Evolution Of Horses Research Paper

Horses

Horses were once wild animals and were hunted for meat and especially for their hide which was used to make clothes, tools and tents. There where families of horses that were dog-sized roaming through the forests that covered North America. Due to changing climate conditions the grasslands expanded which expanded the variety of species and the horses grew larger.

Humans, horses, and all other animals share a common ancestor with five toes. How did the horses end up with single-toes hooves? Over time many horse species lost all their side toes and the middle toe evolved into a single large hoof. When you are comparing a human leg to a horse leg shows which bones give horses their great speed. Horses that moved onto grasslands have longer legs then their forest-dwelling ancestor’s. Horses nearly became extinct about 7,000 years ago all around the world until 1914 when Christopher Columbus transported them on ships to Spain.

They started to race, doing country sports, and hunting with their dogs following beside. Horses became a very important animal to society. A man would pay a horse painter 50 pounds to paint a portrait of their horse and if you would want the painter to paint a picture of your wife you would have to pay 10 pounds. As time went on riding horses was a leisure instead of transportation because they invented the combustion engine to carry cars and other vehicles.

In today’s life horse are used for food, herding, warfare, transportation, communication, agriculture, trade, commerce, pleasure, sport, religion, symbol, status, gift, industry, competition, and recreation.

• Horses sleep standing