Horses – Odd and Amazing Facts

HOrses Odd and Amazing Facts!! This is a painting of the only lancer cavalry charge of the Civil war during the confederated new mexico campaign. it was a dismal failure.

1.Determining a horse’s age was discovered by a man names Galvayne. By measuring the groove of the horse’s two corner incisor teeth, one can tell the age of the horse from 10 to 30 years.

2. Chestnuts or the colloquial “night eyes” is the term used to refer to callous-like growths just above the horse’s knees. They are thought to be the vestiges of either toe pads or scent glands. The arrangement and shape is unique to each horse.
3. My father, a horse trainer, spoke about a horse “Swallowing its tongue.” That is the term used in years past when the horse suddenly slows down because the soft membrane in the horse’s throat temporarily collapses and shuts down air intake. My father said his horse lost a race one time because the horse did that at the head of the stretch.
4. With their large eyes on the sides of their heads, horses can see almost 360 degrees at once. There is a blind spot directly in front of the horse that extends about 4 feet in front of its nose. Always approach a horse from the side, so as not to startle it.
5. When speaking of horses, they have two types of vision – monocular which means they can see different scenes with each eye. Then they can switch to binocular vision (Like we humans have.) to see objects in 3D. A horse will move it’s head up or down to get a better perception of what they’re wanting to see.
6. We’ve all heard of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, the Us Volunteer Cavalry regiment he led in the Spanish American War. However, when it came time for the Rough Riders to charge San Juan Hill, Teddy was the only one with a horse. When the men landed on Cuba, they thought they would unload their horses from the ship still out at sea to swim ashore. Sadly, when they unloaded their mounts, the horses did not swim to shore, but swam out to sea and drowned.
7. Have you ever heard of a “milt?” This small piece of flesh, that looks somewhat like liver, covers the tongue of all newborn colts (perhaps a means to keep the colt from swallowing fluid in its birth effort). Usually, the colt swallows the milt right after birth, and is fine. However, old Horse Whisperers used to extract the milt, hang it to dry, and use it as a talisman!
8. There are, so far, nine patron saints of horses. And for what humans have put them through, nine may not be enough. St. Anthony de Padua, St. Colman of Stockerau, St. Eligius, St. George, St. Giles, St. Hippolytus, St. Leaonard of Noblac, St. Martin of Tours and St. Vincent de Paul.
St Anthony de Padua is also the saint to pray to if items are lost. (Maybe like if you’ve lost your horse. Or the keys to your horse-powered car.)_
St. Vincent de Paul is also the saint of the poor.
10 After a 25 year US Gold medal drought at the Olympics, David O’Connor won gold on his thoroughbred horse named Custom Made in the event called “Three Day Eventing.” When he was only 11 years old, he and his mother and brother made a cross country HORSEBACK journey from Maryland to Oregon.
11. If you like horses, you’ll like the Asunder Saga novels. Asunder and Splintered.