Today horse-brasses are entirely decorative; adorning heavy horses at horse shows. However, their role is far more than decorative or it used to be. They are protective amulets defending horses against evil spirits. They are a remnant of ancient pagan beliefs. They can almost be …
There is an interesting report in the journal Science concerning a study on the origin of the donkey and how it was selectively bred by the Romans later on. They researched the relationship between geographic regions and donkey genes (phylogeography). Donkeys are social animals. You …
Horsepower is a unit of the measurement of power and it was first coined by the Scottish engineer James Watt (19 January 1736 to 25 August 1819). He is the engineer/scientist who invented the concept of horsepower (h.p.). At the outset the measurement was simple …
The reasons why the horse has been and continues to be so popular is firstly because of their temperament which is based upon their sociability. In the wild they have a naturally sociable lifestyle. They cooperate with each other. This cooperation between horses in the …
The Times reports that local people in Galicia in north-west Spain believe that the noise of wind turbines is jeopardising the survival of their ancestral wild horses. In this beautiful, wild and open yet windy landscape, a wild horse herd belongs to a village, Sabucedo. …
I am not going to add any words to this infographic except to say that the invention of stirrups is a debatable topic. You’ll see different theories but the theory promulgated in the infographic is suggested by Dr Desmond Morris in his book Horse Watching. …
Here are 15 facts about the humble yet lucky horseshoe. There are many strands to the story which I have touched on below, which I hope that you find interesting. My appreciation goes to Dr. Desmond Morris for the information on this page. Not many …
The infographic below shows you how the word “jockey” evolved. It’s quite a neat evolution and I thank Dr. Desmond Morris for it. I add some meat to the skeleton of the infographic below. Centuries ago, the name “Jack” was used as a term to …
Mediaeval horses were small by today’s standards partly because people were considerably smaller. They were no bigger than modern-day ponies. Researchers from a number of British universities analysed the bones of 1,964 horses dating from A.D. 300 to A.D. 1650. They found that the average …
