Download HORSES Chapter 21

HORSES
Scientific Classification of horses
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Species: caballus (horse), asinus(bad word)
The place of horses in the US
In 1960 there were 3 million horses in the US.
The equine industry provided 1.4 million full-time equivalent jobs yearly and
paid $1.9 billion in taxes.
Racing and showing gives 27% of jobs.
Recreation gives 31% of jobs.
The remaining activities give 15% of jobs.
Purpose of the horse industry in the US
Major purposes for keeping horses are:
-Racing, showing, recreation, and other.
People are mainly in the horse industry for competition, leisure, and education.
-All are used to improve quality of human life.
Many of the competition events include English which are:
-Hunter under saddle- movements and mannerisms are judged with
pleasurable riding.
- Saddle seat pleasure- horses movements and mannerisms are judged.
- Dressage- perform highly advanced maneuvers in a specific pattern.
- Stadium jumping- horses jump a course of jumps in order.
- Three-day eventing- stadium jumping, dressage, and cross-country.
GRAPH
Purpose of the horse industry in the US
Other competitions are in Western style which are:
- Reining- horse and rider perform a specific pattern with advanced
maneuvers.
- Cutting- horse cuts one cow from herd and holds it away from the
herd. Horse must work the cow without any help from the rider.
- Working cow horse- split into two categories. One is dry work which is
the reining, and the cow work which is the horses ability to control the cow.
- Western pleasure- manners and movements of horse are judged.
- Trail- horse is judged by its ability to cleanly go through a course that
deals with outdoor trail riding.
- Western riding- horse is scored on lead changes through one of three
patterns as well as manners.
- Conformation events- horses conformation is judged.
Purpose of the horse industry in the US
The horse industry is unique, compared to other industries, because we
don’t primarily use them for food or other useable materials.
Horses bring a satisfaction to those who decided to bring them into their
lives.
“Most livestock feed our bodies; the horse feeds our being.”
-horses are unique compared to the other livestock industries
because humans have bonded with their horses. They are more like a
companion, than an animal.
- Horses have also been a great tool of transportation, means of
war, and beast of burden. Some of these tools are still used today but horses
are needed less for their horsepower- term used to measure the pulling
power exerted by the horse. Equal to the rate of moving 33,000 lbs. of a
distance of 1 foot in 1 minute.
Historical Perspective
-Horses were the last animal to be domesticated.
-The domestication of horses started 1 million years ago in North America
and spread to South America and to the Old World.
- China and Mesopotamia, close to 3000 B.C., is the closest they can get to
finding the date and place of the domestication.
- Columbus was credited in introducing horses to the western part in 1493
where he brought them to the West Indies.
-
- the first horses to be introduced to North America were from
the Spanish conquistadors, of Cortez, where he invaded Mexico, which is
now the US.
- A myth has been said that the Mustangs- feral horses in the American
West, were descendants of strays from the expeditions.
Historical Perspective
The Spanish brought horses in significant numbers. On this missions the Native
Americans learned about horses.
After this happened, the Native Americans all across the plains were using and
spreading horses, which developed into their culture.
In 1750 to 1850, the “wild” horse adapted and flourished in the US, and was
known to be the most colorful and romanticized period of history. It was called
“The Wild, Wild West.”
Franciscan missionaries brought horses to the Southeast which was the bases for
what is known as the Chickasaw horse.
Over the course of our colonization new breeds and types of horses were
brought to the continent.
From 1890 to 1920, the horses were mainly used for drafting.
From 1920 to 1960, horses declined.
- In 1920 there were 25 million horses in the US and by 1960 there were 3
million horses.
Historical Perspective
The U.S. economy increased and so the horse came back as a recreational
use. In the 1980’s the horse population rose to around 10 million.
In economic turmoil and tax codes the horses dwindled down to about 6.9
million in 1996.
Horses increased in 2005, and today there is estimated to be less horses than
in 2005. It is hard to estimate the exact amount of horses in todays age, but
with new registrationw with major purebred associations there was a decline
by 45% from 2005 to 2010. This proves that there is a decline in the whole
population.
Structure and geographic location of
the horse industry
Horses are found in all 50 states in both rural and urban areas.
Breeding, rearing, and training are found in rural activities.
Racetracks, shows, and so on are in urban activities.
MAP
TABLE
Structure and geographic location of
the horse industry
There are several classification schemes to describe the horse industry.
Recreational horses- horses of the light breeds kept for riding, driving, and
nonprofessional racing and showing follow the population.
Racehorses follow the racetracks, which also follow the population.
Heavily populated areas like California, Florida, and Texas have more horses
because they have more people.
TABLE
Horse Genetics
Genetics on horses are not as nearly in-depth as other livestock industries.
First, horses are for recreation rather than food production.
Second, the traits of a horse that are most important are difficult to measure
and to evaluate in a research study.
There are a number of heritability for some traits in horses.
One area that receives the most attention is the coat color. Some colors are
more wanted than others. Certain coat colors can demand higher prices than
a less wanted color.
Horse gentics
Many DNA tests are available to show what the horses genetic code is.
The table shows various alleles- alternative forms of any given gene, and
actions of horse color genetics.
TABLE 21-5
Horse Genetics
TABLES 21-5 21-6
Basic Coat Colors
Bay horses have a red-brown body with black legs, mane, and tail.
points- are the legs, mane, and tail of a horse.
Black horses are black
Chestnut horses have a red body, mane, tails, and legs.
Each of these colors have different shades from dark to light. They also have
different names in different breeds. All of the colors are produced by the action
of other genes called modifier genes which is a gene that influences the
expression of another gene or genes.
For example: A grey horse is not born grey. They are born one of the three colors
and change to gray due to modifier genes.
Sorrel, chestnut, and liver chestnut are shades of red.
Brown horses may be black that have faded in the sun.
Palominos are a chestnut color but changed by a separate diluter gene- type of
modifier gene that changes a base color to a lighter color.
Gene G- causes horses to be gray.
Gene E- controls black hair.
Gene A- determining gene that controls the distribution pattern of black
hair.
Gene W- makes horse unable to form pigment in skin and hair.
Diluting Genes- established genetic makeup of white, gray, bay, black, and
chestnut.
Gene C- causes pigment dilution and is an incompletely dominant geneneither allele is dominant to the other.
Gene D- dilution gene that produces dun coloring.
Gene CH- produces a clor dilution plus mottled gray skin, a metallic sheen to
hair, and eyes are blue when born and turn to hazel.
Gene Z- in a black horse it changes to a black-chocolate, or mane and tail
with sliver.
Roan- when white hair is mixed with colored hair over the body.
Leopard- controls if the horse has complex of spotting and diffuse roan
patterns like a leopard, appaloosa, and tiger spotting.
Spotting- Paint and pinto horses have colored patterns by some body color
with white.
Tobianos- have white on the legs below hocks and white across the back.
Overos- have bald faces, legs are colored
Flaxen Mane and Tail
Gene F produces a red mane and tail on chestnut horses.
Additional Common Markings
White markings such as stars, stripes, and snips on the face and white
stockings.
Genetic Diseases in Horses
To control the disease you have to know the disease common to the
breed.
Breeds of Horses
Horses are usually classified as light horses, draft horses, and ponies.
Most horses are in the light class, but the divisions are broken down by
height, weight build, etc.
Most classify horses with hands- one hand equal 4 inches. Horses measure
for height at the withers in hands.
So how does one distinguish between ponies and horses?
Horses are referred to hands, and ponies are referred to in inches.
Some horses are developed for riding, work, racing, driving, and other
tasks.
Different horses have natural tendencies toward certain gaits- forward
movement of a horse. The three natural gaits are the walk, trot, and canter.
Breeds of Horses
Draft Horses
During the highest number of horses in the US 75-85% were draft
horses.
-Two most known draft horses are Percherons and Belgian.
-The third most known is the Clydesdale and the Shire.
Imported Light Breeds
- The two light breeds that are known are Arabians and Thoroughbreds.
- The Arabian is known for their intelligence and stamina.
- The thoroughbred was developed using Arabian breeding. They are
well-known for racing, hunting, jumping, and polo.
Breeds of horses
Breeds of Horses developed in the US
Morgans
- They were developed in the Northeast for light draft and driving
horse. The breed is unusual because of it traces back to a single animal which
is the stallion- a mature male horse that is not castrated, Justin Morgan. He
was a prepotent- an animal that transmits its characteristics to its offspring,
His descendents became very popular for riding and driving.
Standardbred
- They were developed as a carriage horse and harness racing. The
name came from its ability to trot a mile under 2:30 or 2:25.
American Saddlebred Horse
- They were developed for riding comfortably rather than for speed.
Breeds of horses
Tennessee Walking Horse
- They were developed for the same reason as the American Saddle
Horse. They are different from other horses because they have the walk,
running walk, and canter gaits.
Quarter Horse
- Is the most numerous horse in the US. They were developed for work
on ranches as a stock horse- any horse trained and used for working
livestock. They are also used for racing, rodeos, shows, and pleasure riding.
Appaloosa
- They were selected for their color patterns. They are named by the
Palouse River were the tribe, Nez Perce, lived. The stud book- set of records
a breed association keeps on the animals registered with it, the Appaloosa
varies between a Quarter horse, Thoroughbred, and an Arabian.
Breeds of Horses
Breed popularity
- The quarter horse is by far the largest number of new horses each
year.
TABLE 21-8
Reproductive Management
50-60% of mares bred to foal actually have a foal the following year.
This is why the horse has the reputation as a fairly infertile animal.
The way people breed their horses have a high percentage of foal failure.
The procedure is:
1) spend months deciding what stallion to use
2) save money to afford the stud fee
3) Take mare on rides and see if she shows signs of heat.
4) Go home and call stallion owner and bring her over.
5) breed the mare, load her up, and bring her home
6) Turn her out into the pasture, and wait 11 months
7) Be disappointed when no foal appears.
Reproductive management
To tell the truth the reputation of a horse is not always true. Many mares
have a high percentage of giving birth to a foal.
Mares have a seasonally polyestrous- when aniaml has a repeated estrous
cycle but only response to an environmental factor, and only conceives
during certain times of the year.
Anestrus- period of time when female is not having estrous cycle, which is
usually during November until February.
It is crucial for mares to be bred when the mare is mated with an egg to be
fertilized.
Heat detection is usually used with teasing- placing a stallion and a mare
close to each other and observing the mare’s actions.
Using ultrasonography- using ultrasound waves to see the deep tissue of the
body and rectal palpation helps see the time of ovulation.
Mares are teased with a stallion to determine signs of estrus. Ones who
show shigns of estrus are palpated.
-Signs of estrus is winking of the vulva, urination, squatting, or seeking
the stallion.
Nutrition and feeding of horses
Many horse owners pay millions of dollars on food to put in horse rationsfeed allotment for an animal for a 24-hour period. They spend money on the
expensive grains or oats, when an other brand, that’s cheaper, has the same
value.
Nutrition and nutritional management revolves around the fact that horses
are monogastric with a functional cecum. This allows the horse to use a high
amount of forage in the ration and still do well.
Horses evolved using its speed as a survival technique. This developed
continuous eater strategy- eating in small amounts through the day while
moving along.
Some horses are feed once a day and that can lead to problems of colicdigestive disturbance, or impacted intestine- constipation.
Diets are fed to different classes of horses. If a horse is pregnant you will
feed her different rations than a mare that’s not.
Nutrition and feeding of horses
It is important to know the horses body weight if the horse is to be fed
properly.
Weight in pounds= heart girth in inches squared x body length in inches
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TABLE 21-9
Horses should receive a minimum of 0.75-1% of their body weight daily in
roughage.
Long hay-hay that’s not chopped or ground, is the least expensive.
Cubed hay- hay is forced through dies to produce 3 cm. product.
Horses that are allowed to graze can consume enough forage for their daily
requirement.
Stabled horses don’t get enough forage and some owners reduce the
amount of forage to keep their horses from having a large cecum which is
referred to as “hay belly”.
Horses that don’t get enough forage can come down to wood biting,
cribbing, and etc.
Horses need good forage or there can have digestive problems, and have
mold, insects, etc.
Feeding horses to a particular body function- amount of fat on an animal’s
body, is a tool nutritionists use. They need a moderate to fleshy body
condition.
The concentrate portion of rations for horses can be mixed or pelleted- feeds
that are grounded and then compacted by forcing them through die
openings.
- needed for horses to receive the right amount of nutrients.
Overfeeding
-many owners mistake the coffee can to hold as much oats as coffee
beans.
- horse feed should be weighted. Scales are cheaper than having to deal
with laminitis which is inflammation of the laminae of the hoof due to
overeating.
Challenges to horse health
Colic
- painful digestive disturbance that involves one or more regions of the
intestinal tract.
Laminitis
- laminae are infoldings of tissue that make up the layer of the horses
hooves between the coffin bone- bottommost bone of horses leg.
Heaves
- also known as recurrent airway obstruction, is an allergic disease of
horses that cause coughing, nasal discharge, and difficulty breathing.
Trends and factors influencing the
horse industry
Education and Research
- education and research is important in the horse injury for the lives
of humans and their horses.
- Unsoundness is an injury or defect that interferes with the ability for
the horse to do their purpose.
Competition
- the owner has to face the choices of their money and time. Have to
figure ways to bring in money.
- Examples of new ways of trending towards timed or scored events.
- They are mainly trying to attract baby boomers- population born in
1946 to 1964.
New Owners
-baby boomers
Safety Concerns
- baby boomers
West Nile Virus
- disease that threats the human, horse, dog, and bird population.
Social Issues
Horse Slaughter has been ceased in 2007. Horses are still sent to
slaughter in Mexico and Canada.
THE END
FACTS ABOUT HORSES
PG.488