The history of the horse - Evolution
The history of the horse begins about 60 million years ago.
This period is called the Eocene. Bone finds prove that at this time there were already ancestors of the present horse. One gave these small primeval horses the name Eohippus (lat. Hippus = The horse).
The Eohippus does not show many similarities with the horse of today. It was very small and with a shoulder height of about 20 cm - 30 cm it was about the size of a fox. The primeval horse had an arched back and a short, very strong neck. Studies of fossils showed that these primeval ancestors of our horses were pure herbivores. They fed mainly on leaves and fruits, as can be seen from the teeth with very low crowns.
However, the biggest difference to today's horses is the number of toes. The Eohippus demonstrably had four toes on the front legs and three on the hind legs; they are odd-toed ungulates. It is assumed that this made it easier for them to move in swampy areas, where they fled from their former enemies.
In the course of the primeval times, the temperatures on the earth often changed. This was also associated with a change in the plant and animal world. Extensive grasslands developed. The forests, however, shrank. This had the consequence that the horses became bigger. In order to be able to flee from their enemies, they had to develop a greater speed on the wide plains. So, bigger and bigger horses developed with the time.
So, the Mesohippus (approximately 40 million years ago) had a shoulder-height of approximately 61 cm after all already and was almost already twice as high as the Eohippus. The back was no longer so strongly curved; legs and neck were longer and slimmer. Also the head appeared longer and narrower.
To the end of the Pliozäns, approximately four million years ago, the modern Equus then appeared on the earth. It found fast spread. Historical finds show that during the first ice age (about 2.6 million years ago) the equus already populated Europe, Asia and South America. In Africa the first zebras developed at that time.
In the course of time, the horses developed into equines, which walk alone on the third, middle toe. The remaining toes are receded. Still today, our modern horses carry the genes for the lateral toes in itself. They have been preserved on the skeleton of the front leg as rudimentary griffin legs. It happens that foals are born with these lateral toes.
The time of domestication of the domestic horse can be dated to about 5000 B.C. This means that horses have been kept by man as domestic animals for about 5-6 thousand years. For mankind, the taming of the horse was a great advance, since the horse played an immense role in the further development of peoples. It was crucial for successful armies, important helpers in agriculture and made long journeys and fast hunts possible. Transportation, freight traffic, the rapid spread of news and the mastery of great empires also depended on the horse.
Only with the advent of combustion engines and the development of corresponding agricultural machinery, means of transport and weapons did this change. Today, horses are primarily sport and leisure partners, with correspondingly changed breeding requirements. Especially the heavy, frugal working animals are increasingly disappearing in favor of agile, fast types of sport.
Interestingly enough, the horse developed in the course of history mainly on the American continent, but died out there about 10,000 years ago. All horses living in North and South America today only came back to the continent later with European discoverers and conquerors. This also applies to zebras and donkeys. The zebra developed in South Africa from the immigrated equids, the donkey in North Africa. In the cold northern regions of Europe and Asia, however, the forerunners of the modern horse slowly arose: the Przewalski's horse in Asia, the Tarpan in the area of the present-day Eastern Europe and Western Russia, the Tundrenpferd in north-east-Siberia and the forest-horse in the present-day Northern Europe. Today, only the Przewalski's horse exists as the only true wild horse race.
How exactly the present-day house-horse-types developed from these game-horses, is controversial. However, the majority assumes that domestication did not take place at one place, but rather parallel through different peoples and with different types of wild horses. So, the northern European forest-horse could be the ancestor of the present-day cold-bloods while the Tarpan could be a possible precursor of the light southern horses.
Depending on the literature, there is a classification into 2 or 4 early horse types, which are not scientifically exact, but provide an explanatory model for the nature and appearance of modern horses. Starting from two types of horses, one divides into a heavier, very robust "North pony" and a light, fast "South pony", with differences in e.g. escape distance, sensitivity to weather and feed conversion.
Here, the subdivision into 4 horse-types is valid
These are represented as follows:Type 1: North pony
The north pony is said to have lived in north-western Europe, with a stick measure of about 120cm, straight head with large nostrils for air heating and with an overall robust and powerful stature. It was adapted to a cold and humid climate and meager food, as well as to rough, rocky landscape. This resulted in a high robustness, nerve strength (every escape costs energy or can lead to serious injuries on stony, hilly ground) and a very good feed conversion. As an adaptation to scarce food and distinct seasons, the horse type did not tend to fixed territories and was very keen on hiking. Close living together under adverse conditions provided for a very aggression-free horse type with low individual distance. The Exmoor pony of today, for example, would correspond to this type.
Type 2: Tundrenpony
The Tundrenpony corresponds approximately to the Przewalskipferd and lived in the present-day South-Russia and Kazakhstan, until Iran and west-China. It was adapted to very cold weather and scarce food. The tundrum pony is said to have been bigger and more massive than the northern pony and could be considered as the predecessor of today's cold-blood. From the nature it should have been also very strong nerves, rather calm and aggressionless.
Type 3: Romanhead Horse
The Romanhead horse developed in the warm steppe-climate of Central Asia, was robust and athletic and very fast and agile. The present-day Achal-Tekkiner or the Sorraia-horse corresponds to this type of horse. The food-offer and the climate were good, what was accompanied with quite high precinct-behavior, but also with only quite loose herd-association. Enemies were to be discovered easily in the even grassland and an escape usually the best option. So the escape, but also the individual distance is big with the Romahead horse. The fur is fine, the torso more on optimal respiration, less on optimal digestion is laid out. Horses of this type are very movement-joyful and partially with quite stormy temperament blessed.
Type 4: Steppe-horse
The smaller south-horse is supposed to have developed in South-Asia, the Orient and Egypt, where it had to deal with increasingly dry-hot climate. So it is more wanderful than the Ramskopfpferd, with less precinct-behavior and with it less aggressions. The steep shoulder and straight croup made enduring gallop possible, so that this type of horse is still especially well suited for endurance races today. Despite the rather dainty appearance, the horse-type is very robust and gets along well with seasonally different feed-offer and drought. Alone humid climate gets him less. The present-day Arab corresponds to this type of horse.
Due to the motorization of agriculture and the spread of automobile traffic, the use of horses and donkeys in the western industrialized countries in passenger and freight traffic has declined sharply and is usually only used as a hobby or sport. In the underdeveloped regions of the world, however, the use of animals as means of transport is still widespread.
