Horse

The horse is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, Eohippus, into the large single-toed animal of today, originally in North America.

Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE in Central Asia, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE.
Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses.
These feral populations are not true wild horses, which are horses that have never been domesticated.

Back to Horses & Breeds →

Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

EFANATIONAL

The equestrian world — horses and riding, tack and training, competition and care, plus the tools every rider needs.

Get new guides by emailOccasional emails. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

InformationAbout Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Service Disclaimer Affiliate Disclosure Cookie Policy

Every species, image, fact, and figure is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, used under public-domain and Creative Commons licenses. No content is AI-generated.