133 Fun Facts About Horses

What is the average gestation period for a mare?

The average gestation period for a mare is approximately 340 days, which is about 11 months, though it can vary between 320 and 370 days.

Which of these is considered one of the three basic coat colors for horses?

The three basic coat colors in horses are chestnut, bay, and black. Other colors like palomino, roan, and buckskin are variations or dilutions of these base colors.

What is the primary natural defense mechanism of a horse when faced with danger?

Flight comes first: a horse startles and runs, and only bites, kicks, strikes or rears when escape is impossible or a foal is threatened.

In which equestrian discipline do riders guide horses through a pattern of circles, spins and sliding stops?

Reining is a western riding discipline where horses and riders perform a precise pattern that includes small and large circles, flying lead changes, rollbacks, and impressive sliding stops.

What unit measures a horse's height from the ground to the withers?

Hand is four inches, so a 16-hand horse stands 64 inches at the withers, where the neck meets the back.

Which horse breed was developed by the Nez Perce people?

The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern, which was developed by the Nez Perce Native American tribe.

The horse's digestive system is uniquely adapted to process what kind of diet?

Small, frequent meals of forage suit a stomach that starts emptying once it is two-thirds full, processed or not.

Approximately how much does the stomach of an average adult horse hold?

An adult horse's stomach holds only about 9-15 liters, roughly a tenth of its total digestive capacity, which is why it is built to eat little and often.

What is a young female horse, typically under the age of four, called?

A filly is a young female horse, typically under four years of age; the Kentucky Oaks, run the day before the Derby, is restricted to three-year-old fillies.

What is the term for a horse's long, thick hairs that grow from the top of its neck?

The mane consists of the long, coarse hairs that grow from the dorsal ridge of a horse's neck, primarily serving as protection from insects.

What is the record speed for a horse galloping over a short sprint distance?

The record is about 43 mph (70 km/h), clocked by the Thoroughbred Winning Brew over two furlongs in 2008; an ordinary gallop averages only 25 to 30 mph.

Which part of a horse's anatomy is often used to estimate its age, especially in younger animals?

A horse's age can often be estimated by examining the eruption, wear, and specific characteristics of its teeth.

In which two-beat gait do the two legs on the same side of the horse move forward together?

The pace is a two-beat lateral gait in which both legs on one side swing forward together, as in Standardbred pacers; the trot moves diagonal pairs instead.

What is the specialized name for someone who cares for horses' hooves?

A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including trimming and shoeing horses.

The 'Flehmen response' in horses is often seen when they are doing what?

The flehmen response is a way of investigating an unusual scent: curling the upper lip and raising the head routes odours to the vomeronasal organ in the roof of the mouth.

Which region is the ancestral home of the horse breed known for its dished head and high tail carriage?

The Arabian Peninsula is the ancestral home of the Arabian, the breed with the dished profile and high tail carriage, bred for centuries by Bedouin tribes of the desert.

What is the typical lifespan of a domesticated horse?

While individual lifespans can vary, the typical lifespan of a domesticated horse is around 25-30 years, with some living even longer.

Besides directly behind it, where is a horse's other blind spot?

A horse cannot see directly in front of its nose; that blind cone reaches about a metre out, which is why it tips its head to look at something held close up.

Most of a horse's wide field of view uses which kind of sight?

Monocular vision covers most of the horse's field of view, each eye seeing its own side; only about 65 degrees in front of the face is seen with both eyes, which gives depth perception.

Which of these structures is NOT part of a horse's foregut?

The foregut of a horse consists of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. The cecum is part of the hindgut.

What are the free-roaming horses of the western US, descended from Spanish conquistadors' animals, called?

Mustangs are the free-roaming horses of the American West; usually called wild, they are properly feral, descended from Colonial Spanish horses brought over from the 1500s.

When a horse shows the whites of its eyes, what emotion is it typically conveying?

Anger or fear is the message: the eye is opened wide enough to show the white sclera, and it often precedes a bite, kick or bolt.

What layer of skin directly beneath the hoof wall contains blood vessels and nerves?

The sensitive laminae are the blood-rich, nerve-filled layer that interlocks with the hoof wall and suspends the coffin bone; when that bond fails, the result is laminitis.

What is the soft, low sound a horse makes in greeting?

A nicker is the soft, low, pulsating sound a horse makes in greeting, at feeding time or to its foal; the whinny is louder and carries much farther.

What is the term for a castrated male horse?

A gelding is a castrated male horse; most males not kept for breeding are gelded, usually before they are two, which makes them calmer and easier to handle.

Which continent is believed to be the evolutionary origin of the modern horse (genus Equus)?

Equus evolved in North America, spread to the Old World across the Bering land bridge, and died out in its homeland until the Spanish brought horses back in the 1500s.

What is the purpose of the 'stay apparatus' in a horse's legs?

Dozing upright is not enough on its own: a horse still has to lie down to reach REM sleep, though only for an hour or two every few days.

Which coat pattern mixes white hairs into the base colour for a frosted look, usually with a solid-coloured head?

A roan coat pattern is characterized by white hairs evenly mixed with the base coat color, but usually with a solid-colored head, lower legs, mane, and tail.

In practice, what does calling horses 'hindgut fermenters' mean?

Fiber digestion primarily occurs in the large intestine, where microbes in the cecum and colon ferment roughage and also make vitamin K and B vitamins; they need weeks to adapt to a feed change.

What is the broad strap under a horse's belly that holds the saddle in place called?

The girth is a strap that goes around the horse's barrel, just behind the front legs, and attaches to the saddle to keep it securely in place.

Which equestrian discipline is described by its governing body as 'the highest expression of horse training'?

The name is French for "training", and the aids that direct the horse through the test are meant to be invisible to the audience.

Why can a horse rotate each ear almost 180 degrees, independently of the other?

To pinpoint where a sound came from: the two ears together give 360-degree hearing without the horse having to move its head.

What is the term for a horse's long, flowing hairs that grow from its forehead, between its ears?

The forelock is the section of mane that falls between a horse's ears and onto its forehead, serving as a natural fly deterrent for the eyes.

A sudden change of feed often triggers which abdominal ailment in horses?

Colic is a symptom, not a diagnosis: abdominal pain from any cause, most often a diet change, low roughage or parasites.

What is the small horny callosity on the back of a horse's fetlock called?

Ergots are the small horny callosities under the fetlock, named from the French for a rooster's spur; they range from pea-sized to undetectable and are largest in heavily feathered breeds.

What might a horse's high tail position indicate?

A high tail carriage signals alertness or excitement, usually arriving with flared nostrils and both eyes and ears locked on whatever has caught the horse's attention.

Which type of horse is typically bred for speed and used primarily in racing?

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed renowned for its agility, speed, and spirit, primarily bred for racing and often used to improve other light horse breeds.

Which of these can a horse not do, because of the valve-like join between its esophagus and stomach?

Horses cannot vomit: the cardiac sphincter where the esophagus meets the stomach works as a one-way valve, which is part of why a blocked or twisted gut is such an emergency.

Which organ, present in most mammals, is entirely absent in the horse?

Horses have no gall bladder: with no reservoir to store bile, the liver drips it straight into the small intestine all day, which suits an animal built to graze continuously.

What is the rubbery, V-shaped shock absorber on the underside of a horse's hoof called?

The frog is the rubbery V-shaped pad between the heels, with a deep groove on either side; it compresses on every stride and helps pump blood back up the leg.

Which riding equipment invented in 4th-century China is called one of warfare's most significant inventions?

The stirrup, which appeared in China in the 4th century, reached Europe through the nomadic peoples of Central Eurasia and is often called the third revolution in horse equipment after the chariot and the saddle.

Which body part does a horse use to select forage and pick up fine feed such as grain?

They are prehensile and extremely sensitive; only once the food is gathered do the incisors nip it off and the molars grind it.

Which discipline involves gymnastic exercises performed on a moving horse, often at the canter?

Vaulting is an equestrian discipline where gymnastic and dance exercises are performed on a cantering horse, which is guided on a large circle by a lunger.

What is the term for the long hairs that fall below the fleshy base of a horse's tail?

The long hairs are the skirt; the fleshy base they hang from is the dock, and on donkeys, mules and zebras the long hairs only start near the bottom of it.

Which of the two wild Equus ferus subspecies survived into the 21st century?

Przewalski's horse, named after the Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky, outlived the tarpan and was reintroduced to Mongolia from zoo-bred stock from 1992.

What is the name for a white marking on the head so wide that it extends to or past the eyes?

A bald face is white so wide it reaches or passes the eyes; a narrower stripe is a blaze, a patch between the eyes a star, and one between the nostrils a snip.

What is the sensitive area at the top of the hoof, from which the hoof grows?

The coronet band (or coronary band) is the soft tissue at the top of the hoof wall from which the hoof grows.

Roughly how many bones does a horse have?

A horse has about 205 bones, and none of its muscles sit below the knees and hocks, where only skin, bone, tendons, ligaments and hoof tissue remain.

What is an uncastrated adult male horse known as?

A stallion is an uncastrated adult male horse; Thoroughbred registries insist on natural cover, so a popular stallion may breed more than a hundred mares in one season.

Which stage of rest can a horse only reach by lying down?

REM sleep needs full muscle relaxation, so a horse must lie flat for it, in a few short bouts; one never allowed to lie down may eventually collapse into REM while standing.

What colors are horses generally thought to see best?

Blue and Yellow match the two cone types' peaks; red tends to look like a shade of green to a horse.

What is the name for the U-shaped metal plate nailed to a horse's hoof?

A horseshoe is the U-shaped plate, usually steel or aluminium, nailed through the insensitive outer hoof wall so the nails cause no pain; racehorses wear lightweight aluminium plates.

What is the term for the high-crowned teeth that let horses cope with a lifetime of gritty grazing?

Hypsodont dentition means high-crowned teeth with a large reserve below the gum; a horse's teeth keep erupting through life as gritty grazing wears them down, unlike low-crowned human brachydont teeth.

How many teeth does a fully grown horse typically have?

The spread comes from canine teeth, which most males have and most mares lack, plus vestigial wolf teeth in some horses.

What is a young male horse called?

A colt is a young male horse, generally under four; British Thoroughbred racing counts colts as under five, while Australian racing draws the line at four.

Which part of a horse's leg is equivalent to the human ankle?

The hock, the large angled joint on the hind leg, is the horse's ankle; the fetlock, often miscalled the ankle, actually corresponds to the knuckles of a human hand.

Genomic evidence places the origin of all modern domestic horses in the Volga-Don region at about what date?

About 2200 BCE: the DOM2 lineage expanded out of the lower Volga-Don steppe from then on; the earlier Botai horses turned out to be ancestors of Przewalski's horse, not of modern breeds.

Which discipline has horse and rider clear a course of coloured fences, knockdowns costing faults?

Show jumping sets a course of around a dozen coloured fences to be cleared in order; four faults for each knockdown plus time penalties decide the placings.

What is the name of the mythological winged horse, often depicted as pure white?

Pegasus is a famous winged horse from Greek mythology, often depicted as pure white and associated with heroes like Bellerophon.

What is a newborn horse of either sex called?

A foal is a horse of either sex in its first year; it can usually stand within an hour of birth and is called a yearling in its second year.

Which American breed dominates sprint racing and Western sports such as reining and cutting?

The American Quarter Horse is named for its speed over a quarter mile; its registry, the AQHA, was founded in Texas in 1940, and the breed dominates reining, cutting and sprint racing.

How many toes does a modern horse have on each foot?

A modern horse has one toe per foot, the hoof being the enlarged nail of its middle toe; its ancestors lost their side toes over some 50 million years of evolution.

What is the major source of nutrients for a horse?

Hay and pasture, in other words forage, supply most of a horse's nutrients; even when grain is fed, nutritionists recommend that at least half the diet by weight be forage.

Which of these famous horse races is known as 'The Run for the Roses'?

The Kentucky Derby is 'The Run for the Roses' because the winner is draped in a garland of red roses, a tradition dating to the 1890s.

In which modern country was the Botai culture, linked to the earliest evidence of horse domestication?

The Botai culture, known for early evidence of horse herding primarily for milk and meat, was located in what is now Kazakhstan.

Which draught breed is generally considered the tallest horse breed?

The Shire is generally the tallest breed, stallions standing 17 hands or more; the 19th-century Shire Sampson, at about 21.2 hands, is the tallest horse ever recorded.

What is the toothless area of a horse's mouth between the incisors and molars called?

The bars are the toothless stretches of gum between the incisors and the cheek teeth, which is exactly where the mouthpiece of a bit sits.

What is an adult female horse called?

A mare's estrous cycle runs roughly every 19 to 22 days from early spring into autumn.

Which coat colour is golden with a white or flaxen mane and tail?

Palomino is a golden body with a white or flaxen mane and tail, produced by a single cream gene acting on a chestnut base; two copies of the gene give the much paler cremello.

Which set of races constitutes the American Triple Crown for Thoroughbreds?

The Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes have been run in that order since 1931; Sir Barton was the first horse to win all three, in 1919.

What is the world-record height for an equestrian high jump, set by Huaso in 1949?

Huaso cleared 2.47 m (8 ft 1 in) at Viña del Mar, Chile, ridden by Captain Alberto Larraguibel Morales; the puissance record, set in 1991, is a lower 2.40 m.

What is a common term for undesirable habits in horses, such as cribbing or weaving?

Vices, or stable vices, are such habits; cribbing, where a horse grabs a surface with its teeth and sucks in air, occurs in roughly 2 to 8 percent of horses.

What does a horse typically communicate by pinning its ears flat back against its head?

Anger or pain: pinned ears are the clearest warning a horse sends, and the flatter they go the angrier it is, often just before a bite or kick.

Which of these is NOT considered a warmblood horse breed?

The Arabian is a hot-blood, not a warmblood; warmbloods such as the Hanoverian, Dutch Warmblood and Oldenburg were developed by crossing hot bloods with heavier cold-blooded draft stock.

At which Olympic Games did equestrian sports first appear?

Equestrian events debuted at the 1900 Paris Games with jumping contests, then vanished until Stockholm 1912 introduced dressage, eventing and jumping.

Which contagious disease, caused by Streptococcus equi, makes the lymph nodes under a horse's jaw abscess?

Strangles, caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi, makes the lymph nodes under the jaw and throat swell and abscess; the name comes from the choking noise badly affected horses make.

Which mythical creature, often depicted as a horse, has a single, spiraled horn on its forehead?

The unicorn is a legendary creature, typically depicted as a horse with a single, large, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.

Which of these is a heavy draft breed bred for pulling loads?

The Belgian, or Brabant, is a heavy draft breed; draft horses are 'cold bloods', bred for strength plus the calm temperament needed to pull a plow.

What does it indicate if a horse has one ear forward and one ear turned back?

Their attention is divided: each ear tracks what the eye on that side is watching, so the horse monitors two things at once.

Which coat colour carries a dark dorsal stripe down the spine and often zebra-like leg bars?

Dun is a diluted body colour with primitive markings: a dark dorsal stripe along the spine, often with zebra-like bars on the legs, as seen on the Norwegian Fjord horse.

What reflective structure behind the retina helps horses see in low light?

The tapetum lucidum reflects light back through the retina and produces the yellow-green eyeshine seen at night; horses also have about 20 rods for every cone.

What was the name of Roy Rogers's palomino stallion, his screen partner in over 80 films?

Trigger, a palomino stallion, appeared with Roy Rogers in more than 80 films; after his death in 1965 his preserved hide was displayed at the Roy Rogers museum.

What is the primary function of a horse's vibrissae, or whiskers?

A horse cannot see directly in front of its nose, so muzzle whiskers cover that blind spot.

Which famous horse from literature was owned by Don Quixote?

Rocinante is Don Quixote's horse and his master's double: awkward, past his prime and taking on tasks beyond his powers.

What is the term for a horse's coat pattern that features irregular patches of white and any other color?

Pinto refers to a horse with a coat color pattern consisting of large patches of white and any other color, distinct from roan which is an intermingling of hairs.

What is a person who rides racehorses professionally called?

A jockey rides racehorses for a living; flat-race jockeys ride with very short stirrups in the crouched 'monkey' seat popularised by the American Tod Sloan in the 1890s.

Under most competition rules, what is an equine measuring no more than 14.2 hands at the withers called?

14.2 hands — 58 inches — is the usual dividing line. Above it you have a horse; at or below it, a pony.

In a horse's pedigree, what is its mother called?

The dam is the mother and the sire the father in a pedigree; a horse described as 'out of' a named mare is her foal, while 'by' introduces the sire.

Which of a horse's four natural gaits is a three-beat gait?

The walk has four beats, the trot two and the gallop four. The canter, also called the lope, is the three-beat gait at roughly 19–24 km/h.

How many incisors does an adult horse have at the front of its mouth?

Twelve incisors do the biting off of grass, while 24 premolars and molars at the back do the grinding.

Przewalski's horse differs from the domestic horse, which has 64 chromosomes, by carrying how many?

Przewalski's horse has 66 chromosomes to the domestic horse's 64, yet the two can still interbreed and produce fertile foals.

One traditional job of the Shire horse was pulling brewers' vehicles of which kind?

A dray is a heavy flat cart, and Shires hauled them full of beer barrels. The breed also towed canal barges before the railways.

The Lipizzan is the breed most closely associated with which institution?

Vienna's Spanish Riding School has trained Lipizzans in classical dressage for centuries. Most turn white as adults despite being born dark.

Eventing puts one horse and rider through dressage, show jumping and which third phase?

Cross-country is the endurance phase, a galloping course over solid fixed obstacles such as logs, ditches and water; the traditional three-day format gave the sport its older name of three-day eventing.

Bucephalus was the celebrated warhorse of which commander?

Alexander rode him from Macedonia to the Punjab. Bucephalus is probably the most famous horse of classical antiquity.

What does the name Bucephalus literally mean?

It combines the Greek boûs, 'ox', with kephalē, 'head' — probably a nod to the horse's broad head or a brand mark on his flank.

Alexander founded the city of Bucephala in his horse's honour, on the bank of which river?

The Hydaspes is today's Jhelum, in Pakistan. The city was founded after the battle fought there in 326 BC.

Thoroughbreds descend from the Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and which other stallion?

The Byerley Turk arrived in the 1680s, the earliest of the three foundation sires brought to England from the Middle East.

Some Arabians have 17 pairs of ribs; how many pairs does a typical horse have?

The usual count is 18 pairs. Some Arabians also have five lumbar vertebrae instead of six, which shortens the back.

How many mounted players make up each team in outdoor polo?

Outdoor polo is four a side. Riders swap mounts between periods because one horse cannot last a whole match.

What is a seven-minute period of play in polo called?

A match runs four to eight chukkas, also spelled chukkers, of seven minutes each.

At which racetrack is the Kentucky Derby run?

Churchill Downs in Louisville has hosted the Derby since its first running on 17 May 1875, when Aristides won in front of a crowd of about 10,000.

What is the headgear that holds the bit and carries the reins called?

A bridle is the headgear that holds the bit in the horse's mouth and carries the reins; a halter looks similar but has no bit and is used for leading and tying.

In which year did Secretariat take the American Triple Crown?

Secretariat swept the 1973 Triple Crown, ending a 25-year gap since Citation in 1948 and setting records in the Derby and the Belmont along the way.

Which English racecourse stages the Grand National?

Aintree in Merseyside, near Liverpool, has staged the National since the 19th century over the longest jumps course in Britain.

Which horse won the Grand National three times in the 1970s?

Red Rum won the National three times in the 1970s and finished second in the two intervening years.

Which Grand National fence is named after a captain unseated into its ditch in 1839?

Captain Martin Becher fell there in the first official Grand National of 1839, and the fence has carried his name ever since.

Seabiscuit beat which Triple Crown winner by four lengths in a famous 1938 match race at Pimlico?

War Admiral, the 1937 Triple Crown winner, lost the Pimlico Special to Seabiscuit, who had been bought for just $8,000 at Saratoga and was voted Horse of the Year for 1938.

Man o' War's only defeat in 21 races came against a colt with what fitting name?

Upset beat Man o' War in the 1919 Sanford Memorial at Saratoga, a track later nicknamed the Graveyard of Champions.

Which Australian racing legend has its heart, hide and skeleton displayed in three different museums?

Phar Lap, the New Zealand-born champion, won 37 of 51 races before dying mysteriously in California in 1932; his heart is in Canberra, his hide in Melbourne and his skeleton in Wellington.

The unbeaten 1760s racehorse of the phrase '... first, the rest nowhere' was named after what?

Eclipse was foaled during the solar eclipse of 1 April 1764 and won all 18 of his races, supposedly without ever being fully extended.

Frankel, unbeaten in fourteen races, was trained by which Newmarket trainer?

Sir Henry Cecil trained Frankel at Warren Place in Newmarket; Tom Queally rode him in every race, and Timeform gave him a record rating of 147 in 2012.

How many horses make up each of the touring hitches of the Budweiser Clydesdales?

Each Budweiser hitch is an eight-horse team; the Clydesdale breed was originally used for hauling coal in Lanarkshire and heavy hauling in Glasgow.

The all-black Friesian horse originates from a province of which northern European country?

The Netherlands' province of Friesland gave the breed its name; Friesians carried knights in the Middle Ages and came close to extinction, with only three studbook stallions left by 1913.

What is the four-beat lateral ambling gait unique to breeds such as the Icelandic horse called?

The tölt is a smooth four-beat lateral amble with one foot always on the ground, ridden at anything from walking speed to a fast canter; Icelandic law bars exported horses from ever returning.

The Falabella, one of the smallest horse breeds, was developed in which country?

The Falabella was developed in Argentina from Criollo stock in a breeding program begun in 1868 near Buenos Aires; it stands roughly 63 to 86 cm at the withers.

Which breed's metallic-sheen coat earned it the nickname 'Golden Horses'?

The Akhal-Teke of Turkmenistan owes its metallic sheen to the unusual structure of its hair, which refracts light; named for the Teke tribe of the Akhal oases, it appears on Turkmenistan's coat of arms.

The Marwari horse of Rajasthan is famous for which unusual physical trait?

It shares the trait with the related Kathiawari breed of Gujarat and can rotate its ears 180 degrees.

Roughly how long did the Pony Express operate before going bankrupt in 1861?

18 months: it cut coast-to-coast message time to about 10 days but was undone by the transcontinental telegraph in 1861.

Which Roman emperor supposedly planned to make his favourite horse, Incitatus, a consul?

Caligula's horse had a marble stable, an ivory manger and purple blankets, Suetonius wrote, though ancient writers agree the consulship never happened.

Over what distance is the Melbourne Cup, 'the race that stops the nation', run?

The Melbourne Cup is run over 3200 metres at Flemington, two miles until metrication in 1972, and has been held every year since 1861.

In which year was the Epsom Derby first run?

The first Derby was run in 1780, a year after the Oaks; legend says a coin toss decided whether it would be named after Lord Derby or Sir Charles Bunbury.

Which author's 1947 novel Misty of Chincoteague made the island's ponies world famous?

Marguerite Henry based Misty of Chincoteague on a real pony; every July riders swim the Virginia herd from Assateague Island across the channel to Chincoteague.

The white horses of the Camargue live wild in the delta of which river?

The Camargue is the Rhône delta in southern France; its foals are born black or dark brown and only turn white as adults, over black skin.

To what age did 'Old Billy', the oldest verifiably recorded horse, live in the 19th century?

62 for Old Billy, against a usual 25 to 30; Sugar Puff, once listed as the world's oldest living pony, died in 2007 at 56.

Thumbelina, the record holder for the smallest horse ever, was affected by which condition?

Thumbelina's dwarfism left the fully mature miniature horse just 43 cm (17 in) tall and about 26 kg (57 lb); she died in 2018.

Which bone found in the human skeleton is absent in a horse's?

Horses have no collarbone; instead the forelimbs hang from the body in a sling of muscles, tendons and ligaments linking the shoulder blade to the torso.

How often do most domesticated horses need their hooves trimmed?

Hooves grow continually; wild horses wear theirs down naturally at a rate that suits their terrain, so they never need a farrier.

How many toes did Hyracotherium, the earliest known horse ancestor, have on each front foot?

It lived 45 to 55 million years ago in the Eocene and had three toes on each back foot; the extra front toe vanished with Mesohippus.

What is the informal name for the vestigial remnants of lost side toes below a horse's knee?

Splint bones are the slivers left of the second and fourth metacarpals, side toes that shrank over millions of years until they vanished, leaving these remnants on each leg.

In which year did the tarpan, or European wild horse, go extinct?

The last tarpan died in captivity in 1909; attempts to 'recreate' it, such as the Heck horse, produced look-alikes that descend from domesticated horses rather than true wild stock.

What fermented drink do the Mongols traditionally make from mare's milk?

Kumis, called airag in Mongolia, is mildly alcoholic fermented mare's milk; Mongol riders also once drank their own horses' blood on the move to cover long distances without stopping to eat.

Horse tail hair is traditionally used to make which part of instruments like the violin and cello?

The bow is strung with horse tail hair; horsehide, meanwhile, has gone into boots, gloves, baseballs and baseball gloves.