. A female horse is called a Mare. A baby horse is called a Foal. A one year old foal is called a Yearling. A young female horse is called a Filly. A young male horse is called a Colt.
-Horses can't breath through their mouths.
-Horses can "lock" their knees, so they don't bend; thus allowing them to sleep standing up!
-Once born, a foal will be up and walking within 1-2 hours.
-You can tell a horse's age by its teeth until it's over nine years old.
-Marijuana is poisonous to horses.
Breed Based
-The Akhal-Teke, a Russian breed of horse, can go days without food or water.
-Arabians have one less rib, one less lumbar bone, and one or two fewer tail vertebrae than other horses.
-Camargue horses are black as foals and white as adults.
Misc.
-There's about 75 million horses in the world.
-Equinophobia is the fear of horses.
-The word chivalry comes from the French word cheval, meaning horse.
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